Archaeologists uncover ritually buried Red Deer from Bronze Age England.

Archaeologists carrying out exploratory work ahead of the construction of a new water supply network in the east of England have uncovered what appears to be a pair of ritually buried Red Deer at Navenby in Lincolnshire, according to a press release issued by Anglian Water on 9 August 2023. The Deer, which are thought to have been buried about 4000 years ago, were accompanied by pottery associated with the Bell Beaker Culture, a Bronze Age European Culture with appeared about 4800 years ago in Iberia, and spread across Europe and parts of North Africa, reaching Britain about 4450 years ago. The Deer show no signs of butchery (the removal of meat for consumption, which leaves cut marks upon the bones), and were therefore presumably intact when buried, although it is possible that they were ritually sacrificed for some purpose.

Remnants of two Red Deer found in a Bronze Age burrial at Navenby in Lincolnshire, England. Anglian Water.

Other than the burred Deer, no further traces of Bronze Age activity were found at Navenby, although the archaeologists did uncover a small Iron Age settlement, comprising two roundhouses and five smaller structures, which may have been grain stores, as well as the burial of three cremated and one uncremated individuals, which may date from the Roman period.

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Twitter.

Tracking the feeding habits of Dholes in the Ujung Kulon National Park, southwestern Java.

Dholes, or Asian Wild Dogs, Cuon alpinus, were once found across a wide swath of South, Central, East, and Southeast Asia, from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan north to Kazakhstan, and east to China, the Korean Peninsula, and the Russian Far East, and south to Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. However, habitat fragmentation across this range has badly impacted the species, and Dholes are now thought to occupy less than 25% of their former range, and are considered to be Endangered under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

In Indonesia Dholes are protected by law, and are thought to have a widespread but fragmented distribution. A limited number of studies have been carried out on the distribution and habits of Dholes, and while potential prey species have been identified in two national parks where they are known to occur (Baluran National Park and Ujung Kulon National Park, both on the island of Java), but direct evidence of prey selection or feeding has been sparse.

In a paper published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa on 26 December 2021, Dede Aulia Rahman of the Department of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecotourism at Bogor Agricultural University, and Mochamad Syamsudin, Asep Yayus Firdaus, Herry Trisna Afriandi, and Anggodo of the Ujung Kulon National Park, present the results of a camera-trap experiment intended to reveal the hunting preferences of Dholes in the Ujung Kulon National Park.

Rahman et al. divided the park into 329 one kilometre square grid sections, and placed camera traps in 108 of these, positioned so that each was at least 300-500 m from the next. These were left in place from January to December 2013, being checked every 28-30 days to ensure they were functioning, and repositioning if they had sighted no Animals after two or three checks.

The first Dhole predation event was recorded on 28 May 2013, when a pack of 15 adult Dholes was seen to attack a Banteng, Bos javanicus, calf, which was accompanied by three adult females, between 7.43 and 7.57 am. 

 

Photographs of predation on a young Banteng by a pack of Dholes on 28 May 2013: (1) A Dhole bites the neck of a young Banteng. (2)–(4) An adult female Banteng tries to protect the young Banteng. (5) Several members of the Dhole pack try to separate the young Banteng from an adult female Banteng. (6)–(7) Dholes kill a young Banteng on the far side of picture. (8) Adult female Bantengs come back to try and save the young Banteng. (9) The process of predation by Dholes is complete which is marked by several pack members resting. Rahman et al. (2021).

A second predation attempt was recorded on 24 September 2013, between 5.00 and 5.12 pm, when a group of six adult Dholes attempted to predate another young Banteng, again accompanied by three adult females.

 

Photographs of predation on a young Banteng by a pack of Dholes on 24 September 2013: (1) Young Banteng accompanied by three adult females. (2) One individual Dhole starts attacking the Banteng. (3)–(5) An adult female Banteng tries to protect the young Banteng. (6)–(8) Three Dholes are moving forward and attacking Banteng on the far side of picture. (9) Another individual Dhole running moving forward on the same side. Rahman et al. (2021).

