Cave site contributions to vertebrate history

Vertebrate fossils from cave deposits and karst features are recorded as early as the Mississippian with later occurrences of Permian vertebrates from fissures in Oklahoma, Triassic/Jurassic faunas from Wales and southwest England and Eocene to Oligocene faunas from France. Plio-Pleistocene cave fossil sites are numerous and are well known worldwide. The sheltered depositional environment in caves has facilitated the preservation of geochemical information such as stable isotope ratios and DNA in the bone assemblages. Bat colonies and owl roosts, common around cave entrances, contribute to the bone accumulation and provide a good sample of the local smaller vertebrate fauna. The use of caves by mammals as shelters, hibernation sites or dens for young, with the inevitable death in situ of some individuals, provides a unique sample so that growth series and predator-prey relationships can be studied. Caves in upland areas, where other environments of deposition are lacking, preserve a record of animals from...