RESEARCH: OUTCOMES, VIEWPOINTS & PERSPECTIVES

Pollen analyses in hyaena coprolites from Spain

Hyena coprolites may produce pollen records comparable to pollen spectra from sediments in lakes, peatbogs and cave infills.

Hyaena coprolites have been a reliable source of evidence on animal diet, and animal-human relations in the past. However, research has been rarely addressed towards palaeo-vegetation issues. Largely through collaborative research with Louis Scott, I have reported pollen-analytical investigations of Quaternary hyaena coprolites (Las Ventanas Cave, Granada, Spain), Oyster Bay (Cape, South Africa) and Teodoro Cave (Sicily). The interpretative potential assigned to the palynology of hyaena coprolites has been based upon the working hypothesis that coprolite pollen spectra can be compared with available pollen records in order to improve our knowledge about the regional palaeo-landscape at particular times of the Quaternary.
( SEE POLLEN RECORD OF SPOTTED HYENA COPROLITES IN LAS VENTANAS CAVE, GRANADA)

Two facts justify this approach. First, available studies from southern Africa corroborate the coincidence of coprolite spectra with well-established regional pollen records from open sites. Second, there is a need to depend upon faecal materials and cave infillings in arid and semi-arid areas where conventional open pollen-rich deposits are rare, and where the abundance of entomophilous plants may complicate interpretation.

Hyena droppings are hard and durable, sink rapidly through water and are able to withstand considerable trampling into sediment whilst maintaining a coherent form.

Hypothetically, pollen may be incorporated into the hyaena coprolite by (i) ingestion of water, (ii) incidentally from the air, (iii) adhered to any item of the diet, (iv) ingestion of vegetable matter, and (v) the stomach contents of preys. However, determining the relative role of each will continue speculative until basic taphonomic research develop. Considering the behavior of the species responsible for the coprolite accumulation may shed some light on this problem. Most hyaenas will try to eat almost everything, and subsist on a broad-sized omnivorous diet including carrion, vegetable matter, mammals, and bird eggs. Brown hyaenas may even consume grass. However, when there is abundant supply, the spotted hyaena seems to subsist primarily on meat, with preference for large mammals, being frequent as primary defleshers. In this case, a most important pollen source must be the stomach content of these large herbivors.

Hyena coprolites from Oyster Bay, southeastern Cape coast, South Africa were found in association with a rich early last glacial vertebrate fauna that was apparently accumulated by brown hyenas, and artefacts of the Howieson's Poort substage of the Middle Stone Age. Pollen assemblages in hyena coprolites are dominated by Myrica and, to a lesser extent, Stoebe-Elytropappus type and Poaceae. Comparison with modern pollen spectrum suggested that the past environment differed markedly from the current coastal situation. The presence of Stoebe-Elytropappus, in particular, is considered to indicate lowered vegetation zones. Both fossil pollen and fauna suggest a landscape with a complex mosaic of vegetation indicative of overall cooler, more inland conditions than today.

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SCOTT, L., FERNÁNDEZ-JALVO, Y., CARRIÓN, J.S. & BRINK, J. 2003. Preservation and interpretation of pollen in hyaena coprolites: taphonomic observations from Spain and southern Africa. Palaeontologia Africana 39: 83-91

CARRIÓN, J.S., RIQUELME, J.A., NAVARRO, C. & MUNUERA, M. 2001. Pollen in hyaena coprolites reflects late glacial landscape in southern Spain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 2705: 1-13

CARRIÓN, J.S., BRINK, J.S., SCOTT, L. & BINNEMAN, J.N.F. 2001. Palynology of Pleistocene hyena coprolites from Oyster Bay, southeastern Cape coast, South Africa: the palaeo-environment of an open-air Howieson´s Poort occurrence. South African Journal of Science 96: 449-453