Mammoth fauna existence time. Fossil mammals. Variations on a Theme by Haydn

Mammoth fauna, mammoth faunal complex , a complex of mammal species that lived in the territory. Europe (excluding the Apennine, Balkan and Iberian Peninsulas) and Northern. Asia in the late Pleistocene (130-10 thousand years ago). Characteristic feature M. f. there was coexistence in most of its range of species that now live in different natural areas: red deer, lemmings, arctic fox, saiga, northern. deer, steppe pika, marmot. Typical species, which were part of M. f. almost throughout the entire territory. its distribution and throughout its existence, there were: primitive bison, wolf, arctic fox, Don hare, cave lion, wild horse (see Horse), mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, steppe pika, narrow-skulled vole, wolverine, sowing. deer. In addition to these numerous species included in M. f. different regions included others, a small number. and rare: for example, marten, elk, brown bear and cave bear, giant deer, different types small mustelids, rodents and insectivores. Basic composition species M. f. also changed over time. Allocate 2 chapters. chronological variants of the M. f.: interglacial (130-100 thousand years ago) and glacial (100-10 thousand years ago). During the interglacial period there were many. species of M. f. almost throughout the entire territory. its distributions were: red deer, beaver, forest voles, elk, different types of mice; in Europe and, possibly, in the Urals - forest elephant. The mammoth was represented by an early evolutionary form. During the Ice Age, the ranges of these species were greatly reduced; species composition M. f. differed noticeably in different territories. By composition max. numerous There are 3 main species identified. geogr. variants of M. f.: periglacial (northern), tundro-forest-steppe and steppe. Included in the northern options other than those listed above. species included musk ox and ungulate and siberian lemmings; tundra-forest-steppe - red deer, large gopher, cave hyena, fox, saiga, steppe marmot, steppe polecat, several. species of voles (water, forest, common, dark, housekeeper), common. and yellow pestle, gray hamster and Eversmann's hamster, ungulate and sibling. Lemmings. The steppe version included: most species of the tundra-forest-steppe variant (with the exception of forest voles and lemmings), bactrian camel, Pleistocene donkey, corsac fox, jerboas. Depending on climate fluctuations over time. ice age There were also changes in the composition of the M. f. There are M. f. relatively warm periods (interstadials), during which the proportion of forest species increased (red deer, beaver, brown bear, forest voles, elk, etc.), and M. f. cold periods (glacials), where the share of these species sharply decreased. On the territory Person region remains of species M. f. found in more than 50 locations of alluvial and lacustrine-alluvial types, in more than 50 locations in karst grottoes and caves. In some of them, the remains of M. f. were adjacent to the tools of ancient man: for example, at the Bogdanovka and Troitskaya I sites; in the caves Ignatievskaya, Smelovskaya 2, Sikiyaz-Tamak 7 (see Sikiyaz-Tamak cave complex); Ustinovo grotto and Zotinsky grotto. As a result of studying these remains in the area. Person region several allocated region. complexes of M. f., chronologically replacing each other. In most of the territory. region they belong to the tundra-forest-steppe variant, and only in the southernmost region are steppe complexes of the forest-steppe species identified; no complexes dating back to the interglacial period were found. The oldest known is Aratsky (named after the village of Aratsky in the Katav-Ivanov region), which existed 30-100 thousand years ago and can be correlated with one of the relatively warm periods (interstadials). Its species composition included forest and yellow-throated mice, wild sheep (mouflon), giant deer, cave hyena, cave bear. The complex is presented in Idrisovskaya, Ust-Katavskaya and lower. layers of the Ignatievskaya and Sikiyaz-Tamak caves 7. Trace, complex - Ignatievsky (after the Ignatievskaya cave) - existed 25...30-10 thousand years ago and coincides with the last cold period and the Late Glacial. It contains no species characteristic of the Arat complex, but contains all typical representatives M. f. This complex is presented at the top. layers of caves Ignatievskaya, Serpievskaya-1 and Serpievskaya-2; in the grottoes Prizhim 2, Ustinovo, Zotinsky. Steppe variant of M. f. found in the lower layers of the Smelovskaya 2 cave; he is a geogr. a variation of the Arat complex. Its species composition includes the Pleistocene donkey. Disintegration of M. f. and its transformation into modern The Holocene fauna occurred very quickly - within 2-3 thousand years. They were caused by sharp climate fluctuations at the boundary of the Pleistocene and Holocene (12-9 thousand years ago). At the same time, several died out. species (giant deer, mammoth, cave hyena, cave lion, Pleistocene donkey, woolly rhinoceros), the rest reduced their ranges or became part of the Holocene fauna of Chel. areas.