In addition to these attacks on Bateng, five adult Dhole were observed chasing a Java Mouse-deer, Tragulus javanicus, on 18 April 2013, two adult Dholes were seen attacking a Wild Pig on 15 October 2013, and three adult Dholes were observed following an adult male Javan Rhinoceros, Rhinoceros sondaicus, on 31 July 2013.

 

(1)–(3) a Java Mouse-deer being chased by five adult Dholes. (4)–(6) Wild Pig attacked by two adult Dholes. (7)–(9) An adult male Javan Rhinoceros followed by three Dholes. Rahman et al. (2021).

The captured images show clear evidence of Dholes targeting Banteng, a type of wild Cattle, in the Ujung Kulon National Park. Although they appear to specialise in taking young members of the herd, Bateng might at first seem like quite a large prey item for a small Canid, but this is not out of keeping with the prey preferences observed for the species elsewhere. In India Dholes have been shown to mostly predate Chital Deer, Axis axis, and Sambar Deer, Rusa unicolor, both medium sized Deer, but will occasionaly hunt Gaur, Bos gaurus, the largest extant Bovid species. In Cambodia, Dholes primarily hunt Muntjac Deer, Muntiacus spp., but alto hunt Banteng, which make up about 18% of their diet. Finally, analysis of droppings left by Dholes in the Baluran National Park, East Java, has suggested that their diet there included Banteng and Water Buffalo, Bubalus bubalis.

Dholes are variable in their approach to hunting, and will hunt on their own, in pairs, or in packs of varying size, with larger groups tending to tackle larger prey. This is roughly in line with Rahman et al.'s findings, with one attack on a Bantang being carried out by 15 Dholes. However, observed hunts by Dholes on Cattle and other large prey in other areas have typically involved the pack attempting to spook and then chase the herd, separating calves from the adults in the confusion, whereas both attacks observed in the Ujung Kulon National Park began with a direct attack on calves that were close to adults.

Rahman et al. do not believe that the Dholes observed following a Rhinoceros were engaged in a hunting attmept, reasoning that at 1000-2000 kg such an Animal is likely to be considerably outside of their range, and that a group of three is probably to small would be too small for the attmept if they were to make it. Rather, they suggest, the Dholes may have been escorting the Rhinoceros away from a den site in order to ensure the safety of their young.

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Twitter.

 

Opossum seen grooming Deer for Ticks in Vermont.

The Vermont Wildlife Coalition has released a camera-trap photograph in which as Virginia Opossum, Didelphis virginiana, can be seen removing Ticks from the face of a Deer, which has apparently approached the Marsupial for this service. Virginia Opossums are known to be major consumers of Ticks, and therefore thought to be a significant control of Tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease, which they usually acquire by visiting Tick-infested areas of woodland and then picking off any Ticks that attempt to attach to them, but this is thought to be the first time another animal has been seen approaching an Opossum for grooming, a form of behaviour more associated with marine organisms such as Cleaner Fish.

A Virginia Opossum, Didelphis virginiana, grooming a Deer in a forest in Vermont. Vermont Wildlife Coalition.

Virginia Opossums are North America's only native Marsupial, and, unlike many Marsupials, are extremely adaptable in their habits, rapidly taking to new environments and food sources when these become available. They were confined to the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America as far as Costa Rica, until the early twentieth century, since when they have colonised much of the rest of the United Stares and southern Canada, spreading through man-made habitats, such as farms and gardens, into areas such as the forests of New England where they were not previously found.

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Muntiacus gigas: A new specimen of the Giant Muntjac from the Early Holocene of northern Vietnam.

