Extinction of Harrington's mountain goat
Keratinous horn sheaths of the extinct Harrington's mountain goat, Oreamnos harringtoni, were recovered at or near the surface of dry caves of the Grand Canyon, Arizona. Twenty-three separate specimens from two caves were dated nondestructively by the tandem accelerator mass spectrometer (TAMS). Both the TAMS and the conventional dates indicate that Harrington's mountain goat occupied the Grand Canyon for at least 19,000 years prior to becoming extinct by 11,160 +/- 125 radiocarbon years before present. The youngest average radiocarbon dates on Shasta ground sloths, Nothrotheriops shastensis, from the region are not significantly younger than those on extinct mountain goats. Rather than sequential extinction with Harrington's mountain goat disappearing from the Grand Canyon before the ground sloths, as one might predict in view of evidence of climatic warming at the time, the losses were concurrent. Both extinctions coincide with the regional arrival of Clovis hunters.
- Research Organization:
- Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff
- OSTI ID:
- 6413925
- Journal Information:
- Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States), Vol. 83:4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GOATS
BIOLOGICAL EXTINCTION
SKULL
ISOTOPE DATING
ARIZONA
CARBON 14
CAVES
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
AGE ESTIMATION
ANIMALS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BODY
CARBON ISOTOPES
CAVITIES
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FEDERAL REGION IX
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MAMMALS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEI
ORGANS
RADIOISOTOPES
RUMINANTS
SKELETON
SPECTROSCOPY
USA
VERTEBRATES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
550601* - Medicine- Unsealed Radionuclides in Diagnostics