Ancient Animal Research Articles

Tracing ancient animal husbandry in tropical Africa using the fossil spore assemblages of coprophilous fungi: a validation study in western Uganda

Fossil spores of coprophilous fungi preserved in lake and bog sediments are well-established palaeoecological tracers for the local history of pastoralism and other animal husbandry. However, applications in Africa are limited by the lack of information on the exact relationship between human activity and fungi growing on large-herbivore dung. Here we use 25 small crater-lake basins in western Uganda, which cover the complete regional gradient of natural vegetation and human impact intensity, as a natural laboratory to assess the relationship between coprophilous fungal spores recovered from recently deposited bottom sediments and the presence and abundance of large domestic herbivores in the surrounding crater basins. We find that the summed abundances of Sporormiella, Sordaria, Podospora and Delitschia, or of these four types plus Cercophora, are the most useful and robust fungal-spore indicators for the presence of domestic large herbivores in an East African context. Chaetomium could also be added to this list, particularly as it may help reduce stochasticity in the often low fossil counts of obligate coprophilous types. Our results suggest that domestic large herbivores, at least when associated with some degree of crop agriculture, leave a clearer signature on fungal-spore assemblages in the lakes’ sediments than large wildlife. Furthermore, they indicate that the typically small number of livestock kept by mixed-subsistence farmers leave a stronger imprint on fungal-spore assemblages than the much larger herds of specialist pastoralists occasionally visiting the lake to drink or bathe.

Recent advances in amniote palaeocolour reconstruction and a framework for future research.

ABSTRACTPreserved melanin pigments have been discovered in fossilised integumentary appendages of several amniote lineages (fishes, frogs, snakes, marine reptiles, non‐avialan dinosaurs, birds, and mammals) excavated from lagerstätten across the globe. Melanisation is a leading factor in organic integument preservation in these fossils. Melanin in extant vertebrates is typically stored in rod‐ to sphere‐shaped, lysosome‐derived, membrane‐bound vesicles called melanosomes. Black, dark brown, and grey colours are produced by eumelanin, and reddish‐brown colours are produced by phaeomelanin. Specific morphotypes and nanostructural arrangements of melanosomes and their relation to the keratin matrix in integumentary appendages create the so‐called 'structural colours'. Reconstruction of colour patterns in ancient animals has opened an exciting new avenue for studying their life, behaviour and ecology. Modern relationships between the shape, arrangement, and size of avian melanosomes, melanin chemistry, and feather colour have been applied to reconstruct the hues and colour patterns of isolated feathers and plumages of the dinosaurs Anchiornis, Sinosauropteryx, and Microraptor in seminal papers that initiated the field of palaeocolour reconstruction. Since then, further research has identified countershading camouflage patterns, and informed subsequent predictions on the ecology and behaviour of these extinct animals. However, palaeocolour reconstruction remains a nascent field, and current approaches have considerable potential for further refinement, standardisation, and expansion. This includes detailed study of non‐melanic pigments that might be preserved in fossilised integuments. A common issue among existing palaeocolour studies is the lack of contextualisation of different lines of evidence and the wide variety of techniques currently employed. To that end, this review focused on fossil amniotes: (i) produces an overarching framework that appropriately reconstructs palaeocolour by accounting for the chemical signatures of various pigments, morphology and local arrangement of pigment‐bearing vesicles, pigment concentration, macroscopic colour patterns, and taphonomy; (ii) provides background context for the evolution of colour‐producing mechanisms; and (iii) encourages future efforts in palaeocolour reconstructions particularly of less‐studied groups such as non‐dinosaur archosaurs and non‐archosaur amniotes.

Ancient wormlike animal caught in its tracks sheds light on early locomotion

Ancient wormlike animal caught in its tracks sheds light on early locomotion

A Worm's World: Ecological Flexibility Pays Off for Free-Living Nematodes in Sediments and Soils.

