Petrovič V., Sabol M., Šurka J., Pyszko M. & Stehlík L., 2018: External brain morphology of juvenile cave hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea) from the Jasovská jaskyňa Cave (Slovakia) revealed by X-ray computed tomography. Acta Geologica Slovaca, 10, 2, 133–142.

External brain morphology of juvenile cave hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea) from the Jasovská jaskyňa Cave (Slovakia) revealed by X-ray computed tomography

Vlasta Petrovič¹, Martin Sabol², Juraj Šurka³, Martin Pyszko⁴ & Ladislav Stehlík⁴

¹Department of Zoology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Charles University, Viničná 7, CZ–12844 Praha 2, Czech Republic; petrovicv@natur.cuni.cz
²Department of Geology and Palaeontology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Ilkovičova 6, SK–84215 Bratislava, Slovak Republic; martin.sabol@uniba.sk
³Earth Science Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, branch Banská Bystrica, Ďumbierska 1, SK–974 01 Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic; surka@savbb.sk
⁴University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Palackého tř. 1946/1, CZ–612 42 Brno, Czech Republic; pyszkom@vfu.cz, lstehlik@vfu.cz

Abstract

The external brain morphology of a juvenile cave hyena (Crocuta crocuta spelaea) from the Jasovská jaskyňa Cave is described and compared with virtual endocasts of adult specimens of cave and modern spotted hyenas. Apart from differences in the development of olfactory tubercles and posterior endocast portion, the virtual endocast of the adult cave hyena has predominantly more developed sulcal and gyral impression patterns than the juvenile specimen. The smaller change in brain size during ontogeny compared with the increasing of the skull size is also observed. Additionally, the adult C. c. spelaea has a smaller anterior cerebrum volume in comparison with modern C. crocuta. Data obtained by these comparisons are discussed from the viewpoint of differences in social behaviour development and foraging strategies in extinct cave hyenas and extant spotted hyenas.

Key words: Crocuta crocuta spelaea, virtual endocast, external brain morphology, social behaviour, Late Pleistocene, Jasovská jaskyňa Cave, Slovakia

Manuscript received: 2018-08-07

Revised version accepted: 2018-11-07