SKELETAL INVENTORIES FROM WILDEBEEST DROWNINGS AT LAKES MASEK AND NDUTU IN THE SERENGETI ECOSYSTEM OF TANZANIA
SKELETAL INVENTORIES FROM WILDEBEEST DROWNINGS AT LAKES MASEK AND NDUTU IN THE SERENGETI ECOSYSTEM OF TANZANIA
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DOI：
10.1006/jasc.1995.0039
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发表时间：
1995-05-01
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
PETERS, CR
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
CAPALDO, SD;PETERS, CR
在东非塞伦盖蒂生态系统中，临近湖泊和河流的大片区域，角马溺水后会产生致密的骨沉积物。 每年角马迁徙期间，当动物穿越河流和湖泊前往雨季牧场时，溺水事件就会发生。 溺水事件涉及少量和大量的成年角马和新生角马，并且可能发生在雨季期间的单一事件或一系列小型和大型事件中。现代溺水产生的表面骨骼遗骸的特征标准可能作为一个整体，有助于在化石记录中识别它们，包括：（1）来自单一物种的成年角马的优势以及新生儿和一岁幼体的可变代表性； (2) 存在来自所有成年骨骼群的完整元素； (3) 以轴向元件和长骨为主的组合； (4)长骨的代表性与其骨髓湿重之间呈负相关；大型溺水事件的组合具有弱负相关性，而小型溺水事件的组合具有强负相关性。 这些标准的应用需要景观采样策略，因为溺水事件的特征可能分布在数百或数千米的河流或湖边。 因此，来自大型溺水事件的局部样本可能会受到食肉动物、流水、践踏、风化和/或掩埋的不同影响，并且不具备所有这些标志性标准。溺水对于各种消费者来说是重要的拾荒机会，因为它们可以产生大量尸体。 它们在河流和湖泊中的出现也赋予了它们一些季节和空间的可预测性。 在这种情况下，受水限制的早期原始人类可能相对较早地获得了大型动物尸体，而无需求助于狩猎或对抗性拾荒。 大面积同时存在许多溺水个体会有助于尽早获得尸体，因为这些条件可以减少消费者之间对尸体食品的种间和种内竞争。 后来对尸体的接触仍然可以为原始人类提供丰富的有营养的长骨髓和颅骨内容物。
Wildebeest drownings produce dense bone deposits over large surface areas adjacent to lakes and rivers in the Serengenti ecosystem of East Africa. Drownings occur during the annual wildebeest migration when animals cross rivers and lakes on their way to wet season pastures. Drownings involve both small and large numbers of adult and newborn wildebeest and can occur in a single event or a sequence of small and large events during the wet season.Signature criteria from surface skeletal remains produced by modern drownings that may, as an integrated set, help to identify them in the fossil record include: (1) the predominance of adults from a single species and the variable representation of newborns and yearlings; (2) the presence of intact elements from all adult skeletal groups; (3) assemblages dominated by axial elements and long bones; and (4) negative correlations between the representation of long bones and their marrow wet weights; assemblages from large drowning events possess weak negative correlations while small events possess strong negative correlations. The application of these criteria requires a landscape sampling strategy, because the drowning event's signature can be spread out over hundreds or thousands of metres of river or lake front. Consequently, localized samples from a large drowning may be affected differently by carnivores, flowing water, trampling, weathering, and/or burial and not possess all of these signature criteria.Drowning represent important scavenging opportunities for a wide variety of consumers because of the number of carcasses they can produce. Their occurrence in rivers and lakes also gives them some seasonal and spatial predictability. Under these circumstances, it is possible that water-restricted early hominids may have gained relatively early access to large animal carcasses without recourse to hunting or confrontational scavenging. Early access to carcasses would have been facilitated by the simultaneous presence of many drowned individuals over a large area, because these conditions act to reduce inter-and intra-specific competition for carcass foods among consumers. Later access to carcasses could still have provided hominids with a wealth of nutritious long bone marrow and cranial contents.