Extinct steppe-tundra fauna from Cuvier 1 and Cuvier 2 cave at Fouvent-le-Bas (Haute-Saône, France)

Abstract

International audienceStudies of the fauna from the Cave « Cuvier 1 » and the various levels of the cave « Cuvier 2 » at Fouvent-le-Bas have encouraged artists and scientists to reconstruct the extinct fauna of large mammals, carnivores and microfauna that used these sites. In both caves, the fauna represents those typical of the steppe-tundra in which the woolly mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, the steppe horse and the cave hyena predominatedl. The artistic reconstructions are faithful to the results issued by researchers (taxa, size, weight, ethology of the animals) which, when placed in a past environment, help us to appreciate the coexistence and competition of the mammalian species (mainly of predator-prey dynamics) as well as the relations and interactions between Human and fauna who shared the same territories and ecosystems