Small birds spice up the already diverse diet of spotted hyenas in Namibia

LEIBNIZ INSTITUTE FOR ZOO AND WILDLIFE RESEARCH (IZW)

 

IMAGE: 

SPOTTED HYENA HUNTING BIRDS AT A WATERHOLE IN NAMIBIA

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CREDIT: PHOTO BY MIHA KROFEL

Hyenas are generalist predators (and scavengers) with a broad range of prey species. They are known for hunting (or scavenging) larger mammals such as antelopes and occasionally feed on smaller mammals and reptiles. Being flexible in the choice of prey is a strategy of generalists – and this even extends to small passerine birds, as scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and the University of Ljubljana observed in Namibia: Spotted hyenas pursued red-billed queleas, picked them from the ground or the surface of a waterhole and swallowed them whole, at a success rate of approximately one bird every three minutes. These observations were described for the first time in word, photos and videos in the scientific journal “Food Webs”.

The diet breadth of hyenas is matched by few other carnivores. Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) are known to hunt a variety of larger mammals such as zebras and antelopes in southern and eastern Africa – but also ostriches, flamingos, reptiles, other carnivores. They also scavenge on carcasses from giraffes to elephants and cattle. Until now very few observations of hyenas feeding on small birds were reported. “In our paper we describe for the first time the hunting and feeding behaviour of spotted hyenas on red-billed queleas (Quelea quelea), a passerine bird known for its huge flocks, at a waterhole in the Etosha National Park in Namibia”, say Rubén Portas and Dr. Miha Krofel, scientists working for the Leibniz-IZW and the University of Ljubljana. On two different days they observed, filmed and photographed spotted hyenas chasing flying birds or picking them from the ground or the water surface, and devouring them whole at the waterhole. “We observed that a single hyena can catch on average one bird every three minutes”, the scientists conclude from their observations.

The scientists could draw some conclusions about the feeding behaviour of spotted hyenas from their observations. “It adds to the known variety of the spotted hyena diet and hunting tactics, since this behaviour has not been documented before”, says Portas. “It confirms their flexibility and ability to exploit foraging opportunities and obtaining food from unusual sources. We can also provide a first estimate on the capture rates and the food intake of hyenas hunting passerine birds.” As the observations were limited to a single waterhole, it is possible that the described foraging tactic was specific to the hyenas from the observed clan and occurred as an opportunistic response to an abundant food source, the authors say. Between May and August, thousands of wintering red-billed queleas gather at waterholes in Namibia.

Portas and Krofel regularly carry out field research on vultures, lions, leopards and hyenas and investigate carnivore-scavenger interactions and information transfer in the scavenger community for the GAIA Initiative and InterMuc projects in Etosha National Park. The GAIA Initiative is an alliance of research institutes, conservation organisations and companies with the aim of creating a high-tech early warning system for environmental changes. In several projects, the GAIA partners conduct wildlife research on selected species, their interaction and the functioning of ecosystems they inhabit. On this basis, the GAIA scientists and engineers build and utilize high-tech interfaces to the senses and intelligence of sentinel animals in order to detect critical changes or incidents in ecosystems fast and effectively. To this end, they develop a new generation of animal tags equipped with on-board artificial intelligence (AI), a camera, energy-efficient electronics and satellite-based communication technology.

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JOURNAL

Food Webs

DOI

10.1016/j.fooweb.2024.e00340 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) predation on passerine birds in Namibia

When inequality is more than “skin-deep”: Social status leaves traces in the epigenome of spotted hyenas in Tanzania

LEIBNIZ INSTITUTE FOR ZOO AND WILDLIFE RESEARCH (IZW)

 

IMAGE: 

SPOTTED HYENAS RESTING AT THE COMMUNAL DEN IN THE SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK IN TANZANIA (PHOTO BY SARAH BENHAIEM/LEIBNIZ-IZW)

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CREDIT: PHOTO BY SARAH BENHAIEM/LEIBNIZ-IZW

A research consortium led by scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) provide evidence that social behaviour and social status are reflected at the molecular level of gene activation (epigenome) in juvenile and adult free-ranging spotted hyenas. They analysed non-invasively collected gut epithelium samples from both high-ranking and low-ranking female hyenas and showed that rank differences were associated with epigenetic signatures of social inequality, i.e., the pattern of activation or switching off of genes that regulate important physiological processes such as energy conversion and immune response in several genome regions. The results, published in the scientific journal Communications Biology, contribute to a better understanding of the role of epigenetic mechanisms in the interplay of social, environmental and physiological factors in the life of a highly social mammal.