Muntjacs, Muntiacus spp., are small solitary Deer found across South, Southeast, and East Asia, though with their earliest fossils found in the Miocene of Central Europe. The genus currently contains about a dozen species, with several having only been described in the last few decades. The living Giant Muntjac was first described from northern Vietnam as Megamuntiacus vuquangensis, in 1994, being placed in a separate genus on account of its larger size, though this was later considered to be erroneous, as the species is not sufficiently genetically distinct to justify this. It was then realised that the species was identical to one described from Hemudu, a Middle Holocene (6000-7000 years old) Neolithic site in Zhejiang Province in eastern China, as Muntiacus gigas, in 1990, and then thought to represent an extinct Muntjac species. Since the Chinese specimen was named first, this name takes precedence, and is considered the valid name for the species. The species is currently confined to the Annamite Mountains of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, with this range inferred mostly from hunting trophies in museum collections, and is currently considered to be Critically Endangered under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, with a high likelyhood of going extinct within the next 20 years. However, the presence of the species in the Middle Holocene of eastern China suggests that the species once had a much greater range.

In a paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science on 13 March 2019, Christopher Stimpson of the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University Belfast, Benjamin Utting of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, Shawn O’Donnell, also of the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University Belfast, Nguyen Huong of the Institute of Archaeology at the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Thorsten Kahlert, again of the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University Belfast, Bui Manh of the Department of Tourism of Ninh Bình Province, Vietnam, Pham Khanh of the Tràng An Landscape Complex Management Board, and Ryan Rabett, once again of the School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen’s University Belfast, describe a new specimen of Muntiacus gigas from an Early Holocene archaeological site in the Tràng An World Heritage Area in Ninh Binh Province, northern Vietnam.

The Tràng An World Heritage Area lies on the southern margin of the Red River Delta in Ninh Binh Province, northern Vietnam, and comprises a karstified (eroded) limestone massif covered by forest that rises from the coastal plain. The Hang Boi Cave Complex is an archaeological site within this area, comprising a series of interconnecting caverns with a southeast-facing entrance, which shows signs of having been inhabited during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene,

The specimen in the study (HBC-27587) comes from a midden pile at the entrance to the cave, comprising largely Mollusc shells, but also bones from other Mammals, Birds and Turtles. The specimen is a partial mandible (jaw bone) identified on the basis of bone and tooth anatomy as belonging to Muntiacus gigas. The specimen has been dated to between 11 100 and 11 400 years old.

Specimen HBC-27587 shown in lateral (b), medial (c), dorsal (d ) views and occlusal surfaces of m2 and m3 (e). All scale bars ¼ 20 mm. Stimpson et al. (2019).

The presence of Muntiacus gigas in the Early Holocene of northern Vietnam is not surprising, given that the species is known to have ranged as far as eastern China in the past. However the environment at Hang Boi is very different to that occupied by the species today, suggesting that it has altered its habits in response to Human pressure; modern Giant Muntjacs are found in dense forests in the Annamite Mountains, sometimes at 1200 m above sealevel. However the Tràng An specimen, while it may have been carried a short distance by Humans before being deposited, appears to have lived in a very different environment, on a lowland plane at most 200 m above sealevel, which is interpreted as having been covered by an open Oak woodland during the early Holocene.

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Assessing the impact of large animal carcasses on plant biodiversity, using data from a Norwegian Reindeer herd killed by lightning.

A total of 323 Reindeer, Rangifer tarandus, were killed by a lightning strike during a thunder storm on the Hardanangervidda National Park on Friday 26 August 2016. The Reindeer migrate across the park, which is a mountainous plateau, at this time of year, and are believed to have huddled together during the storm, an action which helps to protect the younger members of the herd (which included 70 calves) from the worst of the elements, but which makes them particularly vulnerable to (rare) lightning strikes. While tragic for the Reindeer, this event provided a unique opportunity to study the impact of large cadavers on a (nutrient poor) tundra environment.

Reindeer killed by lightning on the Hardangervidda Plateau on 26 August 2016. Håvard Kjøntvedt/Norwegian Environment Agency.