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mammoth fauna Dnepropetrovsk, mammoth fauna pet supplies
, or mammoth faunal complex- a faunal complex of mammals that lived in the late (upper) Pleistocene (70 - 10 thousand years ago) in the extratropical zone of Eurasia and North America in special biocenoses - tundra-steppes, which existed throughout the glaciation and moved in accordance with changes in the boundaries of the glacier to the north or to south.

1 Emergence
2 Characteristic representatives of the fauna
3 Extinction hypotheses
- 3.1 Climate
- 3.2 Anthropological
4 Representatives of the mammoth fauna at present
5 See also
6 Notes
7 Literature
8 Links

Emergence

The tundra-steppes arose in the pre-glacial (periglacial) belt of the last ice age (last glaciation) in special landscape and climatic conditions: a sharply continental climate with low average temperatures with dry air and significant watering of the territory in summer due to melted glacial waters, with the appearance of lakes and swamps The flora of the tundra-steppe included various herbaceous plants (especially grasses and sedges), mosses, as well as small trees and shrubs that grew mainly in river valleys and along the shores of lakes: willows, birches, alders, pine trees and larch trees. At the same time, the total biomass of vegetation in the tundra-steppe was apparently very large, mainly due to grasses, which allowed an abundant and unique fauna to settle in the vast spaces of the pre-glacial belt.

Characteristic representatives of the fauna

The most major representative mammoth fauna (after which it was named) was woolly mammoth(Mammuthus primigenius Blum.) - northern elephant, who lived 50 - 10 thousand years ago in vast areas of Europe, Asia and North America. It was covered with thick and very long red hair with a hair length of up to 70 - 80 cm. The bones of these animals are found in almost all locations in Siberia.

Tundra-steppe of the last glaciation:
(from left to right) wild horses, mammoths, cave lions over a reindeer carcass, woolly rhinoceros

In addition to the mammoth, this fauna also included ancient horses (2 or 3 species), woolly rhinoceros, bison, aurochs, musk ox, yak, steppe bison, giant big-horned deer, red and reindeer, camel, saiga antelope, gazelle, elk, kulan , cave bear, cave lion, cave hyena, giant hippopotamus, wolf, wolverine, arctic fox, marmots, ground squirrels, lemmings, lagomorphs, etc. The composition of the mammoth fauna indicates that it descended from the hipparion fauna, being its northern periglacial variant. All animals of the mammoth fauna are characterized by adaptations to life in conditions low temperatures, in particular long and thick wool. Many animal species have increased in size, large body mass and fat subcutaneous fat helped them endure the harsh climate more easily.

Extinction hypotheses

A significant part of the representatives of this fauna became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene - beginning of the Holocene (10-15 thousand years ago). There are two hypotheses explaining this extinction.

Climatic

According to this hypothesis, the animals of the mammoth fauna became extinct, unable to adapt to new natural and climatic conditions. Climate warming and melting glaciers have dramatically changed the natural situation in the former zone of periglacial tundra-steppe: air humidity and precipitation have increased significantly, and as a result, large areas swampiness developed, and the depth of snow cover increased in winter. Animals of the mammoth fauna, well protected from the dry cold and capable of obtaining food in the vast tundra-steppe during the snowless winters of the Ice Age, found themselves in an extremely unfavorable ecological situation for them. The abundance of snow in winter made it impossible to obtain food in sufficient quantities. In the summer high humidity and swamping of the soil, extremely unfavorable in themselves, were accompanied by a colossal increase in the number of blood-sucking insects (midges, so abundant in the modern tundra), whose bites exhausted the animals, preventing them from feeding in peace, as is now happening with reindeer.

Thus, the mammoth fauna found itself in a very short period of time (the melting of glaciers occurred very quickly) in the face of sudden changes in the habitat, to which the majority of its constituent species were unable to adapt so quickly, and the mammoth fauna as a whole ceased to exist. However, this hypothesis does not at all explain the fact that until the last Holocene warming 10-12 thousand years ago, the mammoth “glacial” biocenosis successfully withstood several dozen warmings and coolings. At the same time, repeated climate changes were not accompanied by the extinction of the mammoth fauna; As an analysis of finds of fossil animal bones shows, during warm periods the mammoth fauna was even more numerous than during cold “ice” periods.

