Ranching in South Park
The first ranches in South Park were established soon after the first gold mining strikes in the 1850s. Fairplay became as much a ranching center as a mining center. The excellent grazing land in South Park is one of the primary reasons that cattle ranching became the most stable industry in the area. Hay grown in this area has been shipped as far away as Kentucky and even to England as feed for racehorses. The right of landowners having no access to streams to appropriate and divert water to...
Order GALLIFORMES Family PHASIANIDAE
CENTROCERCUS UROPHASIANUS BONAPARTE, 1827 REFERRED MATERIAL Two premaxilla, DMNH 30204 and CM 73359 three distal mandibular symphyses, DMNH 8830, 8924, and 35383 two humeral ends of right coracoid, DMNH 30205 and 3 5743 humeral end of left coracoid, DMNH 30079 proximal right scapula, DMNH 30205 fragment of furculum, DMNH 30205 distal left humerus, DMNH 35385 two right carpometacarpi missing ends, DMNH 30205 two distal left tibiotarsi, DMNH 9849 and 30205 right and left tarso-metatarsi with...
Class Mammalia Order Rodentia Family Muridae 1
IDENTIFICATION This species is readily identifiable it is one of the few North American arvicolines that has rootless molars that lack cement in the reentrant angles. The ml consists of a posterior loop and usually seven alternating, closed triangles, with a somewhat variable, but always relatively simplistic, anterior cap. Dentine tracts usually break the occlusal enamel surface on all salient angles in advanced stages of wear Hibbard, 1938, 1956, 1972 . The ml of Guildayomys hibbardi is also...
Taphonomy and Interpretation of Packrat Sign
Wood rats collect and accumulate at their dens great quantities of sticks, bones, owl pellets, carnivore scats, and almost anything they can carry. In caves and rock shelters these are protected for hundreds or thousands of years. Neotoma can thus be a valuable taphonomic agent for preservation of cave deposits and their bone remains. Donald L. Rasmussen recognized the richness and nature of the fossil deposits at Porcupine Cave and the unique taphon-omy that depended so much on wood rats...
Ecological Attributes of Neotoma Species
Six species of Neotoma are extant in Colorado N. cinerea, N. mexicana, N. floridana, N. albigula, N. micropus, and N. le-pida Finley, 1958 . They live in different parts of the state such that rarely more than three species are sympatric. The most widespread is N. cinerea, which lives throughout the higher mountains. N. mexicana is found in the foothill zone on both the east and west slopes and occurs only about 700 m lower in elevation than Porcupine Cave. N. floridana lives on the Great...
Class Mammalia Order Lagomorpha Family Ochotonidae
Specimens of Ochotona were recovered from six sites in Porcupine Cave appendix 14.1 Badger Room, Generator Dome, North American fossil Ochotona of Pliocene Latest Hemphillian and Blancan and Early Pleistocene Irvingtonian Age C. J. Bell and J. I. Mead field notes Guilday 1979 Mead and Grady 1996 Guilday 1979 Pfaff 1990, 1991 Mead and Grady 1996 note Rancholabrean-age localities are numerous, and descriptions of them can be found in Mead 1987 and Mead and Spaulding 1995 . The small morph may...
Order Lagomorpha Family Leporidae
The leporids from the Pit were identified by A. D. Barnosky. It was not possible to confidently identify leporine specimens to the level of species, or in most cases even genus, on the basis of qualitative traits of isolated teeth. The only moderately diagnostic tooth is the p3, but even that tooth is subject to wide variation within species and exhibits broad overlap in morphology between Lepus and Sylvilagus. In view of the potential for error in ascribing too great a level of taxonomic...
Bone Accumulation in Caves
Bones are deposited at sites such as Porcupine Cave by four major processes Andrews, 1990 1. Animals die in the cave, particularly during hibernation, denning, or both. 2. Animals fall into the cave through a sinkhole at the surface. 3. Animals are taken into the cave by predators. 4. Bones are transported into the cave by wood rats Neotoma after having passed through the digestive tracts of carnivores or raptors or having become disarticulated from carcasses decomposing outside the cave...
