The Natural Habitat of Mammuthus Trogontherii in the Southern Part of the Russian Far East in the Middle Pleistocene

Abstract

Palynological data obtained from sediments that include the first find of a tusk fragment of the Trogontherii elephant (Mammuthus trogontherii) in Primorskii krai allowed us to reconstruct its living environment in the Middle Pleistocene. The reconstructed plant formations indicate warmer and drier climatic conditions during the existence of Mammuthus trogontherii in the southern part of the Russian Far East than the modern conditions. The ecosystems of the region had a more complex structure. Nemoral plants were more widely represented in them. Mesophilic pine–spruce forests with broadleaf trees and larch–birch sparse forests were the main feature of landscapes. Shrubby birch and alder thickets, sparse larch-birch forests, and sphagnum mires occupied plains and lakeshores.