Anthropological

A number of researchers consider the main reason for the collapse of the mammoth fauna to be the “Paleolithic revolution,” which allowed primitive hunters to explore the circumpolar regions of Eurasia and North America. these areas (unlike Africa and tropical Asia) man appeared quite late, having already mastered perfect methods of hunting large animals. As a result, the megafauna of the mammoth steppes, which did not have time to adapt, disappeared, exterminated by people. At the same time, the destruction of key “landscape-forming” species (primarily mammoths) by primitive hunters meant a break in ecological chains and a sharp drop in bioproductivity, which led to further extinction.

Representatives of the mammoth fauna at present

Some animals still live in Eurasia and North America, but in different natural and climatic zones. Now these species do not form such communities together. From large mammals mammoth fauna has survived to this day reindeer, possessing great mobility and capable of making long-distance migrations: in the summer to the tundra to the sea, where there are fewer midges, and in the winter to moss pastures in the forest-tundra and taiga; Until recently, the wild horse was found in the steppe and forest-steppe zones. In relatively snow-free habitats in northern Greenland and on some islands of the North American archipelago, musk oxen have been preserved. Saiga antelopes and camels moved south to dry steppes, semi-deserts and deserts. Yaks have climbed into the snowy highlands and now live only in a very limited area. Elks, wolves and wolverines have perfectly adapted to life in the forest zone. Some small animals from the mammoth fauna, such as lemmings and arctic foxes, also adapted to the new conditions.

According to some data, in the Holocene, 4-7 thousand years ago, a population of grinding mammoths still existed on Wrangel Island.

Notes

Why did mammoths become extinct?
The grandeur and reconstruction of nature
Mass extinction of large animals at the end of the Pleistocene
Blitzkrieg. Large animals and people
Vereshchagin N.K. Why mammoths became extinct. - M., 1979.

Literature

Basics of paleontology. Volume 13. Mammals (Handbook for paleontologists and geologists of the USSR) / ed. V. I. Gromovoy, ch. ed. Yu. A. Orlov. - M.: State Scientific and Technical Publishing House of Literature on Geology and Subsoil Protection, 1962. - 422 p.
Eskov K. Yu. History of the Earth and life on it. - M.: MIROS - MAIK Nauka/Interperiodika, 2000. - 352 p.
Iordansky N. N. Evolution of life. - M.: Academy, 2001. - 426 p.
Shumilov Yu. Old and new in the mammoth’s fate // Science and Life, 2004, No. 7.
Vereshchagin N.K. On the protection of paleozoological monuments Quaternary period// Security wildlife, 2001, No. 2. - p. 16-19. Full text
Mammoth fauna of the Russian plain and eastern Siberia/ ed. A. N. Svetovidova (Proceedings of the Zoological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Volume 72). - L.: ZIN AN SSSR, 1977. - 114 p. - ISSN 0206-0477

Mammoth fauna Information About

At the same time, in relative proximity to the boundaries of glaciation in Eurasia and North America, a specific periglacial belt with special physical and geographical conditions was formed: a sharply continental climate with low average temperatures with dry air and significant watering of the territory in summer due to melted glacial waters, with the emergence in lowlands of lakes and swamps. In this vast periglacial zone, a special biocenosis arose - the tundra-steppe, which existed throughout the glaciation and moved in accordance with changes in the boundaries of the glacier to the north or south. The flora of the tundra-steppe included various herbaceous plants (especially grasses and sedges), mosses, as well as small trees and shrubs that grew mainly in river valleys and along the shores of lakes: willows, birches, alders, pine trees and larch trees. At the same time, the total biomass of vegetation in the tundra-steppe was apparently very large, mainly due to grasses, which allowed an abundant and unique fauna, called mammoth, to settle in the vast areas of the periglacial belt.

This amazing periglacial fauna included mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, musk oxen, short-horned bison, yaks, reindeer, saiga and gazelle antelopes, horses, kulans, rodents - gophers, marmots, lemmings, lagomorphs, as well as various predators: cave lions, cave bears, wolves, hyenas, arctic foxes, wolverines. The composition of the mammoth fauna indicates that it descended from the Hipparionian fauna, being its northern periglacial variant, while the modern African fauna is a southern, tropical derivative of the Hipparionian fauna.

