Back to Search
Start Over
Size of the lower carnassial in the arctic and the red fox from Late Pleistocene in Belgium compared to other ancient and extant populations
- Source :
- Mammal Research. 65:127-139
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Lengths, widths, and size proportions (length to width) of the lower carnassial were measured in 45 teeth of the arctic fox and 35 teeth of the red fox from Belgium radiocarbon dated to 46 640–14 120 ka BP. Data the Late Pleistocene foxes from Belgium were compared to 20 ancient and extant populations form Europe, Asia, and North America. The Pleistocene arctic fox from Belgium showed larger carnassial than in all recent samples of this species, whereas the Belgian fossil red foxes were characterized by the carnassial size comparable to that of the recent Siberian red foxes. Both fox species from the Pleistocene of Belgium showed the highest index of the carnassials length to width, which means increase in carnivorous adaptation. We conclude that the higher level of carnivorous specialization reached by the Belgian arctic and red foxes at the end of the Late Pleistocene reflected their scavenging on kills of large carnivores and human hunters (remains of megafauna). Harsh environmental conditions of that period and specific composition of ecosystems led to adapting to a more carnivorous food niche in both foxes.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine
biology
Pleistocene
Zoology
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
law.invention
03 medical and health sciences
030104 developmental biology
Geography
Arctic
law
Animal ecology
Megafauna
biology.animal
Period (geology)
Animal Science and Zoology
Arctic fox
Radiocarbon dating
Carnassial
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 2199241X and 21992401
- Volume :
- 65
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Mammal Research
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........6d30de807d0d539c78e05f6e063ead1c