This research focuses on scale pattern and cross sectional morphology of hair to identify fossil hairs from Parahyaena brunnea (brown hyaena) coprolites, from Gladysvale cave in the Sterkfontein Valley, South Africa. The coprolites are part of a brown hyaena latrine preserved in calcified cave sediment dated to the Middle Pleistocene (257- 195 ka). Forty-eight fossil hairs were extracted from a 75 x 30 x 15 cm block using fine tweezers and a binocular microscope. They were ultrasonic cleaned in analar ethanol and examined using scanning electron microscopy. Hair identification was based on consultation of standard guides to hair identification and comparison with my own collection of samples of previously undocumented guard hairs, from 15 taxa of indigenous southern African mammals. Samples were taken from the back of pelts curated at the Johannesburg Zoo and Ditsong National Museum of Natural History in Tshwane (formerly Transvaal Museum, Pretoria).
Based on the fossil hairs identified here, this research has established that brown hyaenas shared the Sterkfontein Valley with warthog, impala, zebra, kudu and black wildebeest. These animals are associated with savanna grasslands, much like the Highveld environment of today. Fossil human hair was also noted in the coprolites. These findings provide a new source of information, on the local Middle Pleistocene fossil mammal community, and insight into the environment in which archaic and modern humans in the interior of the African subcontinent lived. Amid a scarce fossil and archaeological record for this time period, these results make a significant contribution to the ongoing debate about the role of climate change in the evolution and success of modern humans. In accordance with modern brown hyaena feeding behaviour, the presence of medium to large-sized mammal hairs in the coprolites suggests the co-existence of large feline predators in the area, or a period of active hunting, based on the behaviour of modern brown hyaenas when rearing cubs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/12318 |
| Date | 29 January 2013 |
| Creators | Taru, Phillip |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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