All animals of the mammoth fauna are characterized by adaptations to life in low temperatures, in particular long and thick hair. The mammoth (Mammonteus, Fig. 93), a northern elephant that lived 50-10 thousand years ago in vast areas of Europe, Asia and North America, was also covered with thick and very long red hair with a hair length of up to 70-80 cm.

The study of representatives of the mammoth fauna is greatly facilitated by the preservation of entire corpses or their parts in permafrost conditions. A number of remarkable discoveries of this kind have been made on the territory of our country. The most famous of them is the so-called “Berezovsky” mammoth, found in 1901. on the banks of the Berezovka River in North-Eastern Siberia, and the latest find is an almost complete corpse of a baby mammoth 5-7 months old, discovered in 1977. on the bank of a stream flowing into the Berelekh River (a tributary of the Kolyma).

In terms of body proportions, the mammoth was noticeably different from modern elephants, Indian and African. The parietal part of the head protruded strongly upward, and the back of the head was sloping down towards a deep cervical notch, behind which a large hump of fat rose on the back. This was probably a supply of nutrients used during the lean winter season. Behind the hump, the back was steeply sloping down. Huge tusks, up to 2.5 m long, curled up and inward. In the contents of the mammoths' stomachs, remains of leaves and stems of cereals and sedges, as well as shoots of willows, birches and alders, and sometimes even larches and pine trees, were found. The mammoth's diet was probably based on herbaceous plants.

In many places where mammoths previously lived: in Siberia, on the New Siberian Islands, in Alaska, in Ukraine, etc., they were discovered huge clusters skeletons of these animals, the so-called “Mammoth cemeteries”. Many assumptions have been made about the reasons for the emergence of mammoth cemeteries. It is most likely that they were formed, like most mass accumulations of fossil remains of terrestrial animals, as a result of the drift of river currents, especially during spring floods or summer floods, into various kinds of natural settling basins (pools, whirlpools, oxbow lakes, ravine mouths, etc. .), where whole skeletons and their fragments accumulated over many years.

Along with the mammoths lived woolly rhinoceroses (Coelodonta), covered with thick brown fur. The appearance of these two-horned rhinoceroses, as well as mammoths and other animals of this fauna, was captured by Stone Age people - Cro-Magnons in their drawings on the walls of caves. Based on archaeological data, it can be confidently stated that ancient people hunted a wide variety of animals of the mammoth fauna, including woolly rhinoceroses and mammoths themselves (and in America, mastodons and megatheriums that still survived there). In this regard, it has been suggested that humans could have played a certain role (according to some authors, even a decisive one) in the extinction of many Pleistocene animals.

The extinction of the mammoth fauna clearly correlates with the end of the last glaciation 10-12 thousand years ago. Climate warming and melting glaciers have dramatically changed the natural situation in the former zone of periglacial tundra-steppe: air humidity and precipitation have increased significantly, as a result, swampiness has developed in large areas, and the height of snow cover has increased in winter. Animals of the mammoth fauna, well protected from the dry cold and able to obtain food in the vast tundra-steppe during the snowless winters of the Ice Age, found themselves in an extremely unfavorable ecological situation for them. The abundance of snow in winter made it impossible to obtain food in sufficient quantities. In summer, high humidity and waterlogging of the soil, extremely unfavorable in themselves, were accompanied by a colossal increase in the number of blood-sucking insects (midges, so abundant in the modern tundra), whose bites exhausted the animals, not allowing them to feed in peace, as is now happening with northern deer. Thus, the mammoth fauna found itself in a very short period of time (the melting of glaciers occurred very quickly) in the face of sudden changes in its habitat, to which the majority of its constituent species were unable to adapt so quickly, and the mammoth fauna as a whole ceased to exist. Among the large mammals of this fauna, reindeer (Rangifer) have survived to this day, possessing great mobility and capable of long-distance migrations: in the summer to the tundra to the sea, where there are fewer midges, and in the winter to moss pastures in the forest-tundra and taiga. In relatively snow-free habitats in northern Greenland and on some islands of the North American archipelago, musk oxen (Ovibos) survive. Some small animals from the mammoth fauna (lemmings, arctic foxes) adapted to the new conditions. But most of the mammal species of this wonderful fauna became extinct by the beginning of the Holocene era.

(According to some data, in the Holocene 4-7 thousand years ago on Wrangel Island there was still a population of grinding mammoths) (See the book: Vereshchagin N.K. Why mammoths became extinct. - M.. 1979).

