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Dietary changes of large herbivores in the Turkana Basin, Kenya from 4 to 1 Ma
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Dietary changes of large herbivores in the Turkana Basin, Kenya from 4 to 1 Ma
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Journal Article
Dietary changes of large herbivores in the Turkana Basin, Kenya from 4 to 1 Ma
2015
Overview
A large stable isotope dataset from East and Central Africa from ca. 30 regional collection sites that range from forest to grassland shows that most extant East and Central African large herbivore taxa have diets dominated by C₄ grazing or C₃ browsing. Comparison with the fossil record shows that faunal assemblages fromca.4.1–2.35 Ma in the Turkana Basin had a greater diversity of C₃–C₄ mixed feeding taxa than is presently found in modern East and Central African environments. In contrast, the period from 2.35 to 1.0 Ma had more C₄-grazing taxa, especially nonruminant C₄-grazing taxa, than are found in modern environments in East and Central Africa. Many nonbovid C₄ grazers became extinct in Africa, notably the suidNotochoerus,the hipparion equidEurygnathohippus,the giraffidSivatherium,and the elephantidElephas.Other important nonruminant C₄-grazing taxa switched to browsing, including suids in the lineageKolpochoerus-Hylochoerusand the elephantLoxodonta.Many modern herbivore taxa in Africa have diets that differ significantly from their fossil relatives. Elephants and tragelaphin bovids are two groups often used for paleoecological insight, yet their fossil diets were very different from their modern closest relatives; therefore, their taxonomic presence in a fossil assemblage does not indicate they had a similar ecological function in the past as they do at present. Overall, we find ecological assemblages of C₃-browsing, C₃–C₄-mixed feeding, and C₄-grazing taxa in the Turkana Basin fossil record that are different from any modern ecosystem in East or Central Africa.
