Les grands carnivores (à l'exception du loup) de l'Igue du Gral

Large carnivore (except wolf) of Igue du Gral.- Large carnivores other than the wolf, are extremely rare in the pitfall Igue du Gral faunal corpus. Only 35 bear remains and 7 hyena remains have been discovered during the three triennial of excavations. These carnivores bring us, despite and because of their discretion, essential information concerning the accessibility to the cavity during the Pleistocene. They also participate to the definition of biostratigraphic levels of the cave. Indeed, for the two carnivores, the remains refer to only one individual and the direct dating carried out on them allows us to use them as a chronological marker at the scale of the deposit. Spread over the entire excavated area, they fully participate in the definition and the follow up of the biostratigraphic levels. A paleontological and a taphonomical study were initiated in 2008 and continued in recent years with the aim of testing the coherence of the levels and contributing to the knowledge of the evolution of these taxa.