Contributing to characterise wild predator behaviour: consumption pattern, spatial distribution and bone damage on ungul
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Contributing to characterise wild predator behaviour: consumption pattern, spatial distribution and bone damage on ungulate carcasses consumed by red fox (Vulpes vulpes) Maite Arilla 1,2 & Jordi Rosell 1,2 & Ruth Blasco 3 Received: 25 January 2018 / Accepted: 26 June 2018 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract Neo-taphonomic studies of carnivores are commonly used to explain the formation processes of Pleistocene faunal assemblages. However, these works have been developed mostly with large carnivores—e.g. hyenas. On the contrary, small and medium-sized carnivores have been scarcely studied in spite of their presence in most of the archaeological sites. Here, we present a study trying to characterise the wild predator behaviour from a taphonomic perspective, describing consumption patterns on 23 small-sized ungulate carcasses eaten by red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) during a 2-year period in the Spanish Pyrenees. The aim of this work, therefore, is to characterise taphonomically this predator and to obtain data to distinguish them from other most common carnivores. For that, a combination of observational data from photo/video-trap and taphonomic analyses was compiled, allowing us to control variables like seasonality and time of consumption, as well as the spatial dispersion of skeletal remains. The initial interest by foxes lies in the disassembly of the anatomical elements and their transport to secluded places giving rise to dispersion of bones. Regarding to seasonality, bone modification increases at the end of winter/spring time, and proportionally, the time of consumption decreases. When the carcass is complete, viscera seem to be an important resource, followed by meat covering femur and humerus. This phenomenon causes significant damage on axial bones (mainly fractures and tooth marks), and to a lesser extent, on pelvis and proximal stylopodials. Keywords Taphonomy . Actualism . Animal behaviour . Vulpes vulpes
Introduction In the last decades, actualistic studies have commonly been developed to create analogical frameworks, which could be used to explain processes occurred in the past. In this respect, neo-taphonomic studies with current carnivores have become Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0675-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Ruth Blasco [email protected] 1
IPHES, Institut Català de Palaeoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, C/ Marcel·lí Domingo s/n (Edifici W3), Campus Sescelades, 43007 Tarragona, Spain
2
Àrea de Prehistòria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
3
Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca 3, 09002 Burgos, Spain
an essential tool to understand the role played by bonemodifying animals in the archaeological and paleontological records. However, this kind of studies is frequently handicapped by contextual difficulties when
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