Free-living nematodes, an ancient animal phylum of unsegmented microscopic roundworms, have successfully adapted to nearly every ecosystem on Earth: from marine and freshwater to land, from the polar regions to the tropics, and from the mountains to the ocean depths. They are globally the most abundant animals in sediments and soils. In the present article, we identify the factors that collectively explain the successful ecological proliferation of free-living nematodes and demonstrate the impact they have on vital sediment and soil processes. The ecological success of nematodes is strongly linked to their ability to feed on various food sources that are present in both sediments and soils, and to proliferate rapidly and survive in contrasting environmental conditions. The adaptations, roles, and behaviors of free-living nematodes have important implications for the resilience of sediments and soils, and for emergent animal communities responding to human alterations to ecosystems worldwide.

Grazing high and low: Can we detect horse altitudinal mobility using high-resolution isotope (δ13 C and δ15 N values) time series in tail hair? A case study in the Mongolian Altai.

Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope time series performed in continuously growing tissues (hair, tooth enamel) are commonly used to reconstruct the dietary history of modern and ancient animals. Predicting the effects of altitudinal mobility on animal δ13 C and δ15 N values remains difficult as several variables such as temperature, water availability or soil type can contribute to the isotope composition. Modern references adapted to the region of interest are therefore essential. Between June 2015 and July 2018, six free-ranging domestic horses living in the Mongolian Altaï were fitted with GPS collars. Tail hairs were sampled each year, prepared for sequential C and N isotope analysis using EA-IRMS. Isotopic variations were compared with altitudinal mobility, and Generalized Additive Mixed (GAMMs) models were used to model the effect of geographic and environmental factors on δ13 C and δ15 N values. Less than half of the pasture changes were linked with a significant isotopic shift while numerous isotopic shifts did not correspond to any altitudinal mobility. Similar patterns of δ13 C and δ15 N variations were observed between the different horses, despite differences in mobility patterns. We propose that water availability as well as seasonal availability of N2 fixing type plants primarily controlled horse hair δ13 C and δ15 N values, overprinting the influence of altitude. Our study shows that altitudinal mobility is not the main factor that drives the variations in horse tail hair δ13 C and δ15 N values and that seasonal change in the animal dietary preference also plays an important role. It is therefore risky to interpret variations in δ13 C and δ15 N values of animal tissues in terms of altitudinal mobility alone, at least in C3 -dominated environments.

Are immunoenzymatic tests for intestinal protozoans reliable when used on archaeological material?

Intestinal protozoans found in ancient human samples have been studied primarily by microscopy and immunodiagnostic assays. However, such methods are not suitable for the detection of zoonotic genotypes. The objectives of the present study were to utilize immunoenzimatic assays for coproantigen detection of Cryptosporidium sp., Giardia duodenalis, and Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar in sixty ancient human and animal samples collected from 14 archaeological sites in South America, and to carry out a critical analysis of G. duodenalis according to results obtained from three diagnostic methodologies: microscopy, immunodiagnostic tests (immunoenzymatic and immunofluorescence), and molecular biology (PCR and sequencing). More than half (31/60) of the samples analyzed using immunoenzymatic tests were positive for at least one of the intestinal protozoans, with 46.6% (28/60) corresponding to G. duodenalis, 26.6% (16/60) to Cryptosporidium sp., and 5% (3/60) to E. histolytica/E. dispar. Cryptosporidium sp. and G. duodenalis coinfection was observed in 15% (9/60) of the samples, whereas all three protozoans were found in 5% (3/60) of samples. In the Northeast Region of Brazil, by immunoenzymatic tests there is evidence that G. duodenlais and Cryptosporidium sp. have infected humans and rodents for at least 7150 years. However, for G. duodenalis, the results from the three diagnostic tests were discordant. Specifically, despite the efficiency of the molecular biology assay in the experimental models, G. duodenalis DNA could not be amplified from the ancient samples. These results raise the following question: Are all ancient samples positive for coproantigen of G. duodenalis by immunoenzymatic tests truly positive? This scenario highlights the importance of further studies to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the immunoenzymatic method in the archaeological context.

