Computational Science

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Browsing Computational Science by Subject "Diet"

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    Reconstructing the Dietary Preference and the Paleoecology of the Fossil Family Rhinocerotidae (Mammalia: Perissodactyla) from the Hominid Bearing Pliocene Hadar Formation of Ethiopia Using Extended Dental Mesowear Analysis
    (Addis Ababa University, 2023-06-21) Getahun Tekle; Mulugeta Feseha
    Rhinos are the largest, taxonomically diverse and the most successful perissodactyl group on earth. The fossiliferous Pliocene Hadar Formation has yielded abundant fossil faunal specimens including two rhino lineages and hominins like the famous Australopithecus afarensis. The two rhino lineages are the browsing Diceros and the grazing Ceratotherium. Dental mesowear analysis is a method used to infer the dietary category of herbivore mammals as browser, grazer or mixed feeder, recorded over a long time based on the facet developed due to attrition (tooth on tooth contact) and abrasion (tooth on exogenous materials, mostly food contact) on the ectoloph occlusal surface of the tooth. By analyzing the fossil tooth specimens it is possible to reconstruct the diet and dietary ecology specific group of individual as well as paleocommunities in that ecosystem. In this study the maxillary P2-M2 of Dicerose praecox and Ceratotherium mauritanicum, were analyzed using the extended mesowear method of rhino’s with objective of reconstructing the paleodietary adaptation of the Family rhinocerotidae to study and understand their paleoecology. The mesowear result indicate that Dicerose praecox is a browser probably feed on varieties of leaves, shoots, tree bark, or fruits whereas Ceratotherium mauritanicum is grazer that feed on grasses and other low-growing vegetation. A wide range research conducted on the extant representative of the two lineages, Diceros bicornis (The African black rhino) and Ceratotherium simum (The African white rhino) found similar result with the present study indicate their feeding behavior is still preserved. Australopithecus afarensis that inhibited in a similar environment with other contemporaneous mammalian groups is believed to have experienced the same climatic and environmental conditions. Therefore; the inferred paleoenviromental condition of the two lineages also define other mammals including hominins that lived the same environment and similar time period.