In mammals, social behaviour and social status can substantially influence the survival, reproductive performance and health of individuals. However, it is not yet fully understood how the translation of social and environmental factors into the physiology of an organism is reflected in molecular processes. Now, scientists from the Leibniz-IZW Department of Evolutionary Genetics and the Serengeti Hyena Project at the Leibniz-IZW’s Department of Ecological Dynamics found that social status influenced epigenetic patterns, more specifically the methylation of DNA in both young and adult female spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) which determines the activation of genes. They analysed DNA from gut epithelium cells from 18 adult female hyenas and 24 cubs with known social status from three clans in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. The scientists identified and validated 149 genome regions, where high-ranking and low-ranking individuals differed in the methylation of DNA (differentially methylated regions, DMRs). “We could, for the first time, provide evidence for epigenetic signatures of social inequalities in both young and adult spotted hyenas”, says Dr Alexandra Weyrich, head of the working group “Wildlife Epigenetics” in the Leibniz-IZW Department of Evolutionary Genetics and senior author of the paper.

The findings show that these epigenetic signatures are stable across life stages – and that they are linked to important physiological processes: Many of the identified DMRs were involved in the regulation of energy conversion, immune response, glutamate receptor signalling and ion transportation. “Especially the large number of DMRs in genes involved in energy conversion caught our eye”, says first author Colin Vullioud, data scientist in Weyrich’s working group. Co-author Dr Sarah Benhaiem, co-head of the Serengeti Hyena Project, explains: “We suspect that this may be driven by differences in behaviour and specifically the greater use of long-distance foraging trips by low-ranking than high-ranking females – the latter monopolising resources in their clan territory.” Interestingly, these genes were more methylated (or hypermethylated) in low-ranking adult females but not in cubs. This could indicate an adjustment of low-ranking adult females to higher energetic costs of frequent long-distance commuting, a behaviour not displayed by cubs. “Although the exact physiological consequences of the observed hypermethylation remain to be investigated, these findings are consistent with our observations and hint at the sought-after missing link between social and physiological factors”, Weyrich and Benhaiem conclude.

The analyses built on the expertise in epigenetics of the Leibniz-IZW as well as on the long-term research on spotted hyenas in the Serengeti, which started in 1987. The females in this investigation are individually known and their social status has been tracked for generations. This provided ideal conditions to study the links between behaviour, physiological factors, epigenetic modifications and fitness in terms of survival and reproduction in a wild population. “We collected our samples without invading the life of the hyenas”, say Dr Marion L. East and Professor Dr Heribert Hofer, founders of the Serengeti hyena project and co-authors of the paper. “We followed our study animals, collected super-fresh droppings immediately after they were produced and preserved gut epithelium samples from the surface of the faeces.” The use of samples collected in a non-invasive manner is one of the strengths of the investigation, the authors surmise. “The capture methylation method we used enriches methylated DNA as well as mammalian DNA, which improved the amount of hyena DNA over bacterial DNA and the quality of the sequencing data”, explains Weyrich.

DNA methylation is a chemical modification of the basic building blocks of a cell's genetic material. This modification is enabled by the transfer of methyl groups to nucleobases at certain positions in the DNA. As the basic structure of the respective nucleobase is unaltered, DNA methylation is not a genetic mutation, but a modification which determines whether this part of the DNA is ‘being used’ (activated) or switched off. DNA methylation is the most important epigenetic modification and thus a pivotal part of making genetic information available to the physiological processes within a cell.

Spotted hyenas are highly social and a model for social status-related differences in life history traits that are accompanied by differences in physiological processes and health. In hyena clans, females and their offspring socially dominate all immigrant males, and social status is behaviourally “inherited” by cubs from mothers who gain privileges associated with maternal social status. “As in some primate species, young hyenas receive social support from their mothers during interactions with group members. From these they learn that they can dominate all individuals which are submissive to their mother, but have to submit to those which their mother is submissive to”, explains East. Therefore, social status is stable and predictable because it is determined by family relationships and behavioural conventions.

“Additionally, the effects of social status on life history trajectories and health are typically passed across generations”, adds Hofer. For example, high-ranking females have priority access to resources in the clan territory and do not need to commute as much as low-ranking females to find food. They are therefore much more often present at the communal den and more frequently nurse their young. The milk-dependent cubs disproportionally benefit at this early stage in their life – by growing faster, having a higher chance of surviving to adulthood and starting reproduction at an earlier age than the offspring of low-ranking females.