Cambrian Chordates and Vetulicolians

Deuterostomes make a sudden appearance in the fossil record during the early Cambrian. Two bilaterian groups, the chordates and the vetulicolians, are of particular interest for understanding early deuterostome evolution, and the main objective of this review is to examine the Cambrian diversity of these two deuterostome groups. The subject is of particular interest because of the link to vertebrates, and because of the enigmatic nature of vetulicolians. Lagerstätten in China and elsewhere have dramatically improved our understanding of the range of variation in these ancient animals. Cephalochordate and vertebrate body plans are well established at least by Cambrian Series 2. Taken together, roughly a dozen chordate genera and fifteen vetulicolian genera document part of the explosive radiation of deuterostomes at the base of the Cambrian. The advent of deuterostomes near the Cambrian boundary involved both a reversal of gut polarity and potentially a two-sided retinoic acid gradient, with a gradient discontinuity at the midpoint of the organism that is reflected in the sharp division of vetulicolians into anterior and posterior sections. A new vetulicolian (Shenzianyuloma yunnanense nov. gen. nov. sp.) with a laterally flattened, polygonal anterior section provides significant new data regarding vetulicolians. Its unsegmented posterior region (‘tail’) bears a notochord and a gut trace with diverticula, both surrounded by myotome cones.

The significance of sponges for comparative studies of developmental evolution.

Sponges, ctenophores, placozoans, and cnidarians have key evolutionary significance in that they bracket the time interval during which organized animal tissues were first assembled, fundamental cell types originated (e.g., neurons and myocytes), and developmental patterning mechanisms evolved. Sponges in particular have often been viewed as living surrogates for early animal ancestors, largely due to similarities between their feeding cells (choanocytes) with choanoflagellates, the unicellular/colony-forming sister group to animals. Here, we evaluate these claims and highlight aspects of sponge biology with comparative value for understanding developmental evolution, irrespective of the purported antiquity of their body plan. Specifically, we argue that sponges strike a different balance between patterning and plasticity than other animals, and that environmental inputs may have prominence over genetically regulated developmental mechanisms. We then present a case study to illustrate how contractile epithelia in sponges can help unravel the complex ancestry of an ancient animal cell type, myocytes, which sponges lack. Sponges represent hundreds of millions of years of largely unexamined evolutionary experimentation within animals. Their phylogenetic placement lends them key significance for learning about the past, and their divergent biology challenges current views about the scope of animal cell and developmental biology. This article is characterized under: Comparative Development and Evolution > Evolutionary Novelties Comparative Development and Evolution > Body Plan Evolution.

“Beyond Primary Sequence”—Proteomic Data Reveal Complex Toxins in Cnidarian Venoms

Venomous animals can deploy toxins for both predation and defense. These dual functions of toxins might be expected to promote the evolution of new venoms and alteration of their composition. Cnidarians are the most ancient venomous animals but our present understanding of their venom diversity is compromised by poor taxon sampling. New proteomic data were therefore generated to characterize toxins in venoms of a staurozoan, a hydrozoan, and an anthozoan. We then used a novel clustering approach to compare venom diversity in cnidarians to other venomous animals. Comparison of the presence or absence of 32 toxin protein families indicated venom composition did not vary widely among the 11 cnidarian species studied. Unsupervised clustering of toxin peptide sequences suggested that toxin composition of cnidarian venoms is just as complex as that in many venomous bilaterians, including marine snakes. The adaptive significance of maintaining a complex and relatively invariant venom remains unclear. Future study of cnidarian venom diversity, venom variation with nematocyst types and in different body regions are required to better understand venom evolution.

Ancient and Medieval Animals and Self-recognition: Observations from Early European Sources

Abstract This article presents the oldest European accounts that describe the reactions of animals to their own reflections on the surface of a body of water or in a mirror. The analysed sources will encompass Greco-Roman accounts, including the reception of these accounts in the Middle Ages. While this article belongs to the field of the history of science, it seeks to provide a historical commentary with insights from contemporary studies (the mirror test, MSR). The article presents surviving ancient and medieval accounts about particular animal species that describe their ability or inability to recognise a mirror reflection. The species discussed are the horse, mule, dog, birds (sparrow, partridge, rooster, quail, jackdaw, starling and pheasant), the monkey and tiger. Brief mention is also made of the sheep, pigeon, goose, parrot, raven and cat.

