Oysters and Mammoths: Fossils in Central Texas

[Oxytropidoceras]

Barker, Chris and Nielson, R. LaRell, "Oysters and Mammoths: Fossils in Central

Texas, Texas Academy of Science, 2017 Field Trip. Faculty Publications. 16.

http://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/geology/16

 

Also, there is:

 

Bongino, J.D., 2007. Late quaternary history of the Waco Mammoth site:

environmental reconstruction and interpreting the cause of death (Doctoral

dissertation). https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/baylor-ir/handle/2104/5047

 

Yours,

Paul H.

[BobWill]

Thanks for posting these. I've been wanting to read the original interpretation of the cause of death for the Waco mammoths ever since I listened to a talk by Logan Wiest and Don Esker at the Dallas Paleontological Society last week. These two Ph.D. candidates at Baylor have a very different idea they are pursuing and the evidence they presented is quite convincing. They are attempting to show that the mammoths died as a result of drought conditions rather than being caught up in a flood.

 

All of the data is not in and they plan to look at a few more clues that could support their hypothesis but they make a very convincing comparison with the fate of African elephants gathered at a dried up watering hole. So far the evidence includes trace fossils not looked at before and rodent tooth marks that appear on the bottom of the lower bones suggesting they were not covered up by fast-flowing mud. Of course they are getting a lot of push-back from researchers who are used to seeing the flood theory applied at other sites assumed to be the cause here. I'm looking forward to seeing the eventual results of their work.

[Fruitbat]

Funny thing is...the ORIGINAL interpretation (back in the early 80s) of the cause of death of those mammoths was a lightening strike!  Of course...there were only bits and pieces of three or four mammoths exposed at the time and not the 24 that are currently known.

 

-Joe

[Oxytropidoceras]

6 hours ago, BobWill said:

Thanks for posting these. I've been wanting to read the original interpretation of the cause of death for the Waco mammoths ever since I listened to a talk by Logan Wiest and Don Esker at the Dallas Paleontological Society last week. These two Ph.D. candidates at Baylor have a very different idea they are pursuing and the evidence they presented is quite convincing. They are attempting to show that the mammoths died as a result of drought conditions rather than being caught up in a flood.

 

What has been published by Logan Wiest and Don Esker is:

 

Wiest, L.A., Esker, D. and Driese, S.G., 2016. The waco

mammoth national monument may represent a diminished

watering-hole scenario based on preliminary evidence of

post-mortem scavenging. Palaios, 31(12), pp. 592-606.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312420567_The_waco_mammoth_national_monument_may_represent_a_diminished_watering-hole_scenario_based_on_preliminary_evidence_of_post-mortem_scavenging

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2110/palo.2016.053

 

There are also a discussion and reply for which I cannot find any online files.

 

Smith, C.B., 2017. Comment To Wiest et al. The waco mammoth

national monument may represent a diminished watering-hole

scenario based on preliminary evidence of post-mortem

scavenging. Palaios, 32(8), pp. 556-557.

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2110/palo.2017.035

 

Wiest, L.A., Esker, D. and Driese, S.G., 2017. Reply: The waco

mammoth national monument may represent a diminished

watering-hole scenario based on preliminary evidence of

post-mortem scavenging. Palaios, 32(8), pp. 558-558.

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2110/palo.2017.045

 

A recent Scientific American Blog is:

 

A New Solution to an Old Mammoth Mystery

A lack of water, rather than an excess of it, may have killed

the Waco mammoths By Brian Switek, January 16, 2017

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/laelaps/a-new-solution-to-an-old-mammoth-mystery/

 

Yours,

 

Paul H.