The resilience of an injured Early Pleistocene Lynx from Taurida сave (Crimea)

作者：N. V. Serdyuk, А. В. Лавров, Joan Madurell‐Malapeira, Evgeny L. Kemelman, Д. О. Гимранов, А. В. Лопатин · 发表于：Historical Biology · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1080/08912963.2024.2383711 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Bat Biology and Ecology Studies、Wildlife Ecology and Conservation、Ecology and biodiversity studies

The present work describes for a first time a fused fracture of the metacarpals of the medium-sized felid, Lynx issiodorensis, the putative ancestor of all Eurasian extant lynx species. The studied remains, four metacarpals from the same individual, were unearthed from the Early Pleistocene of the Taurida cave (Crimean Peninsula) and studied through computed tomography. These remains exhibit pronounced signs of osteopathology, namely, fracture with displacement of the fifth metacarpal bone fused with the formation of callus and deformation of the bone itself. The pathological process is spread to adjacent metacarpal bones. The likely cause of the injury could be an unsuccessful hunt or an awkward landing from a height. After the injury and in the process of healing the fracture, the studied individual survived with clearly limited hunting abilities.