Transcript Pleistocene fauna (Zoogeography and Plaeontology).

Pleistocene
Presented by:
AMAAN ALI
Fauna
PLEISTOCENE
• Greek (pleistos "most") and (kainos
"new").
• The Pleistocene Epoch lasted from about
1.65 million until 10,000 years ago.
• During that time numerous types of
animals inhabited the area that is now the
midwestern United States. Most of these
types of animals are no longer found in the
area.
• Some of these animals are extinct. Others
are still around but no longer occur in the
area.
• The Pleistocene was known for its ice
ages.
• An ice age is a time when many glaciers
cover many parts of the earth
Subdivisions of the Quaternary Period
System
Series
Stage
Holocene
Quaternary
Age (Ma)
0–0.0117
Tarantian
(Upper)
0.0117–
0.126
Ionian
(Middle)
0.126–0.781
Calabrian
(Lower)
0.781–1.806
Gelasian
(Lower)
1.806–2.588
Pleistocene
Neogene
Pliocene
Piacenzian
older
Characteristics Of The Pleistocene Fauna
• The Rancholabrean Fauna (also known as the
Pleistocene or Mammoth Fauna) were unusually large.
• Fauna were much more diverse.
• Most were herbivore grazers feeding on grass.
• Hooves were much smaller for travelling on firm
ground.
• Xeric feeders (equid, proboscidian, and bovid) were
replaced by the cervid mesic-adapted species which eat
leaves of dycotyledons, twig tips, and lichens.
• Juvenile mortality was very high due to predation and
the cold.
• Mature species had a high survival rate because of their
size.
Diversity and Size
• The dominant Pleistocene fauna are large grazing mammals such as the triad
of woolly mammoth, horned bison, and Pleistocene horses.
• The size of animals during the Pleistocene was very diverse. Rodents such as
lemmings and voles roamed Beringia as well.
•
Animals that did survive the end of the last Ice Age are generally smaller
today than during the Pleistocene. We immediately think of the beaver, lions,
and bears.
Adaptations
• The most significant adaptations would be in response to the very cold
temperatures of the Pleistocene.
• A covering of hair; This kept in the heat and made them warmer.
• They became smaller; Being smaller requires less food and it allows less heat
to escape.
• Animals migrated equator-ward; There it was warmer, and they could get a bite
to eat.
Behaviour
• The Pleistocene Fauna has been repeatedly
compared to the modern African savannah
fauna.
• The woolly mammoth is compared to the
Elephant,
• The woolly rhinoceros to the rhinoceros, and
• The saiga antelope to the antelope.
PLEISTOCENE FAUNA
A. Pleistocene Fauna of Siberia
• woolly mammoth
• cave lions
• tarpans
• woolly rhinoceros
Woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius)
• This was a cold climate dweller equipped with a thick layer of fat for
insulation, and an exterior of long black hair.
•
It was smaller than most mammoths,
• And had a hump of fat behind its domed head.
•
It fed on low tundra vegetation in which it scraped away snow and ice from
with its ivory tusks.
• Several well preserved remains have been found in Siberia and Alaska and
cave paintings in Spain and France show depictions of the Wooly Mammoth as
seen by early humans.
• They went extinct only about 10,000 years ago.
• Size - 9ft. (2.7m) high
Fossils of woolly mammoth
Cave Lion (Panthera leo spelaea)
• The cave lion also known as the European or Eurasian
cave lion,
• The cave lion received its common name from the fact
that large quantities of its remains are found in caves.
•
The cave lion itself lived from 370,000 to 10,000
years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch. Apparently, it
became extinct about 10,000 years ago, during the
Würm glaciation,
• Although there are some indications it may have
existed into historic times in southeastern Europe, as
recently as 2,000 years ago in the Balkans.
• Cave lions were widespread in parts of Europe and
Asia, from Great Britain, Germany and Spain all the
way to the Bering Strait and from Siberia to Turkistan.
Woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis)
• Is an extinct species of rhinoceros native to
the northern steppes of Eurasia that lived
during the Pleistocene epoch and survived
the last glacial period.
• The woolly rhinoceros are members of the
Pleistocene megafauna. Many species of
Pleistocene megafauna, like the woolly
rhinoceros, became Human and
Neanderthal hunting is often cited as one
cause of extinction
Tarpan (Equus ferus ferus)
• The name "tarpan" or "tarpani" is from a Turkic
language (Kyrgyz or Kazakh) name meaning
"wild horse".
• Tarpan, also known as Eurasian wild horse is an
extinct subspecies of wild horse.
• The last individual of this subspecies died in
captivity in Russia in 1909.
• The Tarpan is a prehistoric wild horse type that
ranged from Southern France and Spain east to
central Russia.
B. Pleistocene Fauna Of South America
• Megatherium
(Megatherium americanum )
• Elephant-sized ground sloths
• Endemic to Central America and South America that lived
from the Pliocene through Pleistocene existing
approximately 5.289 million years.
• They inhabited woodlands and grasslands.
• Promegatherium is suggested to be the ancestor of
Megatherium.
• The oldest (and smallest) species of Megatherium is M.
altiplanicum of Pliocene Bolivia. It was very similar to the
Miocene ground sloth,
• Species of Megatherium became larger and larger, with
the largest species, M. americanum of the late Pleistocene,
reaching the size of an African Elephant.
List of Pleistocene Animals
•
Insectivora (shrews and moles)
– Arctic Shrew
– Northern Water Shrew
– Starnose Mole
– Hairytail Mole
• Edentata (sloths, armadillos, and
anteaters)
– Ground Sloths (extinct)
– Beautiful Armadillo (extinct)
• Carnivora (lions, tigers, and
bears)
– Short-faced Skunk (extinct)
– Dire Wolf (extinct)
– Short-faced Bear (extinct)
– American Lion (extinct)
– Saber-toothed Cats (extinct)
– Jaguar
• Lagomorpha
hares)
(rabbits
– Snowshoe Hare
and
List of Pleistocene Animals
Rodentia (squirrels, rats, mice and
beavers)
Artiodactyla (deer, cows, sheep,
camels, and pigs)
–
Giant Beaver (extinct)
–
Northern Grasshopper Mouse
–
Northern Bog Lemming
–
Mountain (Heather) Phenacomys
– Bison
–
Boreal Redback Vole
– Musk Ox (some types extinct)
–
Yellow-cheeked Vole
–
Porcupine
– Peccaries (extinct)
– Stag-moose (extinct)
Proboscidea (elephants)
– American Mastodon
Perissodactlya (horses, rhinos, and
tapirs)
–
Horses (extinct in North America)
–
Tapirs (extinct in North America)
– Mammoths
References
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_me
gafauna
• http://hoopermuseum.earthsci.carleton.ca/be
ringia/fauna.html
• http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/lars
on/ice_age_animals.html