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Science 8 September 1978:
Vol. 201. no. 4359, pp. 906 - 908
DOI: 10.1126/science.201.4359.906
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Articles

Carbon Isotopic Evidence for Different Feeding Patterns in Two Hyrax Species Occupying the Same Habitat

MICHAEL J. DENIRO 1 and SAMUEL EPSTEIN 1

1 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91125

The carbon-13/carbon-12 ratios of the carbonate and collagen fractions of bone of the sympatric hyrax species Procavia johnstoni and Heterohyrax brucei indicate that the former obtains most of its diet by grazing while the latter is primarily a browser. The carbon-13/carbon-12 ratios of these fractions in fossil bone will record information about diet if they have not been altered during diagenesis.

Submitted on March 8, 1978
Revised on May 24, 1978


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Stable isotopes, hypsodonty, and the paleodiet of Hemiauchenia (Mammalia: Camelidae): a morphological specialization creating ecological generalization.
(2003)
Paleobiology 29, 230-242


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