At the end of the Pleistocene, another significant change in the fauna occurred, albeit limited to the territory of America, but still remaining mysterious. In both Americas, the overwhelming majority of large animals that were so abundant there before have become extinct: representatives of the mammoth fauna, those living in more southern regions where there was no glaciation, mastodons and elephants, all horses and most camels, megatheriums and glyptodonts. Apparently, rhinoceroses disappeared in the Pliocene. Of the large mammals, only deer and bison have survived in North America and llamas and tapirs in South America. This is all the more surprising since North America was the birthplace and center of evolution of horses and camels, which have survived to this day in the Old World.

There is no evidence of significant changes in conditions at the end of the Pleistocene in most of the Americas that were not subject to glaciation. Moreover, after Europeans arrived in America, some of the horses they brought went wild and gave rise to mustangs, which quickly multiplied in the North American prairies, the conditions of which turned out to be favorable for horses. Indian tribes who lived by hunting did not have a significant impact on the numbers of huge herds of bison (and mustangs after their appearance in America). Man at the level of Stone Age culture could hardly have played a decisive role in the extinction of numerous species of large Pleistocene animals (with the possible exception of slow and slow-witted megatheriums) in vast territories of both Americas.

After the completion of the last glaciation 10-12 thousand years ago, the Earth entered the Holocene era of the Quaternary period, during which modern look fauna and flora. Living conditions on Earth are now much more severe than during the Mesozoic, Paleogene and most of the Neogene. And the richness and diversity of the world of organisms in our time, apparently, is significantly lower than in many past geological eras.

In the Holocene, the impact of humans on the environment becomes increasingly apparent. In our time, with the development of technical civilization, human activity has become truly important. global factor, actively, although in most cases ill-considered and destructively, changing the biosphere.

In connection with the formation of modern humans (Homo sapiens) and the development of human society during the Quaternary period, A.P. Pavlov proposed calling this period of the Cenozoic era “anthropocene”. Let us now turn to the evolution of man himself.

Mammoths went extinct about 10 thousand years ago during the last Ice Age. According to many scientists, Upper Paleolithic hunters played a significant or even decisive role in this extinction. According to another point of view, the extinction process began before the appearance of people in the corresponding territories.

In 1993, the journal Nature published information about a stunning discovery made on Wrangel Island. Reserve employee Sergei Vartanyan discovered the remains of mammoths on the island, the age of which was determined to be from 7 to 3.5 thousand years. Subsequently, it was discovered that these remains belonged to a special, relatively small subspecies that inhabited Wrangel Island when they already stood Egyptian pyramids, and which disappeared only during the reign of Tutankhamun (c. 1355-1337 BC) and the heyday of the Mycenaean civilization.

One of the latest, most massive and southernmost burials of mammoths is located in the Kargatsky district of the Novosibirsk region, in the upper reaches of the Bagan River in the Volchya Griva area. It is believed that there are at least 1,500 mammoth skeletons here. Some of the bones bear traces of human processing, which allows us to build various hypotheses about the residence of ancient people in Siberia.

The mammoth fauna included about 80 species of mammals, which, thanks to a number of anatomical, physiological and behavioral adaptations managed to adapt to living in cold continental climate periglacial forest-steppe and tundra-steppe regions with their permafrost, harsh winters with little snow and powerful summer insolation. Around the turn of the Holocene, about 11 thousand years ago, due to a sharp warming and humidification of the climate, which led to the unfreezing of the tundra-steppes and other fundamental changes in landscapes, the mammoth fauna disintegrated. Some species, such as the mammoth itself, the woolly rhinoceros, the giant deer, the cave lion and others, have disappeared from the face of the earth. Row large species calloused and ungulates - wild camels, horses, yaks, saiga have been preserved in the steppes of Central Asia, some others have adapted to life in completely different natural zones (bison, kulan); many, such as reindeer, musk ox, arctic fox, wolverine, mountain hare and others, were forced far to the north and sharply reduced their area of distribution. The reasons for the extinction of the mammoth fauna are not fully known. For long history During its existence, it already experienced warm interglacial periods, and was then able to survive. Obviously, the latest warming has caused a more significant restructuring natural environment, or maybe the species themselves have exhausted their evolutionary capabilities.

