Fauna

The region's climate and topography created ideal territory for large herds of hooved mammals, or ungulates. In southwest France, the most frequent herbivores that can be identified from bones include reindeer (fig. ), horses (fig. ), bison (fig. ) and saiga antelopes (fig. ). The saiga antelope, which exists today in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, was very present in the Gironde. It is also present in the animal remains in the shelters at Roc-aux-Sorciers, Chaire-à-Calvin and Cap Blanc. The reindeer now inhabits the northernmost parts of the globe (Greenland, Scandinavia, North America, etc.). The ungulates present in the Magdalenian sites had thus adapted to open environments (tundra/taiga and continental steppe). Other species native to arctic and temperate biotopes (mammoth, muskox, ibex, chamois, red deer, deer, boar) are also present, but more sporadically. Birds (Lagopus, chough, etc.), fish (salmon, pike and trout) and microfauna (steppe polecat, vole, etc.) also attest to very cold climatic conditions. The ever-present wolf was the major predator.