Tracing the Source of the Elephant And Hippopotamus Ivory from ...

fact adapted to the desert, and this has crucial implications for the reconstruction of the
African elephant range in North and East Africa during the Late Bronze Age.
In conclusion, the diet of the African elephant does vary from region to region,
but some generalizations may be drawn. When open forest and grasslands are available,
the elephants prefer more browse than graze during the dry season and more graze (grass)
than browse during the wet. Their stable carbon isotope signatures will therefore range in
the middle of the spectrum of carbon isotope values, reflecting a mixed C3 and C4 diet.
In areas where grassland is rare, elephants will rely almost wholly on open forest and
somewhat on closed forest (as seen in West Africa). These elephants will exhibit a pure
C3 diet (with some exceptions, as explained in Chapter Six). Regions such as East Africa
characterized by grassland with limited open forest will host elephants with strong C4
grass diets, as they consume browse only during the dry season when the grass dries out
and reduces in nutritional value. “Desert” elephants’ carbon signatures would be more
difficult to decipher since research has not been conducted specifically on their diet, but
their nitrogen and oxygen isotope values would reflect an arid environment.
Furthermore, while elephants are known to be capable of large ranges, they do exhibit
range-specific behavior, thus narrowing the geographical scope for interpreting the
strontium isotope ratios.
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