CARNIVORE BREEDING DEN, WHITE RIVER OLIGOCENE

An Oligocene carnivore breeding den was identified at Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Burrowing and denning has been a suggested form of refuge for many Orellan paleofauna. Limited evidence has been presented describing mammalian carnivore denning behavior prior to the Miocene. A comparison of the paleofaunal elements at the Brian Maebius (BM) site with two hyaena breeding lairs (the spotted hyaena, Crocuta crocuta and the brown hyaena, Hyaena brunnea) exhibit the same faunal element selection. Bone assemblages at dens were composed of distal ends of humeri, proximal ends of radii and ulnae, complete metapodials, teeth and upper portions of skulls. A comparison of paleofaunal elements found at the BM Site resembled hyaena dens, in that teeth, cranial material, complete metapodials and metacarpals are among the most numerous elements. Of the 1285 faunal elements excavated from the BM Site approximately 53% have some form of tooth impact or gnaw mark; of the 137 paleofaunal elements removed from two medium field jackets, 95% have some type of gnaw mark or tooth impact. These impacts range from longitudinal crushing, gnawing at epiphyses, tooth impressions, tooth scrapes and small needle-like impacts potentially belonging to pups or kits.