Murty M: Additional vertebrate remains from one of the late Pleistocene--Holocene Kurnool caves (Muchchatla Chintamanu Gavi

• Main Authors: Rajeev Patnaik, G L Badam, M L K Murty
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Rattus rattus
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1045.9695; http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/pdf_files/127/1272188698.pdf

Abstract Additional remains of small mammals (rodents-Hystrix sp., Bandicota cf. bengalensis, Millardia cf. kathleenae, cf. Rattus rattus; Lagomorph-Lepus sp.) reptiles (Python sp. and serpentes indet., Varanus sp.), amphibian (cf. Bufo melanostictus) and aves (cf. Gallus gallus) are reported from deposits spanning the last 20,000 yrs BP of Muchchatla Chintamanu Gavi (MCG). In the Late Pleistocene, the area around the Kurnool Caves had a very diverse fauna indicating the presence of wooded grassland, gallery forest and a wellwatered landscape. In contrast, today the area is an arid shrubland and only a fraction of the Late Pleistocene vertebrate fauna has survived. The disappearance of several vertebrate taxa was probably due to a very arid phase of the Last Glacial Maxima (LGM). Excessive hunting by prehistoric man largely in Holocene time could have caused the demise of the mammals such as Rhinoceros, Equus, Bubalus, Bos, Boselephas, Antilope and Gazella. r