Solving the Woolly Mammoth Conundrum: Amino Acid 15N-Enrichment Suggests a Distinct Forage or Habitat

Authors

Rachel Schwartz-Narbonne, Western University
Fred J. Longstaffe, Western UniversityFollow
Jessica Z. Metcalfe, University of British Columbia
Grant Zazula, Government of Yukon

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-9-2015

Volume

5

Journal

Scientific Reports

First Page

9791

URL with Digital Object Identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep09791

Abstract

Understanding woolly mammoth ecology is key to understanding Pleistocene community dynamics and evaluating the roles of human hunting and climate change in late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions. Previous isotopic studies of mammoths’ diet and physiology have been hampered by the ‘mammoth conundrum’: woolly mammoths have anomalously high collagen δ¹⁵N values, which are more similar to coeval carnivores than herbivores, and which could imply a distinct diet and (or) habitat, or a physiological adaptation. We analyzed individual amino acids from collagen of adult woolly mammoths and coeval species, and discovered greater  ¹⁵N enrichment in source amino acids of woolly mammoths than in most other herbivores or carnivores. Woolly mammoths consumed an isotopically distinct food source, reflective of extreme aridity, dung fertilization, and (or) plant selection. This dietary signal suggests that woolly mammoths occupied a distinct habitat or forage niche relative to other Pleistocene herbivores.

Notes

PMC4460640

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