Montana ranchers, conservationists lock horns over free-ranging bison

SINCE THEY WILL BE IMPORTING THE BISON (WOOD BUFFALO) FROM ALBERTA WHERE THEY ARE PROTECTED AT ELK ISLAND NATIONAL PARK AND WOOD BUFFALO NATIONAL PARK, THEY COULD ASK FOR OUR HELP

Montana ranchers, conservationists lock horns over free-ranging bison
By Jean Lotus


Montana state wildlife officials approved a plan that might allow bison to be categorized as wildlife outside of Yellowstone National Park. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service

Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A new state plan to allow bison to be categorized as wildlife has pitted Montana ranchers and livestock producers against conservationists.

Wildlife organizations believe restoring the national mammal on large tracts of public lands would bring back the most iconic wild beast of the historic Great Plains. Ranchers, however, say wild bison would destroy property, endanger people and consume grass on public land now allocated for cattle.

In January, Montana's Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced a policy that could send herds of wild bison onto private, public or tribal land.

The state wildlife agency's new ecological impact statement said the agency will consider public proposals for site-specific bison restoration plans after input from local stakeholders.

RELATED Yellowstone bison hunt generates controversy, court battle

No current proposals have been submitted to the state, but visions of large herds of free-roaming bison in vast prairie landscapes in eastern Montana have excited visionaries -- and infuriated the locals -- since the late 1980s.

While livestock bison herds exist nationwide, Yellowstone National Park has the only free-roaming wild population of plains bison in the United States. Derived from a tiny herd that survived extinction in the 1800s, the animals are prized for having no cattle DNA.

"Some people have tears running down their face when they see bison for the first time. It's almost a spiritual experience," said Pam Knowles, who with husband Craig runs an ecotourism bison ranch near Townshend, Mont.

RELATED Heritage Yellowstone Park bison to join Montana tribal herds

Groups such as Yellowstone-based Buffalo Field Campaign believe free-roaming bison should be part of the ecosystem, like elk. The Yellowstone bison are allowed to leave the west entrance of the park in the winter to find grass, but are chased back into the park in the spring.

"We definitely support the restoration of wild, free-roaming bison in free habitats," said James Holt, the field campaign's executive director and a former member of the Nez Perce tribal executive committee.

"We need those buffalo fulfilling the Yellowstone ecosystem. The federal lands around the park need bison for soil and plant health, and for the viability of other wildlife species," Holt said.

RELATED Herd of 75 escaped bison evades capture in New York state

But some of the state's agricultural and ranching interests oppose the idea.

"I don't see why we should force other landowners to have wild bison on their property," said Chuck Denowh, policy director of a ranching and farmer group, United Property Owners of Montana. "Bison restoration is already underway in Montana and it's being done responsibly, mitigating for risks, disease and damage."

Denowh cited media mogul Ted Turner's 2-million acre private Montana bison ranch as an example of heritage bison raised on private property as livestock. His group strongly opposes the aspirations for bison of the billionaire-financed American Prairie Reserve, founded in 2001.

In eastern Montana's vast empty counties, where population has been falling since the 1930s, the reserve has purchased 30 local ranches from willing sellers and wants to buy about 20 more to create a vast "American Serengeti" on private and public lands.

"Research shows that the 3.2-million-acre fully intact prairie ecosystem we are hoping to accomplish one day could sustain a herd of 10,000 bison," said Beth Saboe, the reserve's spokeswoman.

Even though the reserve has about 850 genetically pure bison, and they're being raised as livestock, opponents worry the scale of the reserve's plans would effectively create an unmanageable wild herd that would cause havoc on surrounding agricultural land.

Those worries are unfounded, Saboe said.

"We've never been pushing for a wild herd. If one day the state of Montana decides they would like to see a wild herd of bison in the state, we'd contribute some animals to that effort."

Bison on the loose

A sixth-generation Montanan, Sierra Stoneberg Holt, has a ranch that sits across the fence from the reserve. Stoneberg Holt, no relation to James Holt, said she disagrees with the reserve's long-range plan to recreate the empty Great Plains filled with free-roaming bison and little hands-on management.

"[American Prairie Reserve] will mismanage the grasslands and cause animals to go extinct," she said.

A loose bison bull once prevented a neighbor from leaving his house for a doctor's appointment, she said. Another bison got mixed up with a neighbor's cattle and hurt a cow.