Undifferentiated
DMNH 6563 L P4 G1, L6 6638 R jaw with ml G1, L8 6711 C G1, L9 6712 R humerus G1, L9 9934 L jaw with m1-2 G5, L5 10569 C G16, L16, G 10699 L femur G6, L5, B 10960 L jaw with m1 G8 8A, L3, B 10961 L jaw with m1 G8 8A, L1-6, A-B-C 10962 R jaw with m1 G7, L below 23, below H 10963 L innominate, L femur, L tibia G7, L 22, below H 12639 R femur G11-12, L mixed 13821 R c G16, L1, A 14047 L P4 G16, L3, B 15184 R tibia G8 8A, L mixed 22108 fragmentary R jaw with m1 G16, L17, H 22816 R C G8 8A, L2, A...
Materials and Methods Bit
Details of excavation history for the many localities within Porcupine Cave are presented in chapter 2. All specimens were examined under magnification. Identifications were made with reference to previously published descriptions, and from comparisons with fossil and modern skeletal material. Specimens reported here are housed at three institutions the Carnegie Museum of Natural History CM , Denver Museum of Nature and Science DMNH , and University of California Museum of Paleontology UCMP ....
KNOWN GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION Olt
See Known Geographic and Temporal Distribution sections for Mictomys vetus or M. landesi and Mictomys kansasensis or M. meltoni. ALLOPHAIOMYS PLIOCAENICUS KORMOS, 1933 IDENTIFICATION Molars are rootless the m1 consists of a posterior loop, three alternating closed triangles, and well-developed primary wings triangles 4 and 5 terminology following Repenning, 1992 that are broadly confluent with a very simple anterior cap. Only m1s are identifiable as Allophaiomys. TAXONOMIC background The...
Phrynosomatidae
DIAGNOSIS We refer two specimens to the genus Phryno-soma. The fossil maxilla DMNH 44766 figure 11.2 shows an anteroposteriorly restricted, triangular ascending process that terminates in a sharp dorsal tip this morphology is a synapo-morphy of Phrynosoma and is not known for any other lizards native to North America. The dentary DMNH 44767 is referred to Phrynosoma based on the distinctive, pronounced mediolateral curvature with a flattened ventral portion at the posterior end this morphology...
Family Canidae
REFERRED MATERIAL See appendix 13.1. description and comments The coyote Canis latrans is the most common canid and the second most abundant carnivore in Porcupine Cave. At least 180 specimens have been identified from eight areas in the cave, with most of the remains coming from the Badger Room, Mark's Sink, Generator Dome, and Fissure Fill A. All age classes are represented. Two fragmentary maxillae with deciduous dentitions DMNH 36589 and 36590 , representing different age classes as shown...
Appendix Carnivore Specimens from Porcupine Cave
DMNH 6555 LM1 G1, L5 6577 L p3 G1, L7 6578 R C G1, L7 6610 L scapula G1, L7 6637 R p3 G1, L8 6639 R jaw G1, L8 8531 L jaw with m1 G1, L10 8532 L M1 G1, L10 8675 L jaw with m1 G4, L3 8676 fragmentary L jaw with m1 G4, L3 8689 R c G1, L6 9847 fragmentary R jaw with m1 G5, L8 10500 L c G5, L12 10957 L jaw with p3-m1 G10, L4, B 10958 fragmentary R jaw with p4-m1 G17, L7, D 13813 L p4 G16, L2, B 14047 L P4 G16, L3, B 14048 R m1 G16, L3, B 21236 R jaw with dp4 G15, L2, B 22015 L P4 G7, L4, B 22132 L...
