Older Dryas - Fauna

Fauna

A well-stocked biozone prevailed on the Arctic plains and thickets of the late Pleistocene. Plains mammals were most predominant.

Artiodactyls:

• Bison priscus, the steppe wisent or steppe bison
• Rangifer tarandus, the reindeer or caribou
• Megaloceros giganteus, the Irish elk
• Alces alces, the elk
• Cervus elaphus, the red deer
• Ovibos moschatus, the musk ox
• Saiga tatarica, the saiga

Perissodactyls:

• Equus ferus, the wild horse. Many authors refer to it as Equus caballus, but the latter term is most correctly reserved for the domestic horse. Ferus is presumed to be one or more ancestral or related stocks to caballus and has been described as "caballine".
• Coelodonta antiquitatis, woolly rhinoceros

Proboscidea:

• Mammuthus primigenius, the wooly mammoth

So much meat on the hoof must have supported large numbers of Carnivora, such as:

Ursidae:

• Ursus arctos, the brown bear
• Ursus spelaeus, the cave bear

Hyaenidae:

• Crocuta crocuta, the spotted hyena

Felidae:

• Panthera spelaea, the cave lion

Canidae:

• Canis lupus, the wolf
• Alopex lagopus, the arctic fox

Mustelidae:

• Gulo gulo, the wolverine

The sea also had its share of carnivores, which due to their maritime location, survived until modern times. Phocidae:

• Pagophilus groenlandica, the harp seal
• Pusa hispida, the ringed seal

Odobenidae:

• Odobenus rosmarus, the walrus

Of the Cetacean Odontoceti, the Monodontidae:

• Delphinapterus leucas, the beluga

Delphinidae:

• Orcinus orca, the killer whale

Of the Mysticetian Eschrichtiidae:

• Eschrictius robustus, the gray whale

The top of the food chain was supported by larger numbers of smaller animals farther down it, which lived in the herbaceous blanket covering the tundra or steppe and helped maintain it by carrying seeds, manuring and aerating it.

Leporidae:

• Lepus tanaiticus, the hare

Ochotonidae:

• Ochotona spelaeus, the pika

Cricetidae:

• Lemmus obensis, Siberian lemming
• Dicrostonix, collared lemming
• Lagurus lagurus, steppe lemming
• Microtus gregalis, narrow-headed vole
• Arvicola terrestris. Water vole

Sciuridae:

• Spermophilus, ground squirrel

Dipodidae:

• Allactaga jaculus, the jerboa