For bison producers who have kept their herds relatively wild, it's not so hard to imagine what a wild herd might look like.

Bison rancher Craig Knowles said the 80 animals at Wild Echo Bison Ranch never damaged the house or any other structures on the 450-acre property. Bison stay behind barbed wire fences on the ranch.

"We don't touch our animals at all. Bison are easy to manage as long as you don't apply livestock handling techniques to them," Knowles said. The animals would "consider it abuse" if they were driven into a squeeze chute, castrated or branded like cattle are.

"They're very intelligent animals, capable of holding a grudge and seeking revenge," he said.

A wildlife biologist, Knowles predicted wild bison herds might be managed like wild bighorn sheep -- in small herds.

"What is a wild bison is a good question, and is it even possible to have wild bison?" Knowles asked. "Probably a better question is how are we going to fit bison back into a human-dominated landscape?"

Belgrade, Mont.,-based retired wildlife biologist Jim Bailey, of the Montana Wild Bison Restoration Coalition, has proposed restoring a small wild herd of bison on 100 square miles of U.S. Forest Service land in the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Montana.

Greta Thunberg puts Africa’s climate activists in media spotlight

January 31, 2020 By Agence France-Presse


After a racism debate in Davos on the invisibility of African climate activists, Greta Thunberg held a ress conference Friday with eco warriors from Kenya, Uganda and South Africa to stress the importance of their voices.

Vanessa Nakate of Uganda was at the heart of a viral debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos after she was cropped out of a news agency photo of young activists, including Thunberg, taken after a press conference.

A 23-year-old graduate in business administration, Nakate was the only black person and only African in the photo shoot.
Raw Story is now carbon balanced. Click to learn how you can offset your carbon footprint.

She accused the Associated Press of racism in cropping her out.

The agency said the photographer had modified the photo for composition purposes.

“We’re doing this press conference today so that people who need to be heard can share their stories to the media,” Thunberg told journalists at Greenpeace Sweden’s offices.

“Today we will be focusing on Africa as the African perspective is always so under-reported,” she added.

So far, Africa is essentially blameless when it comes to climate change.

The continent is home to 17 percent of the world’s population and more than a quarter of its nations, but only accounts for about five percent of the greenhouse gas emissions pushing the planet toward runaway warming.

The Swedish teen activist, who has become a household name since beginning her “School Strike for the Climate” in August 2018, said she would only answer a few questions before giving the floor to the African activists, who took part via video link.

Nakate, on camera from Kampala, was the first to speak out.

“This is the time for the world to listen to the activists from Africa and to pay attention to their stories… This is an opportunity for media to actually do some justice to the climate issues in Africa,” she said.

Nakate, joined by Ayakha Melithafa and Ndoni Mcunu of South Africa and Makenna Muigai of Kenya, then spent the next hour answering journalists’ questions.

Mcunu said “Africa only contributes about five percent to global greenhouse gas emissions, yet we are the most impacted” by climate change.

“Almost 20 million people have fled the continent due to these changes” and major droughts have caused “almost 52 million people to become food insecure,” said Mcunu, a PhD student at Johannesburg’s Witwatersrand University.

But she said that Africans have begun to adapt, using “indigeneous knowledge systems” incorporating “the knowledge that we have as Africans into the international research science and climate data awareness”.

“How is it that we’re not being spotlighted in these stories, that’s the main challenge we have as a continent,” she said.

© 2020 AFP

  Trump tells Iowans AOC and Democrats ‘want to kill our cows’: 
‘That means you’ll be next’

President also mocks ‘sleepy’ Joe Biden and ‘crazy’ Bernie Sanders

Andrew BuncombeDes Moines @AndrewBuncombe
Friday 31 January 2020 07:38

Donald Trump made a wild claim before a packed rally in the rural heartland state of Iowa, alleging that Democrats including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, wanted to kill cows and “that means you’re next”.

During a campaign rally day before Democrats hold their first vote of the 2020 political cycle, the president launched in a blistering attack on his political rivals.

Yet he went even further, telling the audience in which agriculture is a crucial aspect of the economy and community, that Democrats wanted to kill cows

“During this campaign season, the good people of Iowa have had a front-row seat to the lunacy and the madness of the totally sick left,” Mr Trump said.