Mammoths, woolly (Mammuthus primigenius) and Columbian (Mammuthus columbi), lived in the Pleistocene-Holocene over a vast territory: from Southern and Central Europe to Chukotka, Northern China and Japan (Hokkaido Island), as well as in North America. The existence of the Columbian mammoth was 250 - 10, woolly 300 - 4 thousand years ago (some researchers also include southern (2300 - 700 thousand years old) and trogontherian (750 - 135 thousand years old) elephants to the genus Mammuthus). Contrary to popular belief, mammoths were not the ancestors of modern elephants: they appeared on earth later and died out without leaving even distant descendants. Mammoths roamed in small herds, sticking to river valleys and feeding on grass, branches of trees and bushes. Such herds were very mobile - collecting the required amount of food in the tundra-steppe was not easy. The size of the mammoths was quite impressive: large males could reach a height of 3.5 meters, and their tusks were up to 4 m long and weighed about 100 kilograms. A thick coat, 70-80 cm long, protected mammoths from the cold. The average life expectancy was 4550, maximum 80 years. The main reason for the extinction of these highly specialized animals is the sharp warming and humidification of the climate at the boundary of the Pleistocene and Holocene, snowy winters, as well as extensive marine transgression that flooded the shelf of Eurasia and North America.

The structural features of the limbs and trunk, the proportions of the body, the shape and size of the mammoth’s tusks indicate that it, like modern elephants, ate various plant foods. With the help of tusks, animals dug out food from under the snow and tore off the bark of trees; Wedge ice was mined and used in winter instead of water. For grinding food, the mammoth had only one, very large tooth on each side of the upper and lower jaws at the same time. The chewing surface of these teeth was a wide, long plate covered with transverse enamel ridges. Apparently, in warm time years, the animals fed mainly on herbaceous vegetation. In the intestines and oral cavity of the mammoths that died in the summer, cereals and sedges predominated; lingonberry bushes, green mosses and thin shoots of willow, birch, and alder were found in small quantities. The weight of an adult mammoth's stomach filled with food could reach 240 kg. It can be assumed that in winter, especially when there was a lot of snow, shoots of trees and shrubs became of primary importance in the diet of animals. The huge amount of food consumed forced mammoths, like modern elephants, to lead an active lifestyle and often change their feeding areas.

Adult mammoths were massive animals, with relatively long legs and a short body. Their height at the withers reached 3.5 m in males and 3 m in females. Characteristic feature The appearance of the mammoth was a sharp sloping back, and for old males - a pronounced cervical interception between the “hump” and the head. In mammoth calves, these exterior features were softened, and the upper line of the head and back was a single, slightly curved upward arc. Such an arc is present in adult mammoths, as well as in modern elephants, and is connected, purely mechanically, with maintaining enormous weight internal organs. The mammoth's head was larger than that of modern elephants. The ears are small, oval elongated, 5–6 times smaller than those of asian elephant, and 15–16 times less than that of the African one. The rostral part of the skull was quite narrow, the alveoli of the tusks were located very close to each other, and the base of the trunk rested on them. The tusks are more powerful than those of the African and Asian elephants: their length in old males reached 4 m with a base diameter of 1618 cm, in addition, they were twisted up and inward. The tusks of females were smaller (2–2.2 m, diameter at the base 8–10 cm) and almost straight. The ends of the tusks, due to the peculiarities of foraging, were usually worn away only from the outside. The legs of mammoths were massive, five-toed, with 3 small claws on the front and 4 on the hind limbs; the feet are rounded, their diameter in adults was 40–45 cm. The special arrangement of the bones of the hand contributed to its greater compactness, and the loose subcutaneous tissue and elastic skin allowed the foot to expand and increase its area on soft marshy soils. But still the most unique feature The external appearance of the mammoth is a thick coat, consisting of three types of hair: undercoat, intermediate and covering, or guard hair. The topography and color of the coat was relatively the same in males and females: on the forehead and on the crown of the head there was a cap of black, forward-directed coarse hair, 15–20 cm long, and the trunk and ears were covered with undercoat and awns of brown or brown color. The entire body of the mammoth was also covered with long, 80–90 cm guard hairs, under which a thick yellowish undercoat was hidden. The color of the skin of the body was light yellow or brown; dark pigment spots were observed in areas free from fur. During the winter, mammoths moulted; The winter coat was thicker and lighter than the summer coat.

