Two incomplete skeletons of woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) from the late Pleistocene in the Kirov Region, European Russia

Petrova E.A., Masutin V.V., Zhuykova I.A.

P. 157-175

This paper presents a description of two unknown incomplete woolly mammoth skeletons discovered in the Kirov Region of the European part of Russia. The first skeleton was found on the Vetluga River, near to the Village of Chernovskoe. The second one was discovered on the Chernyanka River, near to the Village of Shaleevshchina. The Vetluga mammoth showed replacement of the lower molars — m2 by m3, and some unfused epiphyses of the bones. Based on qualitative and metric morphological data this skeleton was determined as belonging to an adult male, which probably died at the age of 35–43 years. Its mandible and dentition have a typical morphology, similar to Mammuthus primigenius. The Chernyanka mammoth was a female of estimated age 50–60 years at death. Compared to other European and Siberian skeletons, the Vetluga and Chernyanka mammoths have a body size similar to Mammuthus primigenius, and lived in the late Pleistocene.DOI: 10.15298/rusjtheriol.16.2.05

• Averianov A.O. 1992. [Description of the mammoth remains from Kamskoe Ust’e] // Muraviev I.S. & Solodukho M.G. (eds.). Volzhskaya fauna pleystotsenovykh mlekopitayuschikh v geologo-mineralogicheskom muzee Kazanskogo universiteta. Kazan: Kazan University Press. P.56–65 [in Russian].
• Averianov A.O. 1994. [Kutomanov mammoth] // Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta RAN. Vol.256. P.111–135 [in Russian, with English summary].
• Averianov A.O. 1996. Sexual dimorphism in the mammoth skull, teeth, and long bones // Shoshani J., Tassu P. (eds.). The Proboscidea. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P.260–267.
• Baigusheva V.S. & Titov V.V., Timonina G.I. 2017. Skeleton of woolly mammoth from Nechereziy (Republic of Adygei, Russia) // Abstract Book of the VII-th International conference of mammoths and their relatives. 17–23 September 2017. Taichung, Taiwan. NS2-1.
• Berezin A.U., Petrova E.A. & Berezina N.S. 2001. [The mammoth find (Mammuthus primigenius) from the neighbourhood of Khvadukasy village of the Krasnochetayskoe Prisur’e] // Nauchnye trudy gosudarstvennogo prirodnogo zapovednika “Prisurskiy”. Vol.18. P.117–172 [in Russian].
• Von den Driesch A. 1976. A guide to the measurement of animal bones from archaeological sites // Bulletin Peabody museum of archaeology and ethnology. Vol.1. P.1–137.
• Evans H.E. 1993. Miller’s anatomy of the dog. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company. 1113 p.
• Felix J. 1912. Das Mammuth von Borna // Veröffentl. städt. Museum Völkerkde. Bd.4. S.1–52.
• Garutt V.E. 1992. [The skeleton of mammoth Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach, 1799) from the neighbourhood of Kozlovo village of Chermezsk area Perm Region] // Muraviev I.S. & Solodukho M.G. (eds.). Volzhskaya fauna pleystotsenovykh mlekopitayuschikh v geologo-mineralogicheskom muzee Kazanskogo universiteta. Kazan: Kazan University Press. P.31–54 [in Russian].
• Garutt V.E. & Foronova I.V. 1976. [Research of teeth of extinct elephants. Methodological recommendations] Novosibirsk: Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Siberian Branch AN SSSR. 36 p. [in Russian]
• Haynes G. 1991. Mammoths, mastodonts and elephants. Biology, behavior, and the fossil record. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 413 p.
• Ismagilova G.M. 1992. [The main finds of the large mammals from Bashkir Predural and their stratigraphic significance] // Kamaletdinov M A. & Suleymanova F.I. (eds.). Flora i fauna Predural’ya i nekotorye aspekty magnitostratigrafii. Ufa: BNC UrO. 132 p. [in Russian]
• Jachmann H. 1988. Estimating age in African elephants: a revision of Law’s molar evaluation technique // African Journal of Ecology. Vol.26. P.51–56.
• Khromov A.A., Arkhangelskii M.S. & Ivanova A.V. 2001. [Large quaternary mammals from Middle and Lower Volga Region] Dubna: International University of Nature, Society and Man “Dubna”. 254 p. [in Russian]
• Kirillova I.V., Shidlovskiy F.K. & Titov V.V. 2012. Kastykhtakh mammoth from Taimyr (Russia) // Quaternary International. Vol.276–277. P.269–277.
• Koenigswald W. v. 1989. Das Mammut von Polch bei Mayen (Eifel) // Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart. Bd.39. S.87–97.
• Kosintsev P.A., Bobkovskaya N.E., Borodin A.V., Zinoviev E.A., Nekrasov A.I. & Trofimova S.S. 2004. [Trogontherian Elephant of the Lower Irtysh]. Ekaterinbourg: Volot Press. 260 p. [in Russian]
• Laws R.M. 1966. Age criteria for the African elephant Loxodonta africana // East African Wildlife Journal. Vol.4. P.1–37.
• Laws R.M., Parker I.S.C. & Johnstone R.C.C. 1975. Elephants and habitats in North Bunyoro, Uganda. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 315 p.