As he often does at his rallies, Mr Trump name-dropped the Green New Deal, a plan introduced by the New York congresswoman that calls for a drastic drop in greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels to curb global warming.

But he ratcheted up his fear-mongering of the deal on Thursday, warning that Democrats would go after people after they get rid of cows. The plan does not call for getting rid of cows.

“The Green New Deal, which would crush our farms, destroy our wonderful cows. They want to kill our cows. You know why, right? You know why?” he asked, laughing.

AOC explains Democratic party is center or centre-conservative

“Don’t say it. They want to kill our cows. That means you’re next.”

While deriding Democrats and their ideas, he bragged of his own policies saying, “I think I’m the smartest person.”

Watch more
Trump 'gatecrashes' Iowa caucuses to attack “radical Democrats”

Can any of these people beat Donald Trump in 2020?

When is the Iowa caucus and why is it so important?

Biden gets physical with voter in tense Iowa exchange over pipelines

Trump also talked up the new U.S. trade agreement with Canada and Mexico in an effort to win over Iowa farmers caught up in his tariff wars and take the focus off his impeachment trial in Washington.

“You’re going to have to get bigger tractors and a hell of a lot more land,” Mr Trump told a packed house at the city’s Drake University.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

TRUMP IS GERMAN
On This Day: Germany wages unrestricted sub warfare during WWI
On Jan. 31, 1917, Germany announces it will wage unrestricted submarine warfare against all ships, including passenger carriers, in war-zone waters.
By UPI Staff


On January 31, 1917, Germany announces it will wage unrestricted submarine warfare against all ships, including passenger carriers, in war-zone waters. File Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Jan. 31 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1917, Germany announces it will wage unrestricted submarine warfare against all ships, including passenger carriers, in war-zone waters.

In 1924, self-important senators, making pompous speeches for home consumption, delayed action on the Teapot Dome scandal.

In 1929, the Soviet Union expelled communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky. He was assassinated in Mexico in August 1940.

In 1945, U.S. Army Pvt. Eddie Slovik, 24, was executed by firing squad for desertion. His was the first U.S. execution for desertion since the Civil War and the only one to take place during World War II. His remains, buried in an unmarked grave in France, were returned to the United States in 1987.

In 1953, nearly 2,000 people died when the North Sea flooded the Netherlands


File Photo courtesy the U.S. Army

In 1958, Explorer 1, the first successful U.S. satellite, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

In 1961, NASA launched a rocket carrying Ham the Chimp into space.

In 1968, Viet Cong guerillas raided the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, the Tan Son Nhut airbase and five hotels housing American officials as part of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War.

In 1982, the Israeli Cabinet agreed to a multinational peacekeeping force to act as a buffer between Israel and Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula.

In 1990, Moscow's first McDonald's restaurant opened.

In 1991, Iraqi forces crossed into Saudi Arabia engaging allied troops in a firefight before being driven back across the border. Eleven U.S. Marines died and two were injured in another battle. They were the first Americans to die in the Gulf War ground combat.

In 1996, a suicide bombing at Sri Lanka's main bank killed nearly 100 people and injured more than 1,000.

In 2001, a Scottish court meeting in the Netherlands convicted a Libyan man, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The plane exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people, including 11 on the ground. The convicted bomber died in 2012.

In 2006, Samuel Alito was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court by a 58-42 vote. He succeeded retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

File Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Pool

In 2012, a U.S. congressional report accused the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of bungling a sting operation called "Fast and Furious" in which guns were sold to illegal "straw buyers" in an effort to catch drug cartel leaders, but some of the weapons were used in crimes, including the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

In 2019, the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks agreed to a blockbuster trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis, Courtney Lee and Tim Hardaway Jr. to Dallas and DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews and Dennis Smith Jr. to New York.


File Photo by Jon SooHoo/UPI

Read More

UPI Archives: USS San Diego was sunk by German U-boat

UPI Archives: U-boat sinks tug, barges off Cape Cod

Terrifying 'bone-crushing' reptile related to modern crocodiles that feasted on dinosaur carcasses 230 million years ago is unearthed in Brazil

• The fossilised remains were found in Agudo, near Santa Maria in southern Brazil
• The animal has been named Dynamosuchus collisensis, meaning 'powerful croc'
• Despite having a powerful jaw, its bite would have been slow, researchers said
• Given this, the researchers think that the seven-feet-long beast was a scavenger

By IAN RANDALL FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 31 January 2020 

A terrifying 'bone-crushing' reptile related to modern crocodiles that feasted on early dinosaur carcasses 230 million years ago has been unearthed in Brazil.