Special relationship associated mammoths with primitive man. Mammoth remains at early Paleolithic human sites were quite rare and belonged mainly to young individuals. It seems that primitive hunters of that period did not hunt mammoths often, and the hunt for these huge animals was rather a random event. In Late Paleolithic settlements, the picture changes dramatically: the number of bones increases, the ratio of hunted males, females and young animals approaches the natural structure of the herd. The hunting of mammoths and other large animals of that period no longer acquired a selective, but a mass character; The main method of catching animals is driving them onto rocky cliffs, into trapping pits, onto the fragile ice of rivers and lakes, into swampy areas of swamps and on rafting grounds. The hunted animals were finished off with stones, darts and spears with stone tips. Mammoth meat was used for food, tusks were used to make weapons and crafts, bones, skulls and skins were used to build dwellings and ritual structures. Mass hunting by people of the Late Paleolithic, the growth in the number of tribes of hunters, the improvement of hunting tools and methods of production against the backdrop of constantly deteriorating living conditions associated with changes in familiar landscapes, according to some researchers, played a decisive role in the fate of these animals.

About the importance of mammoths in life primitive people This is evidenced by the fact that 20–30 thousand years ago, artists of the Cro-Magnon era depicted mammoths on stone and bone, using flint cutters and brushes with ocher, iron oxide and manganese oxides. The paint was first ground with fat or bone marrow. Flat images were painted on cave walls, on slate and graphite plates, and on fragments of tusks; sculptural - created from bone, marl or slate using flint burins. It is very possible that such figurines were used as talismans, family totems, or played another ritual role. Despite the limitations expressive means, many of the images are made very artistically, and quite accurately convey the appearance of fossil giants.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, a little more than twenty reliable finds of mammoth remains in the form of frozen carcasses, their parts, skeletons with remains of soft tissue and skin were known in Siberia. It can also be assumed that some of the finds remained unknown to science; many were discovered too late and could not be examined. Using the example of the Adams mammoth, discovered in 1799 on the Bykovsky Peninsula, it is clear that news about the found animals reached the Academy of Sciences only several years after they were discovered, and getting to the far corners of Siberia even in the second half of the twentieth century was not easy . The greatest difficulty was extracting the corpse from the frozen ground and transporting it. The work of excavating and delivering a mammoth discovered in the Berezovka River valley in 1900 (undoubtedly the most significant paleozoological discovery of the early twentieth century) can be called heroic without exaggeration.

In the 20th century, the number of finds of mammoth remains in Siberia doubled. This is due to the widespread development of the North, the rapid development of transport and communications, and the rise in the cultural level of the population. The first comprehensive expedition using modern technology was a trip for the Taimyr mammoth, found in 1948 on an unnamed river, later called the Mammoth River. Removing the remains of animals “sealed” into the permafrost has become much easier these days thanks to the use of motor pumps that defrost and erode the soil with water. The “cemetery” of mammoths, discovered by N.F., should be considered a remarkable natural monument. Grigoriev in 1947 on the Berelekh River (the left tributary of the Indigirka River) in Yakutia. For 200 meters, the river bank here is covered with a scattering of mammoth bones washed out of the bank slope.

By studying the Magadan (1977) and Yamal (1988) mammoth calves, scientists were able to clarify not only many issues of the anatomy and morphology of mammoths, but also draw a number of important conclusions about their habitat and the causes of extinction. The last few years have brought new remarkable discoveries in Siberia: special mention should be made of the Yukagir mammoth (2002), which represents unique, from a scientific point of view, material (the head of an adult mammoth was discovered with remains of soft tissue and wool) and a baby mammoth found in 2007 in the river basin Yuribey in Yamal. Outside Russia, it is necessary to note the finds of mammoth remains made by American scientists in Alaska, as well as a unique “trap cemetery” with the remains of more than 100 mammoths, discovered by L. Agenbrod in the town of Hot Springs (South Dakota, USA) in 1974.

The exhibits in the mammoth hall are unique - after all, the animals presented here disappeared from the face of the earth several thousand years ago. Some of the most significant of them need to be discussed in more detail.

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Cave bear; ; ;

History of Rodents; ; ; ;

Age of Mammoths

In the Upper Pleistocene, a complex developed in Northern Eurasia mammal fauna, called the mammoth fauna, or mammoth complex. It is the mammoth that is one of the main elements of this animal community, which also included musk oxen, woolly rhinoceroses, bison, reindeer, saigas, arctic foxes, wolves, etc.