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JOURNAL

Communications Biology

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Epigenetic signatures of social status in female free-ranging spotted hyenas (Crocuta Crocuta)

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

28-Mar-2024

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for HYENA 

Chupacabra A Shunka Warakin

A what? Well thanks to BigCityLiberal perhaps we have a solution to what the Chupacabra is. Perhaps this cryptozoological phenomena is just another name for a different cryptozoological creature. Perhaps they are one and the same. Since they are both cryptids. Perhaps the Chupacabra is a Shunka Warakin.

In the Great Plains of the American West, from at least Montana to Nebraska, there have been reports of an animal that seems to be a hyena. With a sloping back and hyena-like features, this beast was known to the Ioway Indians as the shunka warak'in. Similar creatures, with different names, were reported from the lands of other tribes. This animal was generally described as having dark fur, often black and sometimes red. The shaggy areas were distributed in a different way than on wolves. White settlers also thought they had seen this creature, and some were even mounted as trophies. Although the present wherabouts of these trophies is now unknown, one famous trophy had a picture taken of it, although it might have been a strange-looking wolf mounted by an incompetent taxidermist. Only DNA testing could settle the question.

After all the later is a supposed extinct North American Wolf Hyena hybrid as this picture shows of one shot and preserved in the 19th Century.

Shunka Warak'in

In the late 19th century, the Hutchins family moved into an area of Montana along the Madison River's West Fork, in Broadwater County. They were soon to report encounters with a mysterious canine beast known to Native Americans.

One of the descendants of the original clan was zoologist Ross Hutchins. In 1977, he would write Trails to Nature's Mysteries: The Life of a Working Naturalist. Within this book is reference to one of the most obscure creatures to grace North America's cryptozoological landscape. The following account is reproduced from that book.

One winter morning my grandfather was aroused by the barking of the dogs. He discovered that a wolflike beast of dark color was chasing my grandmother's geese. He fired his gun at the animal but missed. It ran off down the river, but several mornings later it was seen again at about dawn. It was seen several more times at the home ranch as well as at other ranches ten or fifteen miles down the valley. Whatever it was, it was a great traveler...

Those who got a good look at the beast described it as being nearly black and having high shoulders and a back that sloped downward like a hyena. Then one morning in late January, my grandfather was alerted by the dogs, and this time he was able to kill it. Just what the animal was is still an open question. After being killed, it was donated to a man named Sherwood who kept a combination grocery and museum at Henry Lake in Idaho. It was mounted and displayed there for many years. He called it ringdocus.

An Ioway Indian named Lance Foster approached Loren Coleman in 1995 and informed him of traditions existing in that tribe of an animal called a shunka warak'in ('Carrying-Off-Dogs') which cried like a human when killed. Foster's descriptions of an animal that looked something like a hyena and the existence of one in an Idaho museum are testimony that the animal killed at the Hutchins ranch was a Shunka Warak'in.

Coleman speculates that the creature may have represented a survival of a prehistoric species known as Borophagus, although my own researches into the animal makes it seem even more likely that it may belong to another prehistoric species, a creodont known as Hyaenodon montanus. H. montanus was a rather lightly built member of the Neohyaenodon subspecies

And these pictures shows the alleged Chupacabra caught in Texas this summer.

Eric Gay / AP

Phylis Canion holds the head of what she is calling a Chupacabra at her home in Cuero, Texas, Friday, Aug. 31, 2007

Creature ID'd As Coyote, Not Chupacabra

updated 8:32 a.m. MT, Fri., Nov. 2, 2007
SAN MARCOS, Texas - The results are in: The ugly, big-eared animal found this summer in southern Texas is not the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra. It's just a plain old coyote.

Biologists at Texas State University announced Thursday night they had identified the hairless doglike creature.

Oh well.....there are lots more Chupacabra still out there.

But the Shunka Warakin is extinct. Or perhaps not....

Wolf,dog,Shunka Warakin?

Posted by Mark on February 24, 2007, 11:04 am

Did anyone ever here of the dna results on that wolf creature they shot from a helicopter in Nov 2006 in Montana,that killed 120 sheep? It was 106 lbs,& orangeish color.In the 1800's a settler in Montana shot & mounted what they called Ringdocus,the Indians called it Shunka Warakin ("carrying off dogs").I have a picture of the mount in a book I have.Anyway both storys r neat but I never read a follow up story on the dna results.Some said it could've been a wolf from the great lakes region but I never saw an orange wolf out here.Mabey a Wolf-dog X. Who knows?