The creature walked on four legs but used its two hind limbs to run — and was the Tyrannosaurus Rex of its time, researchers said.

Named Dynamosuchus collisensis, it had a long snout and tail, huge jaws and large, blade like teeth adapted to eating meat — although it was likely a scavenger.

The creature's skull was also similar to that of T Rex's — and a double row of bony plates ran down its back. It belonged to a group called the ornithosuchids.

Scroll down for video

A terrifying 'bone-crushing' reptile related to modern crocodiles that feasted on early dinosaur carcasses 230 million years ago has been unearthed in Brazil

'The extremely rare reptile would have been a real bone-crusher from the dawn of the dinosaur era,' said paper author and palaeontologist Rodrigo Müller of Brazil's Federal University of Santa Maria.

'This new species is the first from their group in Brazil — and only the fourth to be found across the world. The last discovery occurred fifty years ago.'

The first of this group was dug up in Lossiemouth, in the Scottish Highlands, in the 19th century, whereas the other two specimens came from Argentina.

DYNAMOSUCHUS COLLISENSIS STATS

Dynamosuchus collisensis was a relative of modern crocodiles that lived around 230 million years ago.

The seven-feet-long beast was unearthed below a hill in Agudo, southern Brazil.

Its name means 'powerful croc' — a reference to its 'impressive bite force'.

However, its bite speed would have been slow, suggesting it was a scavenger.

It would have walked on two fours but could have also run up on two. he remarkably preserved remains of D. collisensis were found at a so-called 'dinosaur graveyard' below a hill in picturesque Agudo, southern Brazil. 

The creature walked on four legs but used its two hind limbs to run — and was the Tyrannosaurus Rex of its time, researchers said 

Named Dynamosuchus collisensis, it had a long snout and tail, huge jaws and large, blade like teeth adapted to eating meat — although it was likely a scavenger

Ornithosuchids belonged to the so-called 'archosaurs', a group of animals that was split into two branches, with one having led to the dinosaurs and eventually birds and the other to the alligators and crocodiles we know today.

About seven feet long, Dynamosuchus was at the top of the food chain of its time, when the first dinosaurs had only just begun to evolve.

Its name means 'powerful croc' — bestowed as a nod to its 'impressive bite force', explained Dr Müller.

'Dynamosuchus was a crocodile "relative" or "cousin", rather than a direct "crocodile",' he added. 

'Their large and blade-like teeth were adapted to eat meat. But the bite speed was low, suggesting it was a scavenger.'

'Dynamosuchus probably preyed on early dinosaurs, lizards and mammalian ancestors called cynodonts,' said Dr Müller said. Pictured, a reconstruction of a Triassic

'Dynamosuchus probably preyed on early dinosaurs, lizards and mammalian ancestors called cynodonts. These were strange animals that looked like scaly rats,' said Dr Müller said.

'This animal probably caught slow animals and searched for dead animals  — like today's vultures and hyenas.'

'Their legs were upright, distinct from the sprawling posture of modern crocodiles. Furthermore, during fast gaits, this animal was able to run in a bipedal posture.'

'It lived side by side with the oldest dinosaurs that are about five feet long.'

'Therefore, Dynamosuchus was a big animal compared to those with which it was sharing the planet.'

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 

The remarkably preserved remains of D. collisensis were found at a so-called 'dinosaur graveyard' below a hill in picturesque Agudo, southern Brazil

Stunning pictures of the Moon and the Milky Way are captured by an amateur astronomer from his back garden in Essex 

Essex-based insurance company employee Dawid Glawdzin, 37 (inset), often spends hours out at night in the freezing cold using his digital single-lens reflex camera to get the perfect shot. Among his subjects have been various nebulae (top right), as well as the Sun, the Moon (right and bottom right) and the Andromeda Galaxy that lies some 2.5 million

Fossil hunters use horses to pull 150 million-year-old six-foot Brachiosaurus arm bone from Utah gully in race against time before it was washed away

• Experts discover right humerus bone of  Brachiosaurus that walked the Earth 150 million years ago
• It stands more than six-feet high and had to pull it out of the park using horses because of its size
• The bone was unearthed at the Morrison Formation in Utah, which us a fossil-hunting haven for researchers
• This is the third upper arm bone of a Brachiosaurus found in the US - one in 1900 and the other 1955

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 30 January 2020 

Paleontologists have uncovered the most complete Brachiosaurus upper arm bone in history.