In a paper published in the journal Biology Letters on 15 August 2018, Sam Steyaert of the Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health at the University of South-Eastern Norway, and the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Shane Frank, also of the Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health at the University of South-Eastern Norway, Stefano Puliti, also of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and of the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Rudy Badia, again of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Mie Arnberg, again of the Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health at the University of South-Eastern Norway, Jack Beardsley of the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Group at the University of Tasmania, Asle Økelsrud, once again of the Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health at the University of South-Eastern Norway, and Rakel Blaalid of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, describe the results of a study which monitored the site of the 2016 mass Reindeer site for seeds introduced by scavengers, as a way of demonstrating that endozoochory (seed dispersal via ingestion by vertebrate animals) provides a viable means for plants to reach a new nutrient source within an otherwise nutrient poor environment.

The vegetation at the sire of the study was dominated by Dwarf Birch, Betula nana, as well as Heathers, Grasses, and an understory of Mosses and Lichens. A range of Mammals and Birds were seen scavenging at the site, including Corvids (Raven, Corvus corax, and Hooded Crow, Corvus cornix), Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), Foxes (Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes, and Arctic Fox, Vulpes lagopus), Wolverine (Gulo gulo) and several Rodents (Arvicolidae). In addition a number of small Birds were observed feeding on Blowflies (Calliphoridae) attracted to the carrion.

Steyaert et al. searched the site for feces of mesopredators, Birds and Rodents, finding a particular corelation between Bird feces and carcass density (i.e. there was more Bird erces in areas where the carcasses were most dense). They then examined the Bird feces for seeds of the Crowberry, Empetrum nigrum, keystone species of the alpine tundra with predominantly vegetative reproduction, finding 87.5% of the feces sampled contained viable seeds.

The Crowberry, Empetrum nigrum, an Arctic keystone species shown to be distributed to sites with carrion by scavenging Birds. Wikimedia Commons.

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Lightning kills 323 Reindeer in Norwegian national park.

A total of 323 Reindeer have been killed by a lightning strike during a thunder storm on the Hardanangervidda National Park on Friday 26 August 2016, according to the Norwegian Environment Agency. The Reindeer migrate across the park, which is a mountainous plateau, at this time of year, and are believed to have huddled together during the storm, an action which helps to protect the younger members of the herd (which included 70 calves) from the worst of the elements, but which makes them particularly vulnerable to (rare) lightning strikes.

Reindeer killed by lightning on the Hardangervidda Plateau on 26 August 2016. Håvard Kjøntvedt/Norwegian Environment Agency.

Thunderstorms occur when warm, moist bodies of air encounter cooler, drier air packages. The warm air rises over the cooler air until it rises above its dew point (the point where it cools to far to retain its water content as vapor), and the water precipitates out, falling as rain, sleet or hail.

Warm moist air passing over the surface of the Earth acts as an electrical generator, creating a negative charge in the cloud tops and a positive charge at the ground (or occasionally in a second cloud layer). The atmosphere acts as an electrical insulator, allowing this potential to build up, until water begins to precipitate out. This allows a channel of ionized air to form, carrying a current between the clouds and the ground, which we perceive as lightning.

See also...

Thirteen dead after helicopter crashes during flight from Norwegian oilfield.                 Thirteen people have died after a helicopter crashed to the west of Bergen, Norway, on Friday 29 April 2016, during a return flight from the Gullfaks Oil Field in...

Magnitude 3.8 Earthquake off the west coast of Norway.                                          The British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 3.8 Earthquake at a depth of 10 kmabout 30 km offshore of the town of Florø in Sogn og Fjordane County...

Fireball over northern Europe.       Eyewitnesses across much of northern Europe reported seeing a bright fireball in the sky moving southwest to northeast at about 6.05 pm GMT on Saturday 31 October 2015. The event was seen from the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Animal remains from Middle Neolithic deposits at the Pena d’Água Rock-shelter of Portugal.

