The paleobiology of Pleistocene proboscideans plays a pivotal role in understanding their history and in answering fundamental questions involving their interactions with other taxa, including humans. Much of our view of proboscidean paleobiology is influenced by analogies with extant elephants. However, a wealth of information is available for reconstructing the paleobiology of ancient proboscideans using data from fossil specimens and preservational settings. Remarkable opportunities include permafrostderived specimens with preserved soft tissue, intestinal contents with direct evidence of diet, and compositional and structural profiles with subannual temporal resolution archived in appositional systems such as proboscidean tusks. New information on diets and local climates puts our understanding of proboscidean paleoecology on a firmer foundation, but the greatest prospects for new insight spring from life history data now being retrieved from accelerator mass spectrometry—dated fossil material. Intera...

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更新世长鼻目的古生物学

更新世长鼻目动物的古生物学在理解它们的历史和回答涉及它们与其他分类群（包括人类）相互作用的基本问题方面发挥着关键作用。我们对长鼻类古生物学的大部分看法都受到与现存大象的类比的影响。然而，大量信息可用于使用化石标本和保存环境的数据重建古代长鼻目动物的古生物学。显着的机会包括具有保存软组织的永久冻土来源标本、具有饮食直接证据的肠道内容物，以及在同位系统（如长鼻象牙）中存档的具有次年时间分辨率的成分和结构剖面。关于饮食和当地气候的新信息使我们对长鼻类古生态学的理解建立在更坚实的基础上，但新见解的最大前景来自现在从加速器质谱法（年代久远的化石材料）中检索到的生活史数据。国际...