Your True Tales
August 2007 - Page 6

Shunka Warakin
by James

I was eight in 1992 and went camping with my friends in his backyard. We made camp and lit a fire. We were in the tents when a shadow was cast on the side. We thought it was a dog at first and I went outside to chase it off. But it was not a dog. The most I remember is its eyes, they were red. The fur was black and reminded me of a hog. It smelled awful. Its front legs were longer than the back legs. It just stared at me and then it just walked back into the woods.

I talked to an Native friend of mine and he heard of it. My wife brought home a book called Weird Georgia and it had a picture and an article about it. The picture made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. The book called it a "wog". We Googled "wog" but didn't get much, but then we found a picture of "shunka warakin" and the hair stood up again. I live in southern Georgia and actively deer hunt, but have never seen another creature like this - and hope never too.

Cue eerie music....


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Monsters, myths,cryptid,Shunka Warakin,coyote, legends,Chupacabra,Texas,cryptozoology,

 LEOPARD'S VS HYENAS

Spotted apex predator being pressured by spotted pack hunters – and it's our fault

UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN - FACULTY OF SCIENCE

 

IMAGE: 

IMAGES FROM CAMERA TRAPS IN UDZUNGWA. FROM THE LEFT: FEMALE LEOPARD, HYENA, MALE LEOPARD

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CREDIT: RASMUS W. HAVMØLLER

Who’s stronger? A solitary leopard or cackle of hyenas? And which is best at getting along with humans?

University of Copenhagen researchers closely studied this in a large East African natural area surrounded by rural settlements. The study demonstrates that the presence of humans has a direct impact on the competitive relationship between the two large predator species: leopards (Panthera pardus) – the iconic spotted feline and the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) – a kleptoparasite and pack hunter known for its comical appearance and characteristic 'laugh'.

"We humans continue eating our way into the little bit of wilderness left in the world. As we do, we impact wildlife. This study demonstrates that human disturbance upsets the balance between competing species and that this advantages hyenas," says Rasmus W. Havmøller, the study’s first author and a postdoc at the University of Copenhagen’s Natural History Museum of Denmark.

For months, Havmøller have been using camera traps to observe the dynamics between hyenas and leopards living in Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains – an approximately 2,000 km2 national park that is completely surrounded by agricultural and populated areas. The study is the first to combine camera observations of large predators over both time and space in a single analysis.

While the hyena as a species seems to be increasing in numbers, the population of leopards has been in significant decline for decades, both in Africa and worldwide. Since hyenas are the leopards' only competitor in this particular natural area, the ability of the two species to coexist is important for their survival. And here, the local population is an important factor:

"As the local people definitely don’t' like leopards, the leopards retreat as far away from humans as possible. Hyenas, on the other hand, benefit from the fact that humans don’t feel threatened by or pursue them. Consequently, hyenas live in close to human populations and may even exploit humans as shields against the leopards," says Havmøller.

"But the areas nearest to humans are also the areas with the most prey. And as hyenas assert dominance over these areas, it increases their ability to outcompete leopards and potentially threaten the leopard's adaptability," adds Havmøller.

Size matters

The researchers' observations confirm that size matters. While male leopards, which are larger, retain their dominance over hyenas, the situation is different for female leopards, which are smaller.

"Even though the male leopards are the ones in charge, the hyenas aren’t exactly scared off by them. They simply hang out in the background – probably to follow the leopards and steal their prey. But the physical inferiority of the hyenas seems to be compensated for in the areas closest to humans, because male leopards pull out," says Rasmus W. Havmøller, who continues:

"Female leopards, on the other hand, completely change their behavior when hyenas are in the area. They become diurnal, whereas hyenas are primarily nocturnal. This is probably because female leopards are smaller than hyenas, and that they will likely lose in any fight over prey."

Overall, the study shows that the hyenas benefit from living near humans.

"This suggests that the hyena's ability to adapt to areas of human activity may strengthen their overall success as a species and their competitive advantage over other large predators as we humans disturb more and more nature," says Havmøller.

When leopards are pressured, cascade effects may follow

According to the researcher, the shift in female leopard hunting patterns may have negative consequences:

"If you open up for more tourism and build more roads in the national park, the female leopards will be pressured immediately. They aren’t able to differentiate between safari tourists – who are most active during the day – and poachers. In time, they will probably learn that safari guests aren’t dangerous. But if there is a large and rapid influx into the area, you will probably see a decline in their population," says Rasmus W. Havmøller.

If leopards are seriously pressured out of the food chain, one should expect the emergence of what are known as cascade effects in the ecosystem:

"Plucking a large predator like leopards out of a food chain, which can be the ultimate consequence of human disturbances, may have very violent effects. Populations of other species, such as certain monkeys, whose populations are kept in check by leopards, will suddenly become too large and change the balance of the entire ecosystem," says the researcher.