History of the Ownership of the Porcupine Cave Property
Park County records reveal that Jacob G. Decker of Denver applied for the first claim to the property surrounding the cave on 13 May 1922, to use it for cattle ranching under the Homestead Act of 1909. This claim was first contested in 1925 by Lawrence E. Frees of Buena Vista, Colorado, then by Walter A. Filmer, who applied for a claim to the land on 23 October 1928 and patented said claim on 7 February 1931. In March 1931 he sold the land to cattle rancher Frank M. Fehling while keeping...
Alpine Tundra
Alpine tundra occurs above treeline, at approximately 3450 m elevation, on all mountains bordering South Park. The flora and vegetation are highly variable because of the diversity of bedrock types in these mountains. Bedrock includes both granite, which forms acid soils, and limestone and dolomite, which form alkaline soils. Tundra plants are highly specific to substrate chemistry, with different plant species and distinctive plant communities occurring on acid and alkaline soils Bamberg and...
American Indian History
American Indians were the first human inhabitants of South Park. The Utes were entrenched in central Colorado when the Spaniards first entered the North American interior in the fifteenth century Simmons, 1966 . Initially they were apparently loosely organized into family groups, but after the acquisition of horses from the Spanish they organized into larger bands Swift, 1980 . Because of the abundant game animals and salt deposits in the basin, Comanches, Kiowas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos also...
Magnetostratigraphic Constraints
FIGURE 6.3 Characteristic remanences from Velvet Room strata. A Samples interpreted to be strongly overprinted. B Samples interpreted to be primary normal magnetization. C Samples interpreted to be primary reversed magnetization. mean 358 61 k 9.5 2a 27 class I site mean 330 42 k 4.9 2a 45
ROBERT G RAYNOLDS Wkk
Strata from the Velvet Room in Porcupine Cave contain an abundant and diverse vertebrate fossil record that suggests biostratigraphic ages ranging from as old as 2.0 Ma ago in Mark's Sink DMNH 1349 to as young as 600 Ka ago in the upper levels of the DMNH Velvet Room excavation DMNH 644 . Unfortunately, few external constraints on stratal age are available. This chapter attempts to improve the confidence of age assignments of the Velvet Room strata through paleo-magnetic sampling and analysis....
Comparison with Local Modern Fauna
To our knowledge, intensive surveys of the extant herpeto-fauna in the immediate vicinity of Porcupine Cave have not been conducted. Limited efforts to document extant herpeto- faunal diversity in the immediate vicinity of the cave were conducted by Robert Finley Jr. and resulted in multiple observations of the tiger salamander Ambystoma tigrinum including 10 vouchered specimens and the garter snake Thamnophis elegans including four vouchered specimens within a few miles of the cave all...
Figures
1.1. Per-hundred-year temperature change values for global warming events plotted against the interval of time over which the temperature change was measured 4 2.1. Location of Porcupine Cave 7 2.2. View of landscape around the cave entrance as of 1986 8 2.4. North to south profile through Porcupine Cave 12 2.5. West to east profile through Porcupine Cave 13 2.6. Detailed profiles through cross sections depicted in figure 2.3 14 2.7. Detailed profiles through cross sections depicted in figure...
Order Charadriiformes Family Scolopacidae
NUMENIUS MADAGASCARIENSIS LINNAEUS, 1766 OR N. ARQUATA LINNAEUS, 1758 REFERRED MATERIAL Distal half of right tarsometatarsus, DMNH 35864 fig. 12.1B . provenance Location 1349, Velvet Room, Mark's Sink, level 19. DESCRIPTION DMNH 35864 is much larger and more robust than tarsometatarsi of male Numenius americanus, N. borealis, N. minutus, N. tahitiensis, and N. phaeopus it is most similar in size and characters to N. madagascariensis and N. arquata. These species are both large curlews whose...