• Leshchinskiy S.V. 2012. Paleoecological investigation of mammoth remains from the Krakуw Spadzista Street (B) site // Quaternary International. Vol.276–277. P.155–169.
• Leshchinskiy S.V. 2017. Strong evidence for dietary mineral imbalance as the cause of osteodystrophy in Late Glacial woolly mammoths at the Berelyokh site (Northern Yakutia, Russia) // Quaternary International. Vol.445. P.146–170.
• Lister A.M. 1996. Sexual dimorphism in the mammoth pelvis: an aid to gender determination // Shoshani J. & Tassy P. (eds.). The Proboscidea: Trends in Evolution and Paleoecology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P. 254–259.
• Lister A.M. 1999. Epiphyseal fusion and postcranial age determination in the woolly mammoth Mammuthus primigenius // Deinsea. Vol.6. P.79–87.
• Lister A.M. 2009. Late-glacial mammoth skeletons (Mammuthus primigenius) from Condover (Shropshire, UK): anatomy, pathology, taphonomy and chronological significance // Geological Journal. Vol.44. P.447–479.
• Lister A.M. & Stuart A.J. 2010. The West Runton mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii) and its evolutionary significance // Quaternary International. Vol.228. P.180–209.
• Lister A.M. 1994. Skeletal associations and bone maturation in the Hot Springs mammoths. // Agenbroad L.D. & Mead J.I. (eds.). The Hot Springs Mammoth Site: A Decade of Field and Laboratory Research in Paleontology, Geology and Paleoecology. Hot Springs, SD: Mammoth Site Inc. P.253–268.
• Maschenko E.N. 1992. [Structure of a mammoth herd from the Sevsk Late Pleistocene locality (Russia, Bryansk Region)] // Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta RAN. Vol. 246. P.41–59 [in Russian, with English summary].
• Maschenko E.N. 2002. Individual development, biology and evolution of the wooly mammoth // Cranium. Vol.19. P.4–114.
• Petrova E.A. 2009. [Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) from the Late Pleistocene of Chuvashiya, European Russia] // Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS. Vol.313. No.1. P.58–67 [in Russian, with English summary].
• Petrova E.A., Burova N.D. & SinitsynA.A. 2015. [The skeleton of mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) from the Upper Paleolithic site Kostenki 14 (Markina Gora), European Russia] // Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS. Vol.319. No.3. P. 378–400 [in Russian, with English summary].
• Roth V.L. 1984. How elephant grow: Heterochrony and calibration of developmental stages in some living and fossil species // Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Vol.4. P.126–145.
• Roth V.L. & Shoshani J. 1988. Dental identification and age determination in Elephas maximus // Journal of Zoology. Vol.214. P.567–588.
• Siegfried P. 1959. Das Mammut von Ahlen Mammontheus primigenius (Blumenb.) // Paläontologische Zeitschrift. Bd.33. H.3. S.172–184.
• Sikes S.K. 1966. The African elephant, Loxodonta africana: A field method for the estimation of age // Journal of Zoology. Vol.150. P.279–295.
• Sikes S.K. 1971. The natural history of African elephant. London: American Elsevier Publishing Company. 397 p.
• Sukumar R., Joshi N.V. & Krishnamurthy V. 1988. Growth in the Asian elephant // Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Science (Animal Science). Vol.97. P.561–571.
• Tikhonov A.N. 1996. [Wooly mammoth Mammuthus primigenius (Elephantidae, Proboscidae) from Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island, East Siberia] // Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta RAN. Vol.270. P.167–185 [in Russian, with English summary].
• Vereshchagin N.K. 1977. [Berelekh “cemetery” of mammothes] // Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta AN SSSR. Vol.72. P.5–49 [in Russian].
• Vereshchagin N.K. 1979. [Why did mammoths die out?] Leningrad: Nauka. 200 p. [In Russian]
• Vereshchagin N.K., Tikhonov A.N. 1986. [A Study on Mammoth Tusks] // Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta AN SSSR. Vol.149. P.3–14 [in Russian].
• Zalenskiy V.V. 1903. [Osteological and odontographic studies on the mammoth (Elephas primigenius Blum.) and elephants (El. indicus L. and El. africanus Blum)] // Scientific results of the expedition sent by the Imperial Academy of Science for the excavation of mammoth found on Berezovka River. Vol.1. P.1–124 [in Russian].
• Ziegler R. 1994. Das Mammut (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach) von Siegsdorf bei Traunstein (Bayern) und seine Begleitfauna // Münchner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen Reihe A. Bd.26. S.49–80.
• Ziegler R. 2001. An extraordinary small mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) from SW Germany // Geologie und Paläontologie. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde. Series B. Vol.300. P.1–41.