Abstract
The paper presents the first results of Hg determination in the hair of prehistorical animals (woolly mammoth, steppe bison, and woolly rhino). Hair of prehistorical mammals can be used as an archive that preserves changes of environmental pollution at the paleoscale. The aim of our study was to assess the levels of Hg exposure of ancient animals and to understand whether Hg concentration in hair could be used as a proxy indicating changes of mercury levels in the environment following global climate changes. We assessed changes of Hg exposure recorded in hairs of seven specimens of mammoth fauna mammals that inhabited the Yakutia region in the period from 45 to 10 ka yr BP. Hg concentrations in hair varied from 0.017 to 0.177 µg/g; the lowest Hg concentration were determined in older specimens (45–33 kyr yr BP). The two highest concentrations belonged sample from the Last Glacial Maximum and the Karginian interstadial (57–24 kyr BP) periods. Our hypothesis is the increase of Hg concentrations in hair reflecting environmental Hg level might be forced by high dust load in cold periods and thawing permafrost in warm climatic periods. Long-term variations of Hg level recovered from Ice Age animals’ hair correlate with Hg profiles of concentration and deposition reconstructed from the Antarctica ice core.
Highlights
The content of macro- and microelements in human and animal hairs is a good indicator of their accumulation in the body as a result of environmental exposure, including intake with food and water [1,2]
Mercury concentrations determined in the prehistoric animals’ hair varied from 0.017 to 0.177 μg/g; average concentrations and ranges of Hg content in different types of prehistoric and modern animals are presented in Table 4, together with reference values and intervals
This level is below concentrations associated with toxicity in wildlife and do not exceed background levels of mercury in hair of non-seafood consumers (0.5 μg/g)
Summary
The content of macro- and microelements in human and animal hairs is a good indicator of their accumulation in the body as a result of environmental exposure, including intake with food and water [1,2]. Hair analysis is used for evaluation of health state, metabolic disorders, mineral maintenance of human and animals, and the ecological state of the territory where they live [3,4,5]. The level of toxic metals in the environment indicates a potential risk for the ecosystem and for human and animal health because of bioaccumulation of some metals ( mercury) in the body [6,7]. Organization (WHO) recommends using hair as major biological material for testing the pollution of the human body by heavy metals, since sampling, storage, and analysis of hair samples are easier than they are for other biological materials [8].
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