There are a few Ice Age animals that have lived in Indiana! I am going to tell you about two of them. The first one is the Woolly mammoth. It lived 200,000 years ago. The closest extant relative is the Asian Elephant. It is the same size as the modern African Elephant. Males can reach the height of 11 feet and weight up to 6.6 tons. Females can reach the height of 9.5 feet. They are covered in fur, have short tails, long curved tusks and four molars. A Woolly mammoth is a herbivore. They ate grass and sedges (course, grasslike plants that grow in wet ground). The environment that they lived in were grassy and the forests were coniferous, dominated by spruce and balsam. There were many lakes, bogs, marshes and cane brakes. The Woolly mammoth disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene, 10,000 years ago. The remains of the Woolly mammoth have been found along U.S. 52 in Indiana.
References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/woollymammoth
Mark J. Camp, Graham T. Richardson, Roadside Geology of Indiana
Webster's New World Dictionary
Woolly Mammoth
The second Ice Age animal that I would like to tell you about is the Dire Wolf. It lived in North America during the Pleistocene Epoch. The Dire Wolf was a predator. It preyed upon caribou, elk and deer. It is larger than the grey wolf and has bigger teeth. It became extinct about 16,000 years ago. The remains of the Dire Wolf were found in a bedrock just 3 miles south of the line between Monroe and Lawrence Counties. A large amount of mammal bones were found in the bedrock. It is believed that the mammals had fallen into a cave.
Dire Wolf
Scientists have different theories as to why the Ice Age animals became extinct. First, human hunting could have been a cause. Some believed that Hyperdisease (infectious disease) could have been a problem. The environment that the animals lived in could have also cause their extinction. The lack of plant life to feed upon could have caused them to die. I feel that it is probably all of these theories that could have led to the extinction of the Ice Age animals.
If you are interested in seeing fossils of some of the Ice Age animals, The Childrens' Museum in Indianapolis has a display.
Reference: Mark J. Camp, Graham T. Richardson, Roadside Geology of Indiana
Our present habitats (bogs, fens and prairies) are responsible for the distribution of Ice Age animals and plants. Fifty percent of the vegetation in a bog is herbaceous ("a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level"). There is standing water in a bog and the soil is acidic in pH. Bogs are mostly found in "glaciated depressions in northeastern Illinois".
The Volo Bog can be found in northeastern Illinois. It is a "quaking" bog. It opens up at the center. It was formed during the Wisconsinian glacier, 15,000 years ago.
Reference: Bogs, fens & praries in The Calumet Area
The Volo Bog in northeastern Illinois
Reference:http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Volo+Bog+&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=volo+bog+&sc=0-0&sp=-1&sk=#view=detail&id=69E5EBFED6255E68DEBB7D1C20E726C5D785F6A6&selectedIndex=3
A fen is a wet meadow. It is "fed by an alkaline water source such as calcareous (having calcium carbonate) spring or seep. More than 50% of the vegetation in a fen is herbaceous." There is a fen called Turner Lake Fen in Lake County and a fen called Spring Grove Fen Nature Preserve in McHenry County.
References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbaceous
Bogs, fens & prairies in The Calumet Area
A flower at the Turner Lake Fen in Lake County, Illinois
Reference:http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Turner+Lake+Fen+in+Lake+County+Illinois&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=turner+lake+fen+in+lake+county+illinois&sc=0-0&sp=-1&sk=#view=detail&id=652F854CFF018B60AF5A5A79CA653647455A9305&selectedIndex=0
Spring Grove Fen Nature Preserve in McHenry County, Ilinois
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