Tracking Five Millennia of Horse Management with Extensive Ancient Genome Time Series

SummaryHorse domestication revolutionized warfare and accelerated travel, trade, and the geographic expansion of languages. Here, we present the largest DNA time series for a non-human organism to date, including genome-scale data from 149 ancient animals and 129 ancient genomes (≥1-fold coverage), 87 of which are new. This extensive dataset allows us to assess the modern legacy of past equestrian civilizations. We find that two extinct horse lineages existed during early domestication, one at the far western (Iberia) and the other at the far eastern range (Siberia) of Eurasia. None of these contributed significantly to modern diversity. We show that the influence of Persian-related horse lineages increased following the Islamic conquests in Europe and Asia. Multiple alleles associated with elite-racing, including at the MSTN “speed gene,” only rose in popularity within the last millennium. Finally, the development of modern breeding impacted genetic diversity more dramatically than the previous millennia of human management.

Collagen turnover and isotopic records in cortical bone

Bone collagen of modern and ancient animals is a useful tissue for isotope analyses because it is stable over time. However, uncertainty regarding metabolic turnover processes of bone collagen can make isotope analysis difficult to correlate with relevant life history information. We used radiocarbon (14C) dating to examine turnover within cortical bone and to investigate retrospective isotope ratios along the growth direction of mid-shaft femurs of several large mammals with long life-span, including brown bear (Ursus arctos), sika deer (Cervus nippon), Japanese serow (Capricornis crispus), and Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata). The individuals examined died between 1971 and 1986, and their bones were thus expected to contain radiocarbon generated by nuclear bomb testing, which led to an atmospheric 14C spike around 1964. Therefore, 14C dating could be used to date sections of cortical bone at fine scale. The 14C ages in the bone sections of all specimens except the Japanese serow specimen showed similar trends; perimedullary bone sections contained younger carbon, which has depleted 14C after the peak of the 14C spike, whereas 14C ages became rapidly older in midcortical sections before gradually becoming younger towards the bone surface. We observed metabolic turnover of collagen driven by bone remodelling in perimedullary bone sections, but we observed no evidence of remodelling in midcortical and pericortical sections. Thus, our results confirm that bone collagen in femoral cortical bone records retrospective isotopic information during skeletal growth of mammals and suggest that entire femoral cortical bone of aged terrestrial mammals represents isotopic values during adolescence rather than an average value from several years prior to death.

Investigating ancient animal economies and exchange in Kyrgyzstan's Alay Valley

Abstract

The Medicine of Place

The Medicine of Place Steven Chase We finished editing this issue of Spiritus about the time I came across a little book of poetry in the form of epigrams and "easy essays" by J. Vincent Hansen with earthy photographs by Chuck Norwood.1 In the book, Hansen and Norwood explore wisdom and healing in forms akin to Karl Jung's poetic insight that "fascination is the oldest form of healing, and the earth is the oldest form of fascination": medicine and place. We had no intention of a cohesive theme in this issue; apparently the least of intentions can create a cohort of the best of intentions; a theme, or I should say, "themes" developed. In his justifiably well-known and respected book, The Poetics of Space,2 Gaston Bachelard writes of his intentions for the book, intentions that awaken the soul. And so, we find that the essays of this issue do the same: in this case, without intention, they awaken the soul. Bachelard writes: I plan to concentrate particularly on poetic reverie as a phenomenology of the soul. In itself, reverie constitutes a psychic condition that is too frequently confused with dream. But when it is a question of poetic reverie, of reverie that derives pleasure not only from itself, but also prepares poetic pleasure for other souls, one realizes that one is no longer drifting into somnolence. The mind is able to relax, but in poetic reverie the soul keeps watch, with no tension, watching, calmed and active. To compose a finished, well-constructed poem, the mind is obliged to make projects that prefigure it. But for a simple poetic image, there is no project; a flicker of the soul is all that is needed. In this issue's essays, the mind can be both calm and active analogous to the poetic reverie of Bachelard's phenomenology of the soul. We did not explicitly intend this, but the writers of the essays, also with no inclusive intention of their own, do manage to calm and activate the mind, allowing that flicker of the soul to illuminate the poetry of the medicine of place. One poetic soul-flicker reads, "Wisdom returns—not to stay but to retrieve." (Hansen, 1) At the end of his SSCS Presidential Address on biblical aesthetics and revelation, Pieter de Viellers writes: "Aesthetics, it is suggested here, provides a [End Page vii] way back into the heart of the biblical message as a living source of faith"—its soul-flicker is a way back to the heart, that like wisdom, returns not to stay, but to retrieve. Beauty residesat the intersection ofHarmony and Utility. (Hansen, 49) In her essay on Henri Nouwen, Ann Astell notes that commentators on Nouwen's life and writing often treat his commitment to celibacy narrowly, as a necessary aspect of his priesthood. She writes, "In his essay 'Celibacy,' however, Nouwen actually argues for an expansive understanding of celibacy with important implications for all Christians, married and unmarried, straight and gay." As Nouwen sees it, "'Celibacy' is an openness to God of which sexual abstinence is only one manifestation." To what avail the allying ofoneself with a hundred causes,while the thistle in one's own backyard goes to seed? (Hansen, 137) How smallthe part of our wearinessthat cannot be tracedto having gone aroundthe things we shouldhave been above. (Hansen, 152) Kathleen Fisher writes of the life of Saint Brigid, showing how ancient animals provide a moral and theological corrective to environmental exploitation. She notes, "Brigid's animal companions provoke us to reexamine our place in the universe. The menagerie of foxes, wolves, and dogs all witness to God's work of continuous creation and remind us that humanity is not the only or single best source of divine revelation." How one's soul does ache nowfor those places that invite whisper. (Hansen, 101) Surely none but a God on our sidewould place so many cluesin plain view. (Hansen, 85) [End Page viii] In his essay on integral ecology as ecological spirituality, Jean-Pierre Fortin mines Pope Francis' Laudato Si', concluding that "Human beings must learn to conceive...