As such, Havmøller hopes that the study will serve to encourage restraint when it comes to managing wilderness areas.

"Our results clearly indicate that human disturbances can change the competitive relationship between important predators. So, I hope that considerations will be made when expanding activities in wilderness areas, so as to roll them out slowly and give animals a chance to adapt. Furthermore, it would be good if the effects of human disturbances were monitored in more places using camera traps," concludes Rasmus W. Havmøller.

 

 

HYENAS VS. LEOPARDS 

• Leopards are unpopular among local people in many places because they may hunt livestock and attack humans. Hyenas, on the other hand, "clean up" by eating sick or dead livestock and don’t pose a problem for humans.
• Female leopards (approx. 20-43 kg.) are about half the size of male leopards (approx. 51-72 kg). Hyenas are in the middle in terms of weight (approx. 48-56 kg).
• Leopards are solitary hunters, whereas hyenas hunt in large cackles (clans), which can be an advantage for hyenas in confrontations with leopards.
• Hyenas are kleptoparasites that regularly steal the prey of other carnivores – including leopards.
• Leopards on the other hand, are masterful tree-climbers, which allows them to protect their prey from hyenas.

 

ABOUT THE STUDY

• The researchers behind the study are: Rasmus W. Havmøller and Linnea W. Havmøller from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen; Arielle W. Parsons from Lincoln Park Zoo, USA and Roland Kays from North Carolina State University, USA.
• The study has been published in the scientific journal Ecosphere.
• The research is supported by the ERC under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.

  

Map of Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania

CREDIT

(map from the scientific article)

JOURNAL

Ecosphere

DOI

10.1002/ecs2.4913 

ARTICLE TITLE

Sex and size matter: Intricate dominance relationships in an East African large carnivore guild

Ice Age woolly mammoth and rhino remains found in Devon cave

Andy Wells
·Freelance Writer
Thu., February 3, 2022

A mammoth tusk is boxed up and sent away to be analysed. (SWNS)

An “exceptional” discovery of the remains of several huge extinct beasts has been described as a “brilliant insight” into life in Ice Age Britain thousands of years ago.

The finds at Sherford, a new town being built in Devon, include a woolly mammoth, rhino and wolf and are estimated to be from the last Ice Age, around 30,000-60,000 years ago in the Middle Devensian period.

They have been described as "rare and nationally significant" and have been painstakingly recovered by a specialist and highly skilled team from across the UK for analysis.

The detailed samples taken from the site have so far uncovered partial remains of a woolly mammoth, including a tusk, molar tooth and other bones and partial remains of a woolly rhinoceros, including an incomplete skull and lower jaw.

There is also a virtually complete wolf skeleton and partial remains of hyena, horse, reindeer, mountain hare and red fox.

An ancient wolf skull was among the finds at the site in Devon. (SWNS)

Woolly rhinoceros remains were found at the site. (SWNS)

Bones of various small mammals such as bats and shrews are also present and it is anticipated that further bones of small mammals will be identified during post-excavation laboratory analysis.

The ‘megafauna’ – large animals now extinct – are hoped to provide new insights into early Britain and enrich what is already known.

Understanding the range of mammals present, particularly herbivores and their food sources, also provides an insight into the plants that may have existed in the local environment, for which little evidence survives today.

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, said: "This discovery is exceptional.

The molar of a mammoth is just one of the incredible finds at the site. (SWNS)

Partial remains of a woolly rhinoceros, including an incomplete skull and lower jaw, were discovered. (SWNS)

"To have found partial remains of such a range of species here in Devon gives us a brilliant insight into the animals which roamed around Ice Age Britain thousands of years ago, as well as a better understanding of the environment and climate at the time.

"We are delighted that this important part of our history will be preserved for future generations."

The town of Sherford is is a new 5,500-home community still under development on the edge of Plymouth, and is already home to over 1,500 people.

It was excavation during infrastructure work on site that led to the discovery of the remains.

Samples taken from the site have so far uncovered partial remains of a woolly mammoth, including a tusk, molar tooth and other bones. (Getty/stock picture)

Archaeologists recover ancient woolly rhinoceros remains. (SWNS)

The area where the remains were found will be preserved and no construction will take place on top of it.

Rob Bourn, managing director of Orion Heritage and lead archaeologist on the project for the Sherford Consortium, added: “This is a major discovery of national significance – a once in a lifetime experience for those involved.

