Paleodiet and niche partitioning among the easternmost European cave bears based on tooth wear analysis

ABSTRACT

Extinct cave bears inhabited a large part of Eurasia in a wide diversity of habitats during the Pleistocene. This study investigates via tooth wear analysis the feeding habits of 66 individuals belonging to three genetically different species located in the Urals and eastern Europe: Ursus rossicus from Kizel cave, U. kanivetz from Secrets cave, and U. ingressus from Shiriaevo 1 cave. For the microwear analysis, the three species were compared with a reference collection of extant ursids. The dietary space of U. kanivetz does not match any of the extant species’ spaces. U. rossicus and U. ingressus tended towards some of the extant species’ measurements without any overlapping. For all three sites, the same microwear pattern was identified for all age groups (juvenile, prime, and old adult), meaning no differences related to ontogeny were found. The extinct species presented a larger number of coarse scratches compared to extant species, pointing to a preference for abrasive food items like dry grass or shrubs typical of the mammoth steppe biome during the cold season. These results indicate a niche partitioning between U. rossicus and U. kanivetz that co-existed in the same area, and in this way they avoiding competition.

KEYWORDS:

• Dental microwear
• wear stages
• Ursus
• Urals

Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Matthew McMillion for his ultimate help with translation and editing; Sergey V. Sukhovey for his advice and technical support with translation. We are indebted to Prof. A. Stuart (London) for providing us with radiocarbon dates.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

The study was fulfilled within the framework of the Federal theme of the Theriology Laboratory of the Zoological Institute RAS no. АААА-А19-119032590102-7 ‘Phylogeny, morphology and systematics of placental mammals’ (GB). IRP is the beneficiary of a predoctoral fellowship (2020-FI-B-00731) funded by AGAUR and the Fons Social Europeu (FSE). FR and IRP are supported by the Spanish MICINN project PID2019-103987GB-C31, the Generalitat de Catalunya project 2017SGR836 and the ‘CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya’. This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the ‘María de Maeztu’ excellence accreditation (CEX2019-000945-M); Federal theme of the Theriology Laboratory of the Zoological Institute RAS [АААА-А19-119032590102-7]; Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca [2017SGR836, 2020-FI-B-00731]; Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [CEX2019-000945-M, PID2019-103987GB-C31]