Standing more than six feet tall, the right humerus belonged to a 6,600 pound dinosaur that once walked the Earth about 150 million years ago.

The bone was unearthed at the Morrison Formation in Utah, which us a fossil-hunting haven for researchers.

Because the bone is so large and the terrain so rugged, the team had to enlist the help of Clydesdale horses to pull it out of the ground.

To carefully move the bone, the team encased it in a ‘jacket’ of plaster and hessian that sat on two pieces of wood – the entire packaged weighed about 992 pounds.

Paleontologists have uncovered the most complete Brachiosaurus upper arm bone in history. Standing more than six feet tall, the right humerus belonged to a 6,600 pound dinosaur that once walked the Earth about 150 million years ago

Because the bone is so large and the terrain so rugged, the team had to enlist the help of Clydesdale horses to pull it out of the ground. To carefully move the bone, the team encased it in a ‘jacket’ of plaster and hessian that sat on two pieces of wood – the entire packaged weighed about 992 pounds

The artifact was first discovered in 2019 at a site on Utah State Park land by the palaeoartist on the team Brian Engh, ABC reports.

However, the team was unable to move it until the received the correct permits, which they did in October of last year. 

The humerus, which is believed to be the fifth largest every found, was spotted alongside other bones including several rib fragments, as well as fossil plants.

Prior to this discover, there have only been two other upper arm bones of a Brachiosaurus found in the US – one in 1900 and another in 1955.

The artifact was first discovered in 2019 at a site on Utah State Park land by the palaeoartist on the team Brian Engh, ABC reports. However, the team was unable to move it until the received the correct permits, which they did in October of last year

The bone stands taller than six feet and was larger than the researchers that discovered it

The humerus, which is believed to be the fifth largest every found, was spotted alongside other bones including several rib fragments, as well as fossil plants

And the recent find may also be the oldest, the researchers added, given where the fossils were found.

Anatomist Mathew Wedel of the Western University of Health Sciences, wrote in an email to ABC:’ We are particularly excited because this Brachiosaurus was found very near several other identifiable sauropod sites, petrified logs, and plant fragments ... in the lower layers of the Morrison Formation, which pushes these lineages back by several million years.’

Brachiosaurus, meaning arm lizard, were herbivorous saurapods, a family of very large plant eating dinosaurs that walked mostly on four legs.

The recent find may also be the oldest, the researchers added, given where the fossils were found

They lived primarily in Algeria, Portugal, Tanzania, and the United States during the Late Jurassic period, 155 to 140 million years ago.

They are believed to have been around 100 feet long on average and around 41 feet tall.

Dr. Stephen Poropat of Swinburne University said: ‘Often in the media what is presented as Brachiosaurus is based a lot on Giraffatitan [a closely related African genus of dinosaur].’

‘The more fossils we find, the better understanding we'll get of what Brachiosaurus was like as an animal — its anatomy and where it sits on the dinosaur family tree, its behavior and its ecology.’

WHAT WERE THE BRACHIOSAURUS DINOSAURS AND WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THEM?

Brachiosaurus, meaning arm lizard, were herbivorous saurapods, a family of very large plant eating dinosaurs that walked mostly on four legs.

They lived pirmarily in Algeria, Portugal, Tanzania, and the United States during the  Late Jurassic period, 155 to 140 million years ago.

Brachiosaurus held its head very high at the end of its elongated neck and it is likely to have eaten the leaves on tall tree-like plants.

They are believed to have been around 100 feet (30 metres) long on average and around 41 feet (12.5 metres) tall. 

A full fossilised skeleton, such as one on display at the Berlin Natural History Museum, can weigh as much as 50 tons.

As a herbivore, whose spatulate teeth prevented it from chewing, the animal harboured plant remains in its stomach for long periods of time. 

Some of this undigested material was fossilised and can be studied today. 

When scientists compared plant remains in East African specimens with remains in their North American cousins, they found differences between the types of flora, indicating the plants grew in different climates.