The fauna of large mammals, which lived 70-10 thousand on the territory of Siberia, was very diverse. The mammoth was its main component, since the bones of these elephants are found in almost all locations in Siberia. Because of this, it received the name “mammoth fauna” of the late Pleistocene (Pleistocene is geological period, which began 1.85 million years ago and ended 10 thousand years ago). In addition to the mammoth, it includes 19 more species (some of them are listed below in order of frequency of occurrence in Siberia): ancient horse (2 or 3 species), ancient bison, reindeer, giant deer, red deer, saiga antelope, woolly rhinoceros, elk, cave bear, cave lion. Some of these animals have become extinct, but most of them still live in Eurasia, but not at all where they used to be, in other climatic zones, and these species no longer form communities together as before. Reindeer lives in the tundra and taiga, and horses are found (used to be found, wild horses now none remain) in the steppe and forest-steppe zones. This change in animal ranges clearly shows us what enormous changes have occurred in the world over the past thousands of years.

Woolly rhinoceros and megafauna

IN ice age lived in Siberia very unusual species animals. Many of them are no longer on Earth. The largest of them was the mammoth. Paleontologists unite all animals that lived simultaneously with the mammoth into the mammoth faunal complex (“mammoth fauna”).

A significant part of these animals died out at the end of the Pleistocene - beginning of the Holocene (about 10 thousand years ago), unable to get used to the new natural and climatic conditions. Of the large extinct species, the mammoth fauna includes: mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, big-horned deer, primitive bison, primitive horse, cave lion, cave bear, cave hyena, primitive aurochs.

But many representatives of the animal world of the mammoth era were able to adapt to climate warming and habitat changes in the Holocene. They survived and still live on Earth. Some had to move to more northern areas for this. For example, reindeer, arctic foxes and lemings now live only in the tundra. Others, such as saigas and camels, moved south into the dry steppes. Yaks and musk oxen have climbed into the snowy highlands and now live only in a very limited area. Elks, wolves and wolverines have perfectly adapted to life in the forest zone.

All these animals are very different, they differ in size, appearance, way of life. They belong to different species groups. But they have one significant similarity - their adaptability to life in the harsh climate of the Ice Age. At this time, most of them acquired a warm fur coat - reliable protection from frost and wind. Many animal species have increased in size. Their large body weight and thick subcutaneous fat helped them endure harsh climates more easily.

Hundreds of thousands of years is a huge period of time; during this time, a wide variety of changes took place in nature, the glacier advanced and retreated, and natural zones moved after it. Animal settlement territories decreased and expanded. The animals themselves also changed, some species disappeared and were replaced by others. Scientists believe that even during short periods of warming, the sizes of many species decreased, and during cold periods they increased. Large animals tolerate cold more easily, but they need to eat more. And during the last warming in the Holocene era, forests replaced the tundra and steppes, shrub and grass vegetation decreased, and the food supply of herbivores greatly decreased. Therefore, the largest animals of the mammoth complex became extinct.

Woolly rhinoceroses lived happily before the Neanderthals

The ancestors of woolly rhinoceroses arose about 2 million years ago in the northern foothills of the Himalayas. For hundreds of thousands of years they lived in central China and east of Lake Baikal.

Much later, woolly rhinoceroses arrived from Asia to central Europe. Some fossil remains found in Germany are about 460 thousand years old, so woolly rhinoceroses lived here long before Neanderthals appeared in Europe. This was proven by employees of the Frankfurt Senckenberg Research Institute, who managed to piece together 50 pieces of the skull of the woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta tologoijensis.

Woolly rhinoceroses kept their heads close to the ground while feeding and, with their powerful teeth, vaguely resembled a modern working lawn mower. The woolly rhinoceros weighed about 1.7 tons and had long fur and a warm undercoat. On his head, near his nose, he had two horns, one large, the other smaller. The size of a large one could exceed 1 m in length.

Contemporaries of the found woolly rhinoceros adapted to living conditions near the glacier. While other animals fled from the north of Europe to warmer southern regions, furry giants, like mammoths, happily grazed on the frozen treeless plains. This is what Germany looked like half a million years ago.

European woolly rhinoceroses also lived before, the remains of which were found in the dinners of ancient Neanderthals. It is reliably known that hominids hunted these animals 70 thousand years ago, and 30 thousand years ago ancient people depicted two-horned animals in cave paintings in Southern France. Although scientists cite the anthropogenic factor as one of the reasons for the extinction of woolly rhinoceroses, climate change and the onset of heat about 8 thousand years ago led to the fact that they were unable to adapt to the rapidly changing environment and vegetation in particular, and as a result they died out.