Diet, physiology and environment of the cave bear: a biogeochemical study.

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Publication Date

January 2011

Abstract

In the last years, biogeochemical studies based on stable isotope analysis on fossil remains of cave bears were conducted by different research groups in order to elucidate some of the still open questions of the palaeobiology of this extinct species. In particular, questions about the diet of the cave bears were intensively addressed. Published results, however, give an unclear view if isotopic analysis are not considered in connection with the insights from other fields of research. However, the isotopic signatures cannot be interpreted straightforward and alone. It is necessary to take into account other data such as the phylogeny, the morphology, and the particular physiology, in a well-known chronological framework, to get a clear picture of the palaeobiology of an extinct species. In this work we review the available isotopic data coming only from well-contextualized cave bear sites, and explore how the climate can influence the physiology of the cave bears through their hibernation length and, in turn, the isotopic signatures registered in their bones.

Keywords

Ursus Spelaeus, Stable Isotopes, Diet, Hibernation, Palaeoenvironment

Document Type

Article

Notes

Fragments of Ice Age environments Proceedings in Honour of Ivan Turk’s Jubilee. Opera Instituti Archaeologici Sloveniae 21, Vol. 21 (2011).

Identifier

SFS0070473_00001

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