Since the Brachiosaurus could not swim, this is seen as evidence that Africa and North America had already started to drift apart from each other.

VIDEO https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7949215/Fossil-hunters-use-horses-pull-150-million-years-old-Brachiosaurus-arm-bone-Utah-gully.html#v-6197420905034173980

'Stranger things!' Fisherman is left gobsmacked after hauling a freaky three-legged creature from the Atlantic Ocean

• Bulbous-headed creature is seen writhing on decking off Coney Island, Brooklyn
• The fisherman questions what creature it is and calls for his mother to take a look
• Bizarre creature has slits for gills where eyes should be and three long tentacles 

By EMILY WEBBER FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED:30 January 2020 

Bulbous-headed creature is seen with a fishing line in its huge mouth after it was caught off Coney Island, Brooklyn

The sea monster twists and turns on the fishing boat decking

The three-legged creature coils itself into a ball after it was caught in the Atlantic Ocean

The fisherman exclaims: 

'What the hell, what is that? Mom!'

'Mom, do you see this?' 

The bizarre creature has slits for gills which appear to stare down the camera like eyes. 

His mother screams: 'Holy s**t! What the hell is that?' 

The dumbfounded fisherman replies: 'What is happening?'  

TikTok users likened the fish to Dart from Netflix series Stranger Things while another questions the creature's welfare 

The odd clip was posted to TikTok by Nataliia Vorobok and has since received 1.4million likes. 

People were quick to question the creature's welfare while one likened the creature to Dart in the Netflix drama, Stranger Things. 

Another user said: 'Put it back in the water!!!!'

Some have said the creature is a clearnose skate which is a species of cartilaginous fish. 

The diamond-shaped skate is a brown or grey colour which lives in the northwestern Atlantic and migrates inshore and out to deeper waters depending on the season.

---30---

SPOLIER ALERT
Takabuti, the famous ancient Egyptian mummy on display at the Ulster Museum, suffered a violent death from a knife attack, a team of experts from National Museums NI, University of Manchester, Queen’s University Belfast and Kingsbridge Private Hospital have revealed.

TAKABUTI RHYMES WITH SHAKE YER BOOTY 

Takabuti mummy case, ca. 660 BC [Credit: University of Manchester]

The team, whose findings are made public on the 185 year anniversary of Takabuti’s unwrapping in 1835, also show that her DNA is more genetically similar to Europeans rather than modern Egyptian populations.

The team show Takabuti had an extra tooth - 33 instead of 32 - something which only occurs in 0.02% of the population and an extra vertebrae, which only occurs 2% of the population.

And Takabuti’s heart, previously thought to have been missing, was identified by the state of the art technology used by the researchers as intact and perfectly preserved.

The scans show she was stabbed in the upper back near her left shoulder and that it was the cause of her death.

The findings finally solve the mystery of the mummy which has intrigued Egyptologists - and the public - since she was first unwrapped in Belfast in 1835. It transforms our understanding of Takabuti’s life in ancient Egypt and her journey into the afterlife.

The project was supported by funding from Friends of the Ulster Museum. Kingsbridge Private Hospital facilitated the work by providing their expertise and use of a portable x-ray machine to aid sampling for DNA work.

Takabuti's mummified remains [Credit: University of Manchester]

According to the team, the mysterious object in her body cavity, previously thought to be her heart, was in fact material used to pack the knife wound.

Takabuti lived over 2,600 years ago and died in her 20s. Experts say she was probably a married woman because she was a leading woman living - or mistress – who lived in a Thebes house - where Luxor is today.

She was acquired in Thebes by Thomas Greg from Holywood, County Down and brought to Belfast in 1834.

The scientific team consisted of Professor Rosalie David, Drs Bart van Dongen, Konstantina Drosou, Sharon Fraser, Professor Tony Freemont, Ds Roger Forshaw, Robert Loynes and Keith White from The University of Manchester

It also included Professors Eileen Murphy and Paula Reimar from Belfast University; Professor Caroline Wilkinson and Dr Sarah Shrimpton from Liverpool John Moores University; and Dr David Tosh from the Ulster Museum.

Dr Greer Ramsey, Curator of Archaeology at National Museums NI, says advances in scientific techniques have made the new findings possible.

