Browsers, grazers or mix-feeders? Study of the diet of extinct Pleistocene Eurasian forest rhinoceros Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis (J¨ager, 1839) and woolly rhinoceros Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach, 1799)

The wooly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) and forest rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis) were prominent representatives of the Middle and Late Pleistocene glacial and interglacial faunas of Eurasia. Their diet has traditionally been inferred on functional morphology of the dentition and skull. In rare cases, food remains are preserved in the fossas of the teeth or as gut content. New approaches to infer diet include the study of isotopes and mesowear. Here we apply all four methods to infer the diet of these emblematic rhinoceros’ species and compare the food actually taken with the food available, as indicated by independent botanical data from the localities where the rhinoceros’ fossils were found: Gorz´ow Wielkopolski (Eemian) and Starunia (Middle Vistulian) as well as analysis of literature data. We also made inferences on the season of death of these individuals. Our results indicate that the woolly rhino in both Europe and Asia (Siberia) was mainly a grazer, although at different times of the year and depending on the region its diet was also supplemented by leaves of shrubs and trees. According to the results of isotope studies, there were important individual variations. The data show a clear seasonal variation in the isotope composition of this rhino’s diet. In contrast, Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis was a browser, though its diet included low-growing vegetation. Its habitat consisted of various types of forests, from riparian to deciduous and mixed forests, and open areas. The diet of this species consisted of selected items of vegetation, also including plants growing near both flowing and standing waters. The food remains from the fossae of the teeth indicated flexible browsing, confirming the previous interpretations based on functional morphology and stable isotopes. Long-term data from mesowear and microwear across a wider range of S. kirchbergensis fossils indicate a more mixed diet with a browsing component. The different diets of both of rhinoceros reflect not only the different habitats, but also climate changes that occurred during the Late Pleistocene

The Volchia Griva mineral oasis as unique locus for research of the mammoth fauna and the late Pleistocene environment in Northern Eurasia

This paper describes the results of research at Volchia Griva, the largest site in Asia containing mammoth fauna in situ. It is situated in the south of the West Siberian Plain in the Baraba forest-steppe zone, and occupies an area of several hectares. Analysis of sediments and taphonomy of the site allows us to suggest that thousands of megafaunal remains were buried here in mud pits and erosional depressions. The favorable geochemical landscape of Volchia Griva attracted animals during periods of mineral starvation. This is reflected in the high mortality in two intervals, ca. 20-18 C-14 ka BP and ca. 17-11 C-14 ka BP. The results of palynological analysis of samples from the upper part of the Volchia Griva section made it possible to reconstruct the history of landscape changes of the Baraba Lowland during the MIS 2. Forb-mesophytic meadows were common at the beginning of this period, with taiga type forests. At ca. 20 C-14 ka BP, an abrupt and significant aridization of the climate occurred, which led to the degradation of forests. The mammoth steppe was widely developed, dominated by forb-grass association and with areas of alkali meadows and soils. Such conditions existed probably until the mid-Holocene

Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis (Jäger, 1839) (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) from the Po Valley (Lombardia, Northern Italy): possible diet/nutrition and living conditions

In July 2013, a Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis (Jäger, 1839) skull was found along the Po river near Spinadesco (Cremona, Lombardia, Northern Italy). It was found in an excellent preservation status even if without the lower jaw as well as the third left upper molar. At that time, a certain amount of plant remains was found inside the dental fossettae. Later pollen analyses on this material were carried out in order to hypothesize the possible diet/nutrition as well as the related living conditions of S. kirchbergensis on that territory. These analyses revealed that the material consists of peat containing an amount of 496 pollen and spores. In an absolutely hypothetical way, this made possible to assume that S. kirchbergensis from Spinadesco lived in interglacial periods within the MIS 19–MIS 5 time span (late Middle Pleistocene). The pollen complex is suggesting a palaeoenvironmental landscape like a grassy vast alluvial plain above which there were mesophilic forests dominated by beeches, therefore in a moderately humid climate. S. kirchbergensis from Spinadesco probably consumed twigs of the sea buckhorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) and Rosaceae shrubs as well as Asteraceae grasses. Finally, the most probable time of its death and its relative burial was in a spring or in a summer period coinciding with blossom period for sea buckhorn. Up to now as few S. kirchbergensis remains were found in a relatively limited number of localities on the vast Eurasian landmass, it still appears to be a rare species. Furthermore, no chrono- or biostratigraphic data are available in most of the cases. The S. kirchbergensis skull from Spinadesco represents one of these cases