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Animal symbolism is a prominent feature of many human societies globally. In some cases, these symbolic attributes manifest in the technological domain, influencing the decision to use the bones of certain animals and not others for tool manufacture. In southern Africa, animals feature prominently in the cosmogenic narratives of both hunter-gatherer and Bantu-speaking farmer groups. Whenever these two culturally distinct groups came into contact with each other there would be an assimilation of cosmogenic concepts of power and the adoption of certain symbolically important animals. In this paper, we report on which animals were selected to make bone tools during the first millennium AD contact period in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, and explore the extent to which this selection may have been influenced by the symbolic associations of specific animals. Our results show selective targeting of specific animals for tool manufacture at some sites, with a narrowing of the range of selected species during the first millennium AD contact period. Certain antelope tribes, such as Aepycerotini, Cephalophini and Antilopini, appear to have been deliberately avoided, thus arguing against opportunistic selection. Nor does the range of selected animals appear to show any obvious mechanical considerations, as has been noted in similar studies. We highlight the potential of ZooMS for understanding the dynamics of animal symbolism in the past.

Copyright: © 2010 Tobe et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Ticks are obligate haematophagous (‘blood-sucking’) ectoparasites that are capable of retaining host dietary traces post-moult, providing an opportunity to investigate parasite–host interactions and explore their potential as non-invasive subsampling techniques. However, research on the preservation of biochemical host signatures within whole engorged parasites remains limited. Here, we examine stable isotope ratios of nitrogen (δ 15 N) and carbon (δ 13 C) across different tick tissues (exoskeleton vs. blood meal) and between whole ticks and one of their hosts, the European polecat Mustela putorius . Additionally, carbon and nitrogen weight percentages (wt%) are assessed to explore potential biochemical changes linked to blood meal digestion. Our findings showed that the isotopic composition of tick exoskeleton and blood meal differed significantly, with exoskeletons potentially reflecting a previous host. Whole engorged ticks showed a close δ 15 N relationship to their host, consistent with that of trophic enrichment, while the observed δ 13 C values were more variable. These findings enhance our understanding of how haematophagous parasites preserve host dietary signatures and, with further research, could support their use as a valuable alternative to invasive sampling methods, particularly when destructive sampling is not feasible.

A decade ago, reports that organic-rich soft tissue survived from dinosaur fossils were apparently supported by proteomics-derived sequence information of exceptionally well-preserved bone. This initial claim to the sequencing of endogenous collagen peptides from an approximately 68 Myr Tyrannosaurus rex fossil was highly controversial, largely on the grounds of potential contamination from either bacterial biofilms or from laboratory practice. In a subsequent study, collagen peptide sequences from an approximately 78 Myr Brachylophosaurus canadensis fossil were reported that have remained largely unchallenged. However, the endogeneity of these sequences relies heavily on a single peptide sequence, apparently unique to both dinosaurs. Given the potential for cross-contamination from modern bone analysed by the same team, here we extract collagen from bone samples of three individuals of ostrich, Struthio camelus. The resulting LC–MS/MS data were found to match all of the proposed sequences for both the original Tyrannosaurus and Brachylophosaurus studies. Regardless of the true nature of the dinosaur peptides, our finding highlights the difficulty of differentiating such sequences with confidence. Our results not only imply that cross-contamination cannot be ruled out, but that appropriate measures to test for endogeneity should be further evaluated.

Species reintroductions are increasingly seen as important methods of biodiversity restoration. Reintroductions of red kites Milvus milvus and white-tailed eagles Halieaeetus albicilla to Britain, which were extirpated in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, represent major conservation successes. Here, we measured stable isotope ratios of carbon ( δ 13 C) and nitrogen ( δ 15 N) in feather keratin and bone collagen of museum specimens of red kites and white-tailed eagles, which were collected from across Scotland between the 1800s and 2010s. Our objectives were to investigate dietary differences between species and between the pre- and post- reintroduction periods. Among reintroduced birds, δ 13 C values were significantly less negative and δ 15 N values higher in feather keratin and bone collagen of white-tailed eagles compared to red kites, likely reflecting a greater reliance on marine resources by the former. Our stable isotope data showed a wide range, confirming the dietary diversity observed in conventional diet studies of both taxa, with white-tailed eagles, in particular, having wide dietary niches and a considerable degree of inter-individual variability. Isotopic data from pre-introduction red kites mostly fell within the range of post-reintroduction birds, suggesting they had similar diets to the pre-reintroduction birds, or the prey base for modern birds is isotopically indistinguishable from that of their historic counterparts. For white-tailed eagles, several pre-reintroduction birds were isotopically distinct from the post-reintroduction population. These differences may indicate a changing prey base, although these conclusions are complicated by shifting distributions and small population samples. Overall, our study demonstrates the utility of natural history collections in examining changes in diet, environment, and interactions with humans in reintroduced species compared with pre-extirpation indigenous populations.