Detail of Takabuti's head with auburn coloured wig deliberately set after death
[Credit: University of Manchester]

He said: “There is a rich history of testing Takabuti since she was first unwrapped in Belfast in 1835. But in recent years she has undergone x-rays, CT scans, hair analysis and radio carbon dating. The latest tests include DNA analysis and further interpretations of CT scans which provides us with new and much more detailed information.

“The significance of confirming Takabuti’s heart is present cannot be underestimated as in ancient Egypt this organ was removed in the afterlife and weighed to decide whether or not the person had led a good life. If it was too heavy it was eaten by the demon Ammit and your journey to the afterlife would fail.”

The tests and examination of Takabuti were carried out over a period of months by the team using the latest scanning technologies, leading to new insights into Egyptian high society in the 25th dynasty.

Professor Rosalie David, an Egyptologist from The University of Manchester said: “This study adds to our understanding of not only Takabuti, but also wider historical context of the times in which she lived: the surprising and important discovery of her European heritage throws some fascinating light on a significant turning-point in Egypt’s history.

“This study, which used cutting-edge scientific analysis of an ancient Egyptian mummy - demonstrates how new information can be revealed thousands of years after a person’s death. Our team - drawn from institutions and specialisms – was in a unique position to provide the necessary expertise and technology for such a wide-ranging study.”

Professor Eileen Murphy, a Bioarchaeologist from Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Natural and Built Environment, said: “It has been an incredible privilege to have been involved in modern research that has really helped enlighten us about Takabuti’s life and death. The latest research programme has provided some astounding results. It is frequently commented that she looks very peaceful lying within her coffin but now we know that her final moments were anything but and that she died at the hand of another.

Takabuti's opened coffin [Credit: University of Manchester]

“Trawling the historical records about her early days in Belfast it is clear that she caused quite a media sensation in 1835 – she had a poem written about her, a painting was made of her prior to her ‘unrolling’ and accounts of her unwrapping were carried in newspapers across Ireland. Research undertaken ten years ago gave us some fascinating insights, such as how her auburn hair was deliberately curled and styled. This must have been a very important part of her identity as she spurned the typical shaven-headed style. Looking at all of these facts, we start to get a sense of the petite young woman and not just the mummy.”

Retired Orthopaedic Surgeon and currently honorary lecturer in the University of Manchester's KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology, Dr Robert Loynes who performed the CT analysis and biopsy retrieval of material for a DNA and other analyses said: “The CT scan reveals that Takabuti sustained a severe wound to the back of her upper left chest wall. This almost certainly caused her rapid death. However, the CT scan also reveals unusual and rare features of her embalming process.”

Geneticist Dr Konstantina Drosou said “Takabuti’s genetic footprint H4a1 is relatively rare as it has not been found to my knowledge in any ancient or modern Egyptian population. My results agree with previous studies about ancient Egyptians being more genetically similar to Europeans than modern day Arabs.”

A book is currently being produced by the project team and supported by the Engaged Research Fund, Queen’s University Belfast, and the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology, The University of Manchester. The book will bring together all of the research findings to date on Takabuti.

Details of the new findings can be found in the Ancient Egypt gallery in the Ulster Museum where Takabuti is currently on display. Admission is free.

Source: University of Manchester [January 27, 2020]

Skulls from ancient North Americans hint at multiple migration waves By Stephanie Pappas - Live Science Contributor

But genetic data tells a very different story.

Original position of the skeletal remains inside the submerged cave of Muknal.
These remains date back to about 10,000 years ago and belonged to an adult male.
(Image: © Jerónimo Avilés)

The earliest humans in North America were far more diverse than previously realized, according to a new study of human remains found within one of the world's most extensive underwater cave systems.

The remans, discovered in the caverns of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, represent just four of the earliest North Americans, all of whom lived between 9,000 and 13,000 years ago. They're important because North American remains from the first millennia of human habitation in the Americas are rare, said study leader Mark Hubbe, an anthropologist at The Ohio State University. Fewer than two dozen individuals have been discovered, he added.

What makes the four individuals from Mexico interesting is that none of them are quite alike. One resembles peoples from the Arctic, another has European features and one looks much like early South American skulls, while the last doesn't share features with any one population.

"The differences we see among these Mexican skulls are on the same magnitude as the most different populations [globally] nowadays," Hubbe told Live Science.