Middle Neolithic remains are known from a number of archaeological sites across Portugal, and have been studied since the nineteenth century. However historically almost all studies of this material have concentrated on funerary behavior rather than the lifestyles of the living people. The Pena d’Água Rock-shelter is located on the eastern rim of the Estremadura Limestone Massif to the northeast of Lisbon. The site was excavated in 1992-2000, yielding remains dating from the end of the Pleistocene to the Roman era. A variety of animal bones and teeth were recovered from a layer identified as being of Middle Neolithic origin, with Rabbit, Sheep and/or Goat (the two are hard to tell apart from skeletal remains) and Fox remains being identified at the time, though these have not subsequently been the subject of any published studies.

In a paper published in the journal Estudos do Quaternário in December 2015, Fransisco Rosa Corriera and the Sofia Luís of the Universidade do Algarve, Pedro Valente Fernandes of the Universidade do Algarve and the Núcleo de Alunos de Arqueologia e Paleoecologia, and Maria João Valente and António Faustino Carvalho, also of the Universidade do Algarve re-examine the Middle Neolithic animal remains from the Pena d’Água Rock-shelter in order to determine the animals present and the implications of this for the lifestyles of the people.

(A) Location of Estremadura and the Tagus Valley in western Iberia. (B) Location of the mentioned archaeological sites (1 - Pena d’Água Rock-shelter; 2 - Costa do Pereiro; 3 - Cadaval Cave). (C) A view of the Pena d’Água Rock-shelter (arrow) in Google Earth showing the Arrife clearly separating the two contrast-ing landscapes, the limestone mountain (right) and the Tagus plain (left). (D) Detail image of the Arrife showing the Pena d’Água Rock-shelter (arrow indicates the sector of the deposit where excavations took place). Corriera et al. (2015).

All of the remains assessed to be Middle Neolithic come from a single layer, Db, which also contains pottery fragments, stone tools and charcoal. The pottery fragments showed simpler decoration and were less varied than earlier layers assessed to be Early Neolithic in age, though the stone tools were more sophisticated and include large, complex flint blades. The charcoal was found to be derived from Olive wood, and yielded a radiocarbon age of 5180 years, though with a wide margin of error, leading Corriera et al, to conclude that the layer was laid down between 4522 and 3515 BC.

 

Stratigraphy of the Pena d’Água Rock-shelter (“West Cut”), with indication of layer Db (greyish layer) within the sequence. Z0=630 cm is the local datum used during excavations. Corriera et al. (2015).

The most abundant bones in the layer are those of Rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus. Identifying Rabbits in archaeological sites can be problematic. as they are burrowing animals which can place tunnel into site long after they were abandoned by their Human residents. However all of the remains at Pena d’Água are aof adult specimens, and in addition all are disarticulated and fragmentary, and many are charred, suggesting strongly that the remains are the result of Human activity.

The site also yielded several teeth from Fox, Vulpes vulpes, and an uncertain Deer (possibly a Red Deer, Cervus elaphus). Both of these are though to be the result of hunting by Humans, possibly with only partial remains being transported to the site. Red Deer are prized for their meat today, and are likely to have been hunted for food in the Neolithic. Foxes on the other hand are not typically eaten, today, and probably weren't considered particularly palatable in the Neolithic. On the other hand their fur has been prized through much of recorded history, and this may have been the case at Pena d’Água.

Sheep and/or Goat remains are also abundant at the site. These are interpreted as being more probably the remains of domestic animals than wild ones. Domestication is known to have been in practice in the area at the time, with other sites having yielded the remains of Cattle and Pigs. However the methods used to keep these animals is quite different. Cattle and Pigs can be kept in corals and fed with a reasonable level of success, while Sheep and Goats need to be able to forage for themselves, requiring herders to move with the flock, so this discovery adds to the known range of survival skills being employed in Middle Neolithic Portugal.

See also...

