Extreme dispersal or human-transport? The enigmatic case of an extralimital freshwater occurrence of a Southern elephant seal from Indiana
Elephant seals (Mirounga spp.) are the largest living pinnipeds, and the spatial scales of their ecology, with dives over 1 km in depth and foraging trips over 10,000 km long, are unrivalled by their near relatives. Here we report the discovery of an incomplete Holocene age Southern elephant seal (M...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:71a784c306b243399b87860b81a87255 2024-01-07T09:42:59+01:00 Extreme dispersal or human-transport? The enigmatic case of an extralimital freshwater occurrence of a Southern elephant seal from Indiana Ana M. Valenzuela-Toro Maria H. Zicos Nicholas D. Pyenson 2020-09-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9665 https://doaj.org/article/71a784c306b243399b87860b81a87255 EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/9665.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/9665/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.9665 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/71a784c306b243399b87860b81a87255 PeerJ, Vol 8, p e9665 (2020) Elephant seals Marine mammals Historical record Biogeography Zoogeography Historical ecology Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9665 2023-12-10T01:50:10Z Elephant seals (Mirounga spp.) are the largest living pinnipeds, and the spatial scales of their ecology, with dives over 1 km in depth and foraging trips over 10,000 km long, are unrivalled by their near relatives. Here we report the discovery of an incomplete Holocene age Southern elephant seal (M. leonina) rostrum from Indiana, USA. The surviving material are two casts of the original specimen, which was collected in a construction excavation close to the Wabash River near Lafayette, Indiana. The original specimen was mostly destroyed for radiometric dating analyses in the 1970s, which resulted in an age of 1,260 ± 90 years before the present. The existence of sediments in the original specimen suggests some type of post depositional fluvial transportation. The prevalent evidence suggests that this male Southern elephant seal crossed the equator and the Gulf of Mexico, and then entered the Mississippi River system, stranding far upriver in Indiana or adjacent areas, similar to other reported examples of lost marine mammals in freshwater systems. Based on potential cut marks, we cannot exclude human-mediated transportation or scavenging by Indigenous peoples as a contributing factor of this occurrence. The material reported here represents by far the northernmost occurrence of a Southern elephant seal in the Northern Hemisphere ever recorded. The unusual occurrence of a top marine predator >1,000 km from the closest marine effluent as a potential extreme case of dispersal emphasizes how marine invasions of freshwater systems have happened frequently through historical (and likely geological) time. Article in Journal/Newspaper Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Southern Elephant Seal Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PeerJ 8 e9665 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Elephant seals Marine mammals Historical record Biogeography Zoogeography Historical ecology Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
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Elephant seals Marine mammals Historical record Biogeography Zoogeography Historical ecology Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Ana M. Valenzuela-Toro Maria H. Zicos Nicholas D. Pyenson Extreme dispersal or human-transport? The enigmatic case of an extralimital freshwater occurrence of a Southern elephant seal from Indiana |
topic_facet |
Elephant seals Marine mammals Historical record Biogeography Zoogeography Historical ecology Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
Elephant seals (Mirounga spp.) are the largest living pinnipeds, and the spatial scales of their ecology, with dives over 1 km in depth and foraging trips over 10,000 km long, are unrivalled by their near relatives. Here we report the discovery of an incomplete Holocene age Southern elephant seal (M. leonina) rostrum from Indiana, USA. The surviving material are two casts of the original specimen, which was collected in a construction excavation close to the Wabash River near Lafayette, Indiana. The original specimen was mostly destroyed for radiometric dating analyses in the 1970s, which resulted in an age of 1,260 ± 90 years before the present. The existence of sediments in the original specimen suggests some type of post depositional fluvial transportation. The prevalent evidence suggests that this male Southern elephant seal crossed the equator and the Gulf of Mexico, and then entered the Mississippi River system, stranding far upriver in Indiana or adjacent areas, similar to other reported examples of lost marine mammals in freshwater systems. Based on potential cut marks, we cannot exclude human-mediated transportation or scavenging by Indigenous peoples as a contributing factor of this occurrence. The material reported here represents by far the northernmost occurrence of a Southern elephant seal in the Northern Hemisphere ever recorded. The unusual occurrence of a top marine predator >1,000 km from the closest marine effluent as a potential extreme case of dispersal emphasizes how marine invasions of freshwater systems have happened frequently through historical (and likely geological) time. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ana M. Valenzuela-Toro Maria H. Zicos Nicholas D. Pyenson |
author_facet |
Ana M. Valenzuela-Toro Maria H. Zicos Nicholas D. Pyenson |
author_sort |
Ana M. Valenzuela-Toro |
title |
Extreme dispersal or human-transport? The enigmatic case of an extralimital freshwater occurrence of a Southern elephant seal from Indiana |
title_short |
Extreme dispersal or human-transport? The enigmatic case of an extralimital freshwater occurrence of a Southern elephant seal from Indiana |
title_full |
Extreme dispersal or human-transport? The enigmatic case of an extralimital freshwater occurrence of a Southern elephant seal from Indiana |
title_fullStr |
Extreme dispersal or human-transport? The enigmatic case of an extralimital freshwater occurrence of a Southern elephant seal from Indiana |
title_full_unstemmed |
Extreme dispersal or human-transport? The enigmatic case of an extralimital freshwater occurrence of a Southern elephant seal from Indiana |
title_sort |
extreme dispersal or human-transport? the enigmatic case of an extralimital freshwater occurrence of a southern elephant seal from indiana |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9665 https://doaj.org/article/71a784c306b243399b87860b81a87255 |
genre |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Southern Elephant Seal |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seal Elephant Seals Southern Elephant Seal |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 8, p e9665 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/9665.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/9665/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.9665 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/71a784c306b243399b87860b81a87255 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.9665 |
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PeerJ |
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8 |
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e9665 |
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1787424238738604032 |