Pleistocene Mammal Defences

Tusks:
A Mammoth could have used its tusks to defend itself like the modern day African Elephant. They would have been used to keep predators at bay; this would have made the young and oldest members of a herd particularly vulnerable as they wouldn’t have the strength or tusks to repel attack. Due to their curvature, the tusks were not suitable for stabbing at predators.

Mounted Woolly Mammoth tusk. Image credit
geoclassica.com

The tusks could also be used in the mating season. The adult males would battle each other to earn the right to breed. These animals may have also had to defend their territories from other herds. The size of the tusks may have been used as an intimidation tool, and physical contact being the final resort.


Communication:
Communication between modern day animals can be transferred onto extinct Pleistocene mammals. Mammoths may have communicated in a similar way to modern day elephants. They communicate over long distances using infrasound. This is inaudible to human hearing, which can detect sound between 20 and 20,000 hertz. However, over shorter distances they may have used louder bellows to warn of predators or to seem more threatening. This is a form of defence as the herd can escape or fight off the predator more efficiently than if it was attacked without warning.


Early humans had also developed speech in order to coordinate hunts. Without communication it is unlikely that hunts would have been so successful. It was 7 million years ago that hominids began to show signs of primitive speech, therefore by the time the Ice Age occurred, communication would have been more efficient, but not as evolved as present day speech.


Numbers:
Safety in numbers in the ice age would have been a major survival tactic. Even large animals such as Mammoths travelled in herds as a form of protection, this ensured that the young would reach an age where they are able to produce the next generation, the population would then thrive and either grow or remain constant.


Humans also survived in numbers. Cooperation between the tribe members would have ensured their survival. Food preparation, hunting and construction would have been shared between all members of the tribe, providing defence from the harsh conditions of the Ice Age as well as the predators that they share the land with.


Size:
Giant animals do not always need to be a part of a herd. The solitary Megatherium, could stand at a maximum height of six metres tall, it would have been intimidating to even a pack of Smilodon. At only 1.2 metres tall, Smilodon would have been dwarfed by Megatherium and therefore only the young and the weak would have been vulnerable. This is similar to the Mastodons and Mammoths.


Tools:
Humans developed the use of stone tools at the start of the Pleistocene, 2.5 million years ago. This included knives, spearheads and axes, all would have been used in everyday life to build shelters and hunt for food. This made humans more successful due to their coordination and range of tools.

Early humans harvesting meat, bone and skin from a mammoth. Image credit
humanorigins.si.edu

Humans also used animals as tools. The use of domesticated dogs was a key to the Homo sapiens outdoing their relatives the Neanderthals. The energy burden was now taken by the dog and not the human aiding in the taking down larger prey that essentially helped the humans to survive the harsh winters.