The late pleistocene cave bear fauna of the Torrener Bärenhöhle in the northern alps (Salzburg, Austria)

ABSTRACT

The Torrener Bärenhöhle (Cave of Torren) is an alpine bear cave in the limestone Alps near Salzburg (Austria). The entrance of this cave is located in the riverbed of a periodically flowing stream that floods the caverns during snowmelt or after heavy rainfall. Due to these flooding events, the fossiliferous layers were repeatedly destroyed and the fossil remains – mainly cave bear bones – were distributed over the cave’s entrance hall. The fossil collections have taken place since 1924. During the last decades, numerous bones scattered over the cave floor have been collected again and again. In this study, we conduct metric and morphological analyses of this fossil material as well as DNA analyses in an attempt to clarify the taxonomic position of the cave bear remains. The chronological status of the bear remains has not yet been clarified, because the few samples that have been analysed so far were beyond the range of ¹⁴C dating, indicating they are older than 49,000 cal yr BP. The following taxa are represented in small numbers: Brown bear (Ursus arctos L.), wolf (Canis lupus L.), cave lion (Panthera spelaeus Goldfuss, 1810), European bison (Bison bonasus L.) and beaver (Castor fiber L.).

KEYWORDS:

• Alps
• cave bear
• cave lion
• radiocarbon dating
• DNA

Acknowledgments

For collaboration, support and access to their collections we are grateful to Anna Bieniok and Robert Lindner (‘Haus der Natur’ Salzburg), Hemma Ebner and Erich Urbanek (Museum Burg Golling), Thomas Weigand (Austrian Federal Forests AG) and the members of the Regional Association for Speleology of Salzburg and the Mountain and Nature Guard Salzburg. We thank Joscha Gretzinger and Prof. Dr. Verena Schunemann for providing the cave bear consensus sequences published in Gretzinger et al. 2019.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.