"Construction happening at Sherford is the sole reason these findings have been discovered and it is remarkable that they have laid undisturbed until now.

"To find such an array of artefacts untouched for so long is a rare and special occurrence. Equally rare is the presence of complete or semi-complete individual animals.

Parts of a woolly rhinoceros were discovered, including an incomplete skull and lower jaw. (Getty/stock photo)

An archaeologist team member in Devon recording deposits by the wolf skull. (SWNS)

"We look forward to reaching the stage where the discoveries can be shared and displayed, so that everyone can find out more about our distant past.”

Mr Bourn said working theories of how they ended up there included some of the creatures falling into a pit and unable to escape while carnivorous scavengers followed and met a similar fate – or the animals died elsewhere and the bones washed there over a period of time.

It is expected that the full archive of remains will return to Devon, into the care of The Box – a new museum in Plymouth.

Watch: Mammoth tusk holds clues to Ice Age extinctions

Remains of woolly mammoth found on Devon building site

Bones of ice age mammoth, bison, rhinoceros, wolf and hyena uncovered by digger on outskirts of Plymouth

A section of mammoth tusk in the cave system uncovered during the construction of a new town.

Steven Morris
THE GUARDIAN
Thu 3 Feb 2022

The remains of a woolly mammoth, rhinoceros, bison, wolf and hyena have been found in a cave system uncovered by a digger during the building of a new town in the south-west of England.

Experts said the find at Sherford, a 5,500-home development on the outskirts of Plymouth, was “exceptional” and gave an astonishing glimpse into the megafauna that roamed what is now Devon between 30,000 and 60,000 years ago.

More than 200 clusters of bones have been carefully removed from the cave and they will be examined to try to help paint a picture of what life was like in ice age Britain.

The samples taken from the site have so far uncovered:

Partial remains of a woolly mammoth, including a tusk, molar tooth and other bones

Partial remains of a woolly rhinoceros, including an incomplete skull and lower jaw

A virtually complete wolf skeleton

Partial remains of hyena, horse, reindeer, mountain hare and red fox

Bones of various small mammals such as bats and shrews. It is anticipated that further bones of small mammals will be identified during post-excavation laboratory analysis.

Woolly mammoth molar.


Whether all of the creatures uncovered at Sherford coexisted or lived at different points over a much longer time span is uncertain. One theory is that some of the creatures fell into a pit and were unable to escape, and carnivorous scavengers followed and met a similar fate – or the animals died elsewhere and the bones washed into the area over a period of time.

Understanding the range of mammals present, particularly herbivores, will also provide an insight into the plants that may have existed at the time.


Huge ‘sea dragon’ named one of UK’s greatest fossil finds

Danielle Schreve, professor of quaternary science at Royal Holloway University of London, was one of those who crawled into the cave to help supervise the recovery work. “It’s really extraordinary to go into a cave and find remains of things like woolly mammoth tusks,” she said. “It’s pretty special.”

Schreve said it was probably the most significant find of its kind since the discovery of the Joint Mitnor cave in Devon more than 80 years ago.

The animal bones and environmental samples have been recorded and removed from the ground and are undergoing academic analysis and conservation.

It is expected that the full archive of remains will return to Devon, into the care of The Box, Plymouth’s revamped museum. Developers have said the area where the remains were found would be conserved and nothing would be built on top, but the entrance to the cave will be sealed.

Woolly rhinoceros mandible with teeth attached.

Rob Bourn, the managing director of Orion Heritage and lead archaeologist on the project for the Sherford Consortium, said: “This is a major discovery of national significance, a once in a lifetime experience for those involved. To find such an array of artefacts untouched for so long is a rare and special occurrence.”

Bourn said the south-west of England was very different in the time of the mammoth. “It was an area where mammoths and other creatures thrived, roaming great distances across a landscape that looked very different to today, with glaciers not far away in south Wales and a volatile climate prone to huge floods.”

Duncan Wilson, the chief executive of Historic England, said: “This discovery is exceptional. To have found partial remains of such a range of species here in Devon gives us a brilliant insight into the animals which roamed around ice age Britain thousands of years ago, as well as a better understanding of the environment and climate at the time.”

New discovery of ice age fossils in Devon

by Royal Holloway, University of London

A fossil woolly rhino jaw and teeth, immediately after it was excavated. 

Credit: Professor Danielle Schreve

Fossils of extinct species, including mammoth, rhinoceros and wolf, have been discovered in a Devon cave by a team of archaeologists, including an academic from Royal Holloway, University of London.

