Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats: Extinct Mammals and the Archaeology of the Ice Age Great Basin

448 Pages·2016·14.53 MB·English

by  Donald K. Grayson

DONALD K. GRAYSON
G I A N T
S L O T H S
a n d
S A B E R T O O T H
C A T S
EXTINCT MAMMALS
AND THE ARCHAEOLOGY
OF THE ICE AGE GREAT BASIN
Giant Sloths and Sabertooth Cats
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Giant Sloths
and Sabertooth Cats
Extinct Mammals and the Archaeology
of the Ice Age Great Basin
Donald K. Grayson
With Animal Reconstructions by Wally Woolfenden
The University of Utah Press
Salt Lake City
Copyright © 2016 by The University of Utah Press. All rights reserved.
The Defiance House Man colophon is a registered trademark
of the University of Utah Press. It is based on a four- foot-tall Ancient
Puebloan pictograph (late PIII) near Glen Canyon, Utah.
20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Grayson, Donald K. | Woolfenden, Wally, 1941–
Title: Giant sloths and sabertooth cats : extinct mammals and the
archaeology of the Ice Age Great Basin / Donald K. Grayson ; with
animal reconstructions by Wally Woolfenden.
Description: Salt Lake City : The University of Utah Press, 2016 |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015033646| ISBN 9781607814696 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781607814702 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Extinct mammals — Great Basin. | Extinct mammals — North
America. | Glacial epoch. | Great Basin — History.
Classification: LCC QL707 .G73 2016 | DDC 599.168 — dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015033646
Printed and bound by Sheridan Books, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan.
To Heidi
Who Gave Me Back My Life
•
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CONTENTS
List of Figures xiii
List of Tables xix
Preface xxi
Acknowledgments xxiii
A Tiny Bit of Background xxv
Dating xxv
Biological Names xxv
1. A Sloth in Prison 1
2. The Great Basin Now and Then 16
The Great Basin Now 16
The Hydrographic Great Basin 17
The Floristic Great Basin 21
The Great Basin Then 26
The Ice Age 26
The Bering Land Bridge 27
Ice Age Lakes in the Great Basin 29
The Younger Dryas 32
Learning about the Late Ice Age Vegetation of the Great Basin 33
The Late Ice Age Vegetation of the Floristic Great Basin 36
The Late Ice Age Vegetation of the Mojave Desert 39
What Is the Late Ice Age? 40
3. A Zoologically Impoverished World 41
Extinction Gets Real 42
The American Context 45
South America 47
The Cingulates (Armored Xenarthrans) 47
vii
viii CoNTENTS
The Pilosa (Sloths) 50
The Carnivores 50
The Rodents 50
The Perissodactyls (odd- Toed Ungulates) 51
The Artiodactyls (Even- Toed Ungulates) 51
The Litopterns and Notoungulates 52
The Proboscidea (Elephants and Their Relatives) 53
The Primates 55
Counting South American Genera 55
North America 56
The Cingulates (Armored Xenarthrans) 56
The Pilosa (Sloths) 59
Jefferson’s Ground Sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) 60
The Shasta Ground Sloth (Nothrotheriops shastensis) 63
Harlan’s Ground Sloth (Paramylodon harlani) 67
The Carnivores 69
The Short- Faced Skunk (Brachyprotoma obtusata) 69
The Giant Bear (Arctodus simus) 70
The Sabertooth Cat (Smilodon fatalis) 75
The Scimitar Cat (Homotherium serum) 79
The American Cheetah (Miracinonyx trumani) 80
The Rodents 85
The Lagomorphs (Rabbits, Hares, and Pikas) 86
The Aztlán Rabbit (Aztlanolagus agilis) 87
The Perissodactyls (odd- Toed Ungulates) 88
The American Horse (Equus) 91
The Artiodactyls (Even- Toed Ungulates) 92
The Tayassuids (Peccaries) 93
The Flat- Headed Peccary (Platygonus compressus) 94
The Camelidae (Llamas, Guanacos, Alpacas,
Vicugnas, and Camels) 99
The Large- Headed Llama (Hemiauchenia macrocephala) 100
Yesterday’s Camel (Camelops hesternus) 102
The Cervidae (Deer, Moose, Elk, Caribou, and Their Allies) 104
The Mountain Deer (Navahoceros fricki) 107
CoNTENTS ix
The Antilocaprids (Pronghorn) 111
Shuler’s Pronghorn (Tetrameryx shuleri) 113
The Diminutive Pronghorn (Capromeryx furcifer) 115
The Bovids (Cattle, Antelope, Sheep, and Goats) 119
The Shrub ox (Euceratherium collinum) 120
The Helmeted Muskox (Bootherium bombifrons) 123
The Notoungulates 125
The Proboscideans (Gomphotheres, Mastodon, and Mammoths) 127
The American Mastodon (Mammut americanum) 128
The Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) 136
Three Extinct Species 144
The American Lion (Panthera leo atrox) 145
The Dire Wolf (Canis dirus) 148
Harrington’s Mountain Goat (Oreamnos harringtoni) 151
The Extinct Late Pleistocene Birds of the Great Basin 154
The Ciconiidae: Storks 155
The Phoenicopteridae: Flamingos 156
The Anatidae: Ducks, Geese, and Swans 156
The Cathartidae: New World Vultures 157
The Teratornithidae: Teratorns 158
The Accipitridae: Kites, Hawks, Eagles, and old World Vultures 160
Why So Many Raptors? 161
How Many Genera of Mammals Were Lost toward
the End of the American Pleistocene? 163
The Loss of the Large 164
4. Dating an Ass 166
How to Date an Extinction 167
Dating an Ass 173
Dating Last Appearances 174
The Last Appearance Dates: Birds 176
The Last Appearance Dates: Mammals 177
Last Appearance Dates in the Great Basin 179
5. A Stable of Ground Sloths 183
Fossil Lake, Oregon 185
A Brief History 185