The illegal wildlife markets of Southeast Asia are bolstered by organised criminal networks and the region’s rich density of charismatic wildlife. Forensic tools identifying species and their origins are vital to combat wildlife crime. However, many require expensive technology and skilled personnel, limiting their use in rural trade hotspots. This study introduces a replicable statistical framework, using skull morphometrics, to distinguish related species with simple measurements. We developed a web-based classifier trained on clouded leopard ( Neofelis spp.) skulls from museum collections across Europe, Asia and the U.S.A., a genus often targeted in wildlife trade. Our categorical predictive model, based on two key metrics, the fronto-nasal “pit” and m1 talonid morphology achieved 97% accuracy ( p  < 0.005). A continuous predictor model, using postorbital width, achieved 80.6% accuracy for males and 85.6% for females (both p  < 0.05). These models were encoded into a free, user-friendly web app, enabling practitioners in remote areas to distinguish these two species easily. This tool not only supports anti-trafficking efforts but also enables museum curators to correctly assign provenance to clouded leopard skulls with uncertain origins.

The degree of introgressive hybridization between the Scottish wildcat and domestic cat has long been suspected to be advanced. Here, we use a 35‐SNP‐marker test, designed to assess hybridization between wildcat and domestic cat populations in Scotland, to assess a database of 295 wild‐living and captive cat samples, and test the assumptions of the test using 3,097 SNP markers generated independently in a subset of the data using ddRAD. We discovered that despite increased genetic resolution provided by these methods, wild‐living cats in Scotland show a complete genetic continuum or hybrid swarm structure when judged against reference data. The historical population of wildcats, although hybridized, clearly groups at one end of this continuum, as does the captive population of wildcats. The interpretation of pelage scores against nuclear genetic data continues to be problematic. This is probably because of a breakdown in linkage equilibrium between wildcat pelage genes as the two populations have become increasingly mixed, meaning that pelage score or SNP score alone is poor diagnostic predictors of hybrid status. Until better tools become available, both should be used jointly, where possible, when making management decisions about individual cats. We recommend that the conservation community in Scotland must now define clearly what measures are to be used to diagnose a wildcat in the wild in Scotland, if future conservation action is to be effective.

The role of zoos has shifted markedly from their origins in the nineteenth century to the present day. Long-lived and charismatic individual animals have been central to zoological collections, as priorities have changed from a primary focus on entertainment to a greater emphasis on education, conservation, research and welfare. Here, we construct the osteobiography of a celebrity chimpanzee to highlight the changing practices of modern zoos over a near half-century timescale. We applied archival, biogeochemical, pathological, and morphometric analyses to the skeleton and tissues of Choppers, a captive female western chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes verus ), who featured in the PG Tips television advertisements in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. We show the efficacy of the osteobiographical method in revealing Choppers’ life events, including her capture from the wild, dietary transitions over decadal timescales, and her declining health in old age. These direct analytical techniques applied to her physical remains allow for a more in-depth understanding of her life history than from archival material alone. By using a mixed-method, in-depth assessment of a single captive chimpanzee, we provide a rich context for analysing the impact of the changing roles of zoos on captive animals during the late 20th and 21st centuries.

Lemurs are often cited as an example of adaptive radiation, as more than 100 extant species have evolved and filled ecological niches on Madagascar. However, recent work suggests that lemurs lack a hallmark of other adaptive radiations: explosive speciation rates that decline over time. Thus, characterizing the tempo and mode of evolution in lemurs can reveal alternative ways that hyperdiverse clades arise over time, which might differ from traditional models. We explore lemur evolution using a phylogenomic dataset with broad taxonomic sampling that includes the lorisiforms of Asia and continental Africa. Our analyses reveal multiple bursts of diversification (without subsequent declines) that explain much of today’s lemur diversity. We also find higher rates of speciation in Madagascar’s lemurs compared to lorisiforms, and we demonstrate that the lemur clades with high diversification rates also have high rates of genomic introgression. This suggests that hybridization in these primates is not an evolutionary dead-end, but potential fuel for diversification. Considering the conservation crisis affecting strepsirrhine primates, with approximately 95% of species threatened with extinction, this study offers a perspective for explaining Madagascar’s primate diversity and reveals patterns of speciation, extinction, and gene flow that will help inform future conservation decisions. Here, the authors characterize the tempo and mode of lemur speciation with a phylogenomic dataset that also includes lorisiforms. They find that lemurs exhibited multiple bursts of diversification (without subsequent decline in diversification rate) with the highest diversification rates accompanied by high introgression rates.