Excavations at Sherford, a new town in Plymouth, uncovered the approximate 30-60,000-year-old fossils, belonging to wooly mammoths, wooly rhinoceros, hyena, horse, reindeer, mountain hare and red fox, giving an incredibly rare insight into Britain during the last ice age.

Speaking about the discovery, Professor Danielle Schreve, Head of the Department of Geography and a member of the Centre for Quaternary Research at Royal Holloway, said: "To find a previously unknown cave system is a really special discovery. The fossil bones and teeth not only allow us to reconstruct what conditions were like in the past—a cool, open grassland patrolled by huge herds of grazing animals and across which Neanderthals and then modern humans hunted—but knowledge of how species responded to rapid climate change by shifting their range, evolving or going extinct can help us make better conservation decisions today."

Over recent months, the archaeological team has conducted a detailed analysis of the findings. The work has been led by an expert team including academics from Winchester University and the University of Manchester, Orion Heritage and Exeter-based AC Archaeology, supported by Devon County Council and the South West Science Advisor from Historic England.

Whether all of the fossils uncovered are from a similar time period or existed at different points over a longer time span is under investigation. The remains of megafauna—which are large animals of a geological period that are extinct—as well as a complete skeleton of a wolf, suggest that they probably met an accidental death, falling in through an opening to the ground surface and unable to escape.

It is expected that the full archive of remains will return to Devon, into the care of The Box museum in Plymouth, just a few miles from where they were discovered.

Sherford is a new 5,500-home community under development in Plymouth. The Sherford Consortium—a partnership of Taylor Wimpey and Vistry Partnerships—instigated archaeological work at the start of construction in 2015 and have remained committed to funding an ongoing program of archaeological investigation ever since. Excavation during infrastructure work led to the discovery of these fossils, in an area near Sherford Quarry.New discovery of the earliest known hippo fossil in the UK

Provided by Royal Holloway, University of London 

Jawbone found in China linked to unknown tiger lineage that never evolved

AUGUST 14, 2022

By KEVIN MCSPADDEN

Twitter/TheChinatiger01

A team of scientists in China used DNA analysis of a fossil found in northeast China to identify what they believe is a lineage of tigers that diverged from today’s modern felines approximately 268,000 years ago.

The proposed evolutionary split would have happened far earlier than the previously known divergence around 125,000 years ago when what would become South China tigers (Panthera tigris amoyensis ) split from what eventually became the five other living species of tigers.More from AsiaOneRead the condensed version of this story, and other top stories with NewsLite.

The scientists believe the newly discovered lineage of tigers evolved independently from modern tigers before eventually going extinct at an unknown date, according to a paper published in late July in Royal Society, a peer-reviewed journal.

Sheng Guilian, a study author and professor at China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) Future City Campus, told the South China Morning Post that the team was able to build an evolutionary tree using DNA and molecular analysis that allowed them to identify when different tiger species diverged.

The researchers analysed DNA samples of 40 modern tigers spread across the six living species, as well as one lion and one snow leopard.

“The tree shows that this new tiger is in another branch of the tree and formed a sister clade to all modern tigers,” Sheng said.

The researchers wrote in the paper that their findings support the idea that there may be more now-extinct tiger lineages that humans have yet to discover.

The new tiger was identified by analysing a lower jawbone found in a karst cave in Jilin province, northeastern China, and the researchers nicknamed the cat “Da’an tiger” after the cave’s name.

The area is consistent with historical ranges of tigers and is where Amur tigers (more famously called Siberian tigers) still live. The researchers hypothesised that the location of the fossil might mean the ancient tiger had specific genes enabling it to adapt to cold environments, also reported in Amur tigers.

Sheng said the scientists pinpointed that the extinct tiger evolved from modern tigers 268,000 years ago by using a strategy called the “molecular clock theory”, in which scientists can use the mutation rate of molecules to determine when animal species diverge.

“Before this study, all available research in terms of molecular evolution of tigers was based on modern tigers, which means we could only investigate the evolutionary process of their direct ancestors,” she said.

The discovery also highlights how valuable DNA analysis can be in biological sciences.

The piece of the jawbone excavated from Da’an was not large. Scientists initially thought it belonged to an ancient hyena because other hyena bones were found in the cave.

It was only through analysing the DNA that the researchers could determine that it was a tiger, not a hyena.

Read Also China tiger farms put big cats in the jaws of extinction


“It is not a surprise that you make morphological mistakes if you only get a small part of the [jawbone]. That is why ancient DNA is so important and helpful,” said Sheng.