Diverse radial symmetry among the Cambrian Fortunian fossil embryos from northern Sichuan and southern Shaanxi provinces, South China

The Cambrian Fortunian fossil embryos exhibit embryonic development of ancient animals and hence have important bearings on evolutionary developmental biology. They have radial symmetry, and may be early representatives of cnidarians. Here we report new material of three-dimensionally phosphatized fossil embryos from the Fortunian Kuanchuanpu Formation and coeval strata in northern Sichuan and southern Shaanxi provinces, South China. The new material includes previously reported fossil embryos assignable to Pseudooides prima with biradial symmetry or pseudo-hexaradial symmetry, Quadrapyrgites quadratacris with tetraradial symmetry, and Olivooides multisulcatus with pentaradial symmetry. Additionally, we recovered two new types of fossil embryos, i.e., Embryo I with hexaradial symmetry and Embryo II with octaradial symmetry, and they are tentatively suggested to represent new cnidarians. In contrast to the diverse radial symmetry of the Fortunian cnidarians, modern cnidarians exhibit stable tetraradial symmetry in medusozoans, biradial symmetry in anthozoans, and bilateral symmetry in siphonophores (Hydrozoa). The current study supports the view that the tetraradial symmetry of modern medusozoans is a surviving remnant of their Fortunian relatives.

Fascinated by the elephant

The description of childhood and the main stages of life of Vadim Evgenevich Garutt, as well as the fate of his parents, is given. The stages of making up of his personality as a specialist on modern and ancient animals, including elephants, are shown. His fate is closely intertwined with the history of Russia of the 20th century. It was influenced by revolutionary events in Russia and the Great Patriotic War, evacuation and difficult post-war years, suffered contusion and serious illnesses. Beginning from the school age, when he visited a study group of Young Zoologists and worked up at the Leningrad Zoo, the life confronted him with interesting people and situations that allowed Garutt to become an expert in morphology and evolution of mammoths and other Quaternary proboscideans. Such personalities as B.V. Pestinsky, A.P. Bystrov, Yu.A. Orlov, L.V. Oshanin, M.M. Gerasimov, B.E. Bykhovsky and other scientists played an important role in his fate. In addition to studying the teeth and bone remains of ancient elephants, he carried out an active museum work, mounting and restoration of fossil elephants and rhinoceroses’ skeletons. The results of his research are published in a number of important monographs and articles that are important for the systematic of the Eurasian proboscides and biostratigraphy of the Pleistocene.