Evidence of Cereal cultivation by the Sea of Galilee during the last Glacial Maximum, 23 000 years ago.                                                           The domestication of agricultural plants is thought to have begun in the Middle East around the onset of the Holocene, about 11 700 years ago, with agriculture rapidly spreading across Europe, Asia and northern...

Interpreting the life history of the Egtved Girl.                                                                                   The ‘Egtved Girl’ was excavated near Egtved...

The first dairy farmers in Finland.              Dairy farming (keeping Mammals in order to consume their milk or products derived from it) spread through Europe as part of the ‘Neolithic Package’ of technologies, which originated in the Middle East...

 

 

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

 

Mapping the distribution of the Southern Pudú in Chile.

The Southern Pudú, Pudu pudu,  is one pf the world's smallest Deer species, typically weighing 35 to 45 cm at the shoulder and weighing 6.4 to 13.4 kg. It is found in southern Chile and Argentina, and is listed as Vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, with an estimated population of about 10 000 individuals, and is known to be at threat due to habitat loss, competition with introduced species and predation by feral Dogs. However it is both small and secretive in nature, and its true distribution and numbers are therefore somewhat unclear.

In a paper published in the journal BMC Ecology on 7 January 2015, Melissa Pavez‑Fox of the Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas at the Universidad Austral de Chile and the Programa de Magíster en Ciencias Biológicas mención Neurociencia at the Universidad de Valparaíso and Sergio Estay of the Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas at the Universidad Austral de Chile and the Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile describe a project to map the distribution of Southern Pudú in Chile using recorded observations of the species to establish its ecological tolerances.

A female Southern Pudú in the Los Lagos Region of Chile. Rodrigo Fernández/Wikimedia Commons.

Pavez-Fox and Estay collected data from 73 recorded occurrences of the Southern Pudú in Chile and 62 from Argentina to establish the ecological tolerances of the species. At each of these locations the average annual temperature, mean diurnal temperature range, temperature seasonality, maximum temperature of the warmest month, minimum temperature of the coldest month, annual precipitation, seasonal precipitation, precipitation over the wettest quarter, precipitation of the driest quarter, precipitation of the warmest quarter, precipitation of the coldest quarter and altitude was found and incorporated into the study.

Using this data a map of suitable territory for the Southern Pudú in Chile in Chile was established. It was found that most of the suitable territory was located at low altitudes within the Central Valley between Andes and the Cordillera de la Costa. Only 5.87% of this range was within protected areas, which were concentrated at higher altitudes.

(a) Projection of the model fitted for the Chilean territory. Colors represent the suitability of each pixel for Puda puda habitat. (b) Binary map of the projection of the model fitted for the Chilean territory (red) with respect to the distribution determined by the IUCN (dark grey) for Puda puda. (c) Overlap areas between Puda puda suitable areas and protected areas according to the model (red). Pavez-Fox & Estay (2015).

Pavez-Fox and Estay note that the distribution of the Southern Pudú is poorly covered by the Chilean National Parks system, which has been criticized on other occasions for being concentrated to much in the north of the country, despite much of the nation's distinctive biodiversity being found in the south. They further suggest that as a charismatic species the Pudú could be used as a 'flagship species' to help develop better protection for the distinctive habitats of southern Chile.

See also...

Pangolin trading in Mong La, Myanmar. Pangolins, Pholidota, are highly specialized Mammals distantly related to the Carnivora (Dogs, Cats, Bears etc.). They are specialized Ant-eaters, lacking teeth and having long, sticky tongues used to extract the Insects from their nests. Uniquely among Mammals Pangolins are covered by keratin scales similar to those of...

Capreolus constantini: A Roe Deer from the Early Pliocene of Hidalgo State, Mexico.   Deer, Cervidae, are one of the most abundant and diverse groups of Artiodactyls (even-toed...

Ancient collagen provides insights into the relationships of the South American ‘Ungulates’.                                                                  South America was an isolated continent for much of the Cainozoic,  connected only to Antarctica during the earlier part of the period and...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.