The settlement of the Americas is a complicated topic, shrouded in mystery because of the dearth of archaeological findings from 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, which is probably when the first humans set foot on the continent. South America has more early human remains than North America, Hubbe said. The skulls found in South America are typically quite similar to one another, sharing features of skull measurements with indigenous Australians and Africans.

This doesn't mean that the South Americans had ancestors who came directly from Australia or Africa, Hubbe cautions. Rather, the shared features reveal a shared common ancestry between ancient South Americans and the peoples of Australia and Africa.

"The [skull] morphologies in Asia changed a lot in the last 10,000 years," Hubbe said. "Everyone who came [to the Americas] before 10,000 years ago would look a lot like early modern humans out of Africa and Australia."

Because the path to South America must have included pit stops in North America or along the Pacific coast, the assumption has long been that early people in South America looked a lot like early people in North America. But the new research suggests otherwise, Hubbe said. Instead, early North American populations look far more diverse than early South American populations.

"For whatever reason, when they went to South America, part of this diversity disappeared," Hubbe said.

The extensive caves of Quintana Roo are now mostly underwater. But about 12,000 years ago, during the end of the Pleistocene epoch and the beginning of the Holocene, sea levels were lower and the caves were dry. Some of the early inhabitants of Mexico seemed to use the caves as burial places, deliberately placing bodies inside. Some other skeletons discovered in the caves appear to indicate that those people's deaths may have been accidental.

Of the four skulls studied in the new research, published today in the journal PLOS ONE, one came from a young adult woman who lived around 13,000 years ago; one belonged to a young adult male from the same era; one was from a middle-aged woman who lived between about 9,000 and 12,000 years ago; and the fourth was that of a middle-aged man from around 10,000 years ago. Hubbe and his co-authors used computed tomography (CT) scanning to re-create digital, 3D images of the skulls. They then marked various landmarks on the skulls, such as the bottom of the nose or top of the eye orbits. Sizes and distances between landmarks were then used to compare the skulls to larger data sets of measurements from different populations of people around the world.

There are limitations to working with the data of only four people, Hubbe said – after all, any given individual can be an outlier compared with the rest of his or her community. But, in an attempt to downplay any individual quirks of the skulls, the researchers focused only on the components of the measurements that explained the majority of the variations between skulls. By limiting the analysis to only major variations, they could avoid putting too much weight on smaller differences between skulls.

They found that the 13,000-year-old young woman had features that most closely matched Arctic North Americans from Greenland and Alaska. The young man from 13,000 years ago, on the other hand, looked most similar to people from European populations. The middle-aged female from between 9,000 and 12,000 years ago looked much like the earliest settlers of South America. Finally, the middle-aged man from around 10,000 years ago showed no clear pattern. He had features seen in several American and Asian populations.

The findings are important because they provide new information on the earliest Americans, said Richard Jantz, an anthropologist at the University of Tennessee who was not involved in the research. The skulls are diverse, he said, though he noted that all but the young man from 13,000 years ago had Asian or Native American affinities, so the differences shouldn't be overexaggerated.

The new information complicates the fuzzy picture of who the first Americans were and how the earliest migrations worked.

North America could have been more diverse than South America if there were a consistent flow of people – and new genes – into North America, but only one or two big movements of populations through the funnel of Mexico into South America, Hubbe said.

"We cannot test this at this point," he said.

That story also contradicts the genomic data researchers have collected. Genomics suggest that all Native Americans (with the exception of a few later migrants) descend from a single migration of people from Asia. But research based on phenotype – the way people looked – suggests multiple migration events, creating a population that got regular injections of diversity.

"I think if America consisted of a homogenous population 10,000 or 15,000 years ago, that drawing skulls at random from it would not produce as much variation as you see," Jantz said.

In today's humans, Jantz said, genomics data and skull shape data generally mesh well — people with similar ancestry tend to show similarities in their skull measurements. So far, the same does not seem to be the case for the earliest Americans. But there are limitations in data on both the genetic and the archaeological side, Jantz said. Genomics researchers have only three ancient DNA samples from North America, and modern Native Americans' genetic profiles have been complicated by genocide and mixture with Europeans. Researchers who study skull morphology have only a handful of bones to work with, as well.

"To me," Jantz said, "the biggest challenge is reconciling conflicting lines of evidence."

The First Americans: Ancient DNA Rewrites Settlement Story 

Faces of Ancient Mexico Revealed in Skulls 

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Originally published on Live Science.