Variable Ovicaprid Diet and Faecal Spherulite Production at Amara West, Sudan

ABSTRACTThis paper presents the results of integrated geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical analyses of desiccated and charred ovicaprid dung pellets from the New Kingdom pharaonic settlement of Amara West (Sudan). These analyses reveal diagnostic phytolithic evidence for considerable variations in plant diet amongst the site’s ovicaprid population. These data shed light on aspects of ancient animal husbandry practice, the settlement’s subsistence economy and residents’ exploitation of natural resources. We also observe that specific phytolith types correlate with the presence (and quantity) or absence of calcium carbonate faecal spherulites in analysed dung pellets. This evidence, augmented by experimental analysis of analogous modern plant material, suggests that dietary Ca intake is implicated in faecal spherulite crystallization within the ovicaprid digestive system.

Wang Ai: Flying Over Ancient Landscapes

Poet-critic and art curator Mai Mang curated a solo show Wang Ai: Flying Over Ancient Landscapes at Connecticut College in 2017 and wrote this exhibition article introducing Chinese artist Wang Ai to his new audience for the first time in North America. Simultaneously possessing a highly experimental and self-reflective sensibility and also an intuitive and indigenous upbringing, Wang considers himself a contemporary artist exploring boundaries of tradition and modernity. In 2008, inspired by the Northern Song landscape painter Fan Kuan’s masterpiece Travelers among Mountains and Streams, Wang decided to experiment on paper, re-engaging the great Chinese landscape painting tradition and searching for a new style and direction, which resulted in his ongoing series Flying Over Ancient Landscapes (2009–present). Often calling his style “polyphonic,” Wang weaves a labyrinthine universe of ancient landscapes, animals, and scriptural texts, which are juxtaposed with contemporary elements and demonstrate the fascinating and captivating contradictions embedded in Wang’s identity as an artist.While presenting the dark, the obscure, the invisible, and the unsayable, Wang’s art is traditional and contemporary, humanistic and spiritual. Once placed in a context of the new millennium where violence and confusion can be rampantly abstract yet inescapable, the seemingly decorative or stylistic elements in his art will bring out new surprises. They will reveal their poignant edges, and stir resonance across the borders of nation-state, culture, and language.

The Great War and Prehistoric Memory

This article examines the use of metaphors, allusions and similes to the prehistoric, primeval and the antediluvian during the First World War. Using key term searches across anglophone newspapers, speeches, diaries, letters and memoirs, the way in which observers and participants in the conflict mobilized references to the ancient eras and extinct animals will be assessed. These allusions were made to demonstrate the significance of the events that individuals witnessed. The war was represented through these associations to emphasize that it was unlike any other episode of human history. The use of this ‘prehistoric memory’ demonstrates the importance of moving beyond the established pattern of assessments that attempt to define aspects of tradition or evidence of the modern age in the cultural representations of the conflict. These primeval references reveal how individuals and communities acted to comprehend the scale of the conflict alongside the events that constituted grand history of the Earth.

You can get anything you want from Alice's Restaurant Bed: exceptional preservation and an unusual fossil assemblage from a newly excavated bed (Ediacara Member, Nilpena, South Australia)

We present findings from the newly discovered fossiliferous bed, TB-ARB, from the Ediacara Member exposed at the National Heritage Site, Nilpena Station, west of the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. TB-ARB contains Ediacaran fossils, some of which are rare, remarkably preserved as casts in fine-grained sandstone with little evidence for taphonomic disturbance. Here we demonstrate that, despite extraordinary preservation, ecological metrics from TB-ARB are characteristic of those found on other Ediacara Member beds and that this fossil assemblage is consistent with the previously recognised heterogeneity of the Ediacaran seafloor. This result suggests that limited taphonomic processes identified on more typical beds at Nilpena do not bias our view of Ediacaran paleoecology, but together, these beds present a complete picture of ancient animal communities. Remarkable preservation of rare Andiva ivantsovi allows investigations of morphology, growth and life habit. We identify complex growth in this organism that maximises surface area relative to volume and a morphology consistent with previously unsubstantiated claims for mobility. Features of Andiva indicate that it was likely related to two other extinct Ediacaran flat-lying, modular, mobile taxa, Dickinsonia and Yorgia, suggesting a possible eumetazoan placement for this organism.