Scientists would need to identify more bones to give it a specific species classification, and they are very far from figuring out what the ancient tiger might have looked like.

Interestingly, fossils from an ancient species of cave lions called Panthera spelaea have been found in the region, piquing the researchers’ interest in whether the lions and tigers interacted with one another. As of now, we do not have enough information to determine either way.

The oldest known fossil that is considered a close relative of tigers belonged to a species named Panthera zdanskyi. It was found in 2004 in Gansu province in northwest China and is estimated to be between 2.16 and 2.55 million years old.

Tons of other animals have clitorises — and they can teach us more about human sexuality

Paola Rosa-Aquino

Fri, December 23, 2022 

A common death adder hiding in leaf litter.Auscape/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

• Many animals have clitorises, a female sex organ, but experts say they're understudied.

• Scientists recently discovered that female snakes have a two-part clitoris.

• Learning about sex organs in the animal kingdom could teach us more about human anatomy.

Scientists know a lot about animals' male reproductive organs. But compared to the penis, the clitoris has been shrouded in mystery.

Both the penis and the clitoris develop from the same tissue, so they share many similarities. Understanding these structures in depth doesn't only reveal the biology and evolution of sexual organs in the animal kingdom — it can teach us about our own sexuality.

"In biology, we have for many, many decades — even centuries — taken the male body as the norm. Female is like the weird deviation," Patricia Brennan, a genital morphologist at Mount Holyoke College, told Insider."For many years, I've been trying to fill out those unknown areas of female reproductive biology."

She said she's seen more interest in this field in recent years, mostly from young female researchers. "I think they're going to be the ones who are going to be able to answer a lot of questions in upcoming years."

Brennan said the clitoris is found in all terrestrial vertebrates — including lizards, snakes, crocodiles, turtles, and mammals. The only known exception is birds.

From snakes to bottlenose dolphins, here are some of the most impressive and interesting clitorises in the animal kingdom.

Also, in case you were wondering (we were), the plural form of "clitoris" is "clitorises." "Clitorides" is also acceptable if you want to be more technical.

Scientists found clitorises in female snakes

Image of a horizontal slice of a snake’s abdomen, showing its hemiclitoris, labeled HC.Megan Folwell

In December, researchers provided the first major description of the female snake clitoris.

In a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, scientists looked at nine species of snakes from different areas of the world, including Australia, Central America, and South America.

They found that all female snakes studied have a pair of clitorises — or hemiclitores, a two-part clitoris.

"We found them in all the species we looked at," Brennan, a co-author of the study, said. "It is in fact, the first morphological description of a snake having a clitoris."

Using modern anatomical tools, researchers closely studied the cellular makeup of the clitoris in the Australian death adders, a venomous snake species. They found it was composed of erectile tissue and bundles of nerves.

Brennan said the fact that snake species have intersex individuals has heightened confusion about the creature's genital organs over the years.

Lizards have 2-part clitorises they can tuck back into their body

An arboreal alligator lizard, one of the creatures known to have a two-part clitoris.K Hanley CHDPhoto/Shutterstock

Like snakes, their closests cousins — lizards — have a two-part hemiclitoris.

They were first described in female monitor lizards in 1995 as "miniaturized mirror images of the hemipenes of the males."

Brennan said the hemiclitores of lizards are reversible, meaning they can be flipped out of the body and tucked back in.

Bonobos rub their enlarged clitorises against each other

Bonobos are known for rubbing their clitorises on each other.Thomson Reuters

Female bonobos have enlarged clitorises between their legs. They rub their clitorises on each other — a process called genito-genital rubbing.

Scientists perceive it as greeting or an effort to diffuse tension.

Spotted hyenas have 8-inch clitorises

A female spotted hyena's clitoris may be the largest in the animal kingdom.Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images

A hyena's clitoris extends approximately 8 inches from her body and comes with a pair of what looks like testicles, but is actually their fused labia, according to researchers. They use it to pee and copulate.

Moreover, the hyena's clitoris also has a birth canal, which is only an inch in diameter, Insider previously reported. Consequently, pushing a cub through this canal can often be fatal.

Bottlenose dolphins have clitorises that might be for sexual pleasure

A bottlenose dolphin pictured in the Moray Firth, Scotland. Researchers believe the dolphin's clitoris provides pleasure during sex.Getty Images

Female bottlenose dolphins have clitorises similar to humans.

In a January 2022 study, Brennan and other researchers analyzed clitorises from 11 female bottlenosed dolphins that died of natural causes.

Their findings suggest that, like those in human females, the dolphin's clitoris provides pleasure during sex.