Paleopathology and Taphonomic Alteration
More than a hundred specimens from Porcupine Cave show signs of disease and trauma, and many more have been gnawed by rodents. In this preliminary study only a few specimens FIGURE 9.4 Lepus sp. hare or jackrabbit , DMNH 42146, innominate fragment from Mark's Sink. SEM photograph by Louis H. Taylor. FIGURE 9.4 Lepus sp. hare or jackrabbit , DMNH 42146, innominate fragment from Mark's Sink. SEM photograph by Louis H. Taylor. are described and figured as a representative sample. Appendix 9.1...
Paleopathology and Taphonomic Modification of Mammalian Bones from Porcupine
ELAINE ANDERSON deceased Denver Museum of Nature and Science Disease is as old as life, for disease is a part of life, life in changing conditions. The story of Porcupine Cave would be incomplete without an understanding of health, disease, trauma, and the calamities that befell the animals whose remains were fossilized, as well as the conditions that led to the accumulation of the many bones in the cave. Paleopathology was first defined in Funk and Wagnall's Standard Dictionary in 1895 and was...
Info Cvn
Early middle Pleistocene 1.0-0.78 Ma Duck Anas sp. Hawk Buteo sp. Accipitridae, indeterminate Virginia Rail Rallus cf. R. limicola Black-billed Magpie Pica hudsonia a Common Raven Corvus corax Chipping Sparrow Spizella cf. S. passerina a Middle Pleistocene stratigraphically younger than early middle Pleistocene Golden Eagle cf. Aquila chrysaetos Greater-sage Grouse Centrocercus urophasianus White-tailed Ptarmigan Lagopus cf. L. leucurus American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos White-breasted...
Acknowledgments Swo
C. Suzane Ware thanks Elaine Anderson for the opportunity to coauthor this chapter and to participate in the ongoing research on the paleopathology of Porcupine Cave. Elaine's generosity in sharing her knowledge, her patience in teaching, and her humor and general inspiration will always be much appreciated. The authors acknowledge Diane C. Carson for assistance in editing and manuscript preparation, Kathy Honda for providing research material and cataloging specimens, PJ Kremer for providing...
Acknowledgments Uwl
We are grateful to Pat Holroyd University of California Museum of Paleontology and Logan Ivy Denver Museum of Nature and Science for their assistance and patience in facilitating loans and dealing with curatorial matters. Tom Gier-makowski Museum of Southwestern Biology and Cindy Ramotnik National Biological Survey were extremely helpful in locating voucher specimens for extant amphibians and reptiles in the vicinity of Porcupine Cave. Elaine Anderson Denver Museum of Nature and Science and...
Sandra L Swift
The lagomorph family Ochotonidae, represented today by a single living genus Ochotona pika , originated in the middle Oligocene of Asia. During the late Miocene and into the Pliocene, the family flourished throughout Eurasia and migrated into North America. Beginning in the late Pliocene and throughout the Pleistocene, the group has declined, survived only by the genus Ochotona Erbajeva, 1988, 1994, 1996 Er-bajeva and Tyutkova, 1997 . Today more than 23 species of Ochotona live in Asia, and...
Acknowledgments
Excavating, analyzing, and publishing the Porcupine Cave data has been an arduous task that has taken nearly 20 years and involved more than 30 scientists, more than 100 field hands, and the cooperation of the three major museums where specimens reside the Carnegie Museum of Natural History CM , the Denver Museum of Nature and Science DMNH , and the University of California Museum of Paleontology UCMP . Thanks are due to all who lent a hand, and especially to the following individuals and...
Appendix Ochotona Specimens from Porcupine Cave Reported by Location and
Carnegie Museum test pit UCMP V93175 Will's Hole n 7 DMNH 21710 DMNH 21711 DMNH 41364 DMNH 41365 DMNH 41366 DMNH 41367 DMNH 41368 R mandible p4-m2 L mandible p4-m2 L mandible ml-2 R maxilla M2 Maxilla juvenile L mandible juvenile R mandible juvenile