WOOLLY MAMMOTHS (MAMMUTHUS PRIMIGENIUS BLUMENBACH, 1799) OF THE KARGINSKY TIME FROM THE NOVOSIBIRSK ARCHIPELAGO

Abstract

Background. The remote location and the difficulty of access of the islands of the Novosibirsk archipelago is one of the reasons for their little study. As a result, many locations of mammoth fauna in this region remain still undescribed and unexplored. The paper describes the bone remains of two representatives of the species «Woolly mammoths» (Mammuthus primigenius Blumenbach, 1799) from the island of Kotelny and Bolshoy Lyakhovsky. The purpose of the work is to determine the habitat time and morphometric features of the found mammoth remains. Material and methods. To achieve this goal, all available morphometric parameters of the finds were measured, followed by a comparison of the obtained data with mammoths found on the mainland. In addition, radiocarbon dating was carried out on the studied samples in Tokyo (Japan). Results. The results of comparing the morphometric parameters of the studied remains with those of the mainland ones showed that the island mammoths were inferior in most parameters, i.e., having an identical individual age, the studied mammoths were not large in size of body. The results of radiocarbon dating correspond to the Karginsky time of the Late Pleistocene. Conclusions. The time of the habitat of the mammoths found on the islands coincides with the time of the existence of the so-called Beringian "bridge", when North America and Eurasia were connected in the area of modern Alaska and Chukotka. At that time, the islands of the Novosibirsk archipelago were part of the mainland. Probably, the small size of these mammoths is due to adaptation to a peculiar method of foraging.

Keywords

• mammuthus primigenius
• karginsky time
• late pleistocene
• novosibirsk archipelago
• islands
• medium- sized mammoths