Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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The human-initiated model of wolf domestication – an expansion based on human-dingo relations in Aboriginal Australia
- The historically known relationship of interspecies companionship between Aboriginal foraging communities in Australia and free-ranging dingoes provides a model for understanding the human-canid relations that gave rise to the first domesticated dogs. Here, we propose that a broadly similar relationship might have developed early in time between wild-living wolves and mobile groups of foragers in Late Pleistocene Eurasia, with hunter-gatherers routinely raiding wild wolf dens for pre-weaned pups, which were socialized to humans and kept in camp as tamed companions (“pets”). We outline a model in which captive wolf pups that reverted to the wild to breed when they were sexually mature established their territories in the vicinity of foraging communities — in a “liminal” ecological zone between humans and truly wild-living wolves. Many (or most) of the wolf pups humans took from the wilderness to rear in camp may have derived from these liminal dens where the breeding pairs had been under indirect human selection for tameness over many generations. This highlights the importance of the large seasonal hunting/aggregation camps associated with mammoth kill-sites in Gravettian/Epigravettian central Europe. Large numbers of foragers gathered regularly at these locations during the wild wolf birthing season. We infer that if a pattern of this kind occurred over long periods of time then there might have been a pronounced effect on genetic variation in free-ranging wolves that denned and whelped in the liminal zones in the vicinity of these human seasonal aggregation sites. The argument is not that wolves were domesticated in central Europe. Rather, it is this pattern of hunter-gatherers who caught and reared wild wolf pups gathering seasonally in large numbers that might have been the catalyst for the early changes leading to the first domesticated dogs — whether in western Eurasia or further afield.
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Évidence de manipulation humaine des os de Canidae dans les sites gravettiens (Dolní Věstonice I et Předmostí I, Moravie, République tchèque)
- Le matériel des sites gravettiens de Moravie (Dolní Věstonice I et Předmostí I), où la domestication du loup / chien a été étudiée, a été analysé afin de détecter la présence éventuelle d’interventions ou manipulations effectuées par l’Homme, en l’occurrence des artefacts incrustés à l’intérieur des crânes de Canidae ou des crânes portanidaent des perforations post mortem. Nous avons utilisé les méthodes de segmentation et l’analyse de CT-scans pour visualiser les structures internes et pour caractériser les perforations. Grâce à nos résultats, nous pouvons apporter des éléments de réponse sur la relation des Hommes modernes et des grands Canidae, potentiellement domestiqués avant le Dernier Maximum glaciaire.
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From fossils to mind
- Fossil endocasts record features of brains from the past: size, shape, vasculature, and gyrification. These data, alongside experimental and comparative evidence, are needed to resolve questions about brain energetics, cognitive specializations, and developmental plasticity. Through the application of interdisciplinary techniques to the fossil record, paleoneurology has been leading major innovations. Neuroimaging is shedding light on fossil brain organization and behaviors. Inferences about the development and physiology of the brains of extinct species can be experimentally investigated through brain organoids and transgenic models based on ancient DNA. Phylogenetic comparative methods integrate data across species and associate genotypes to phenotypes, and brains to behaviors. Meanwhile, fossil and archeological discoveries continuously contribute new knowledge. Through cooperation, the scientific community can accelerate knowledge acquisition. Sharing digitized museum collections improves the availability of rare fossils and artifacts. Comparative neuroanatomical data are available through online databases, along with tools for their measurement and analysis. In the context of these advances, the paleoneurological record provides ample opportunity for future research. Biomedical and ecological sciences can benefit from paleoneurology’s approach to understanding the mind as well as its novel research pipelines that establish connections between neuroanatomy, genes and behavior.
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Tackling the evaporation rates of volatile HNS: A lab- scale experiment to serve marine pollution response
- Release of volatile Hazard Noxious Substances (HNS) at sea can lead to the formation of toxic, flammable or explosive gas plumes that can travel large distances and pose risks over a wide area in relatively short timescales. Yet, when an emergency is declared, key information regarding the short-term behavior of HNS is not available for responders. For volatile organic compounds (VOCs), one critical parameter that should be systematically predicted and/or assessed is the evaporation kinetics: this would warn first-responders against risks of gas clouds that might originate from the HNS slick. This paper presents new experimental data on the evaporation kinetics of several VOCs that were collected using the new Cedre’s wind tunnel in the framework of the MANIFESTS1 project. The air and liquid temperatures as well as the wind velocity profile were continuously monitored above the pool. The evaporation of each liquid was monitored following the weight loss fraction over time. The final objective was to assess mass fluxes at the sea-air interface and to compare it to analytical models. It appeared that, while pure chemicals showed a linear mass loss over time, the same chemicals spilled at the surface of seawater generally presented a non-linear mass loss over time, i.e., different and longer evaporation rates. The evaporation was also generally highlighted by a sharp decrease in temperature of the liquid. These new data were finally compared to the OSERIT – Evaporation module developed in MANIFESTS and will contribute to the improvement of the prediction accuracy of existing evaporation models. This will offer crisis management stakeholders more precise information regarding the formation of toxic gas clouds (Go/No Go decision).
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Palaeopathological and demographic data reveal conditions of keeping of the ancient baboons at Gabbanat el-Qurud (Thebes, Egypt)
- Since predynastic times, baboons (Papio hamadryas and Papio anubis) were important in ancient Egypt for ritual and religious purposes. These species did not occur naturally in Egypt and therefore had to be imported, but little is known about their exact provenance and the conditions in which they were kept through time. Here, we analyse the skeletal remains of a collection of baboon mummies coming from Thebes (Egypt), representing a minimum of 36 individuals, from a palaeopathological and demographic point of view. The pathological cases are described, figured where relevant, and the discussion attempts to understand their aetiology. The prevalence of the different types of deformations and pathologies is compared with that of other captive baboon populations from more or less contemporary (Tuna el-Gebel and Saqqara) or older (predynastic Hierakonpolis) sites. This is combined with observations on the age and sex distribution and the proportion of hamadryas and anubis baboons to draw conclusions about the conditions of keeping, possible breeding on-site, provenance of the animals and the trade routes used for import. As in Tuna el-Gebel and Saqqara, the baboons from Gabbanat el-Qurud suffered from numerous metabolic diseases due to chronic lack of sunlight and an unbalanced diet. This and the demographic data suggest that there was a local breeding population derived from animals captured downstream from the Sudanese Nile Valley (for anubis) and from the Horn of Africa or the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula (for hamadryas). A new series of radiocarbon dates is provided, placing the baboons from Gabbanat el-Qurud between the end of the Third Intermediate Period and the beginning of the Late Period.
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Contribution to the knowledge of Afrotropical Rutelinae V: Eight new species of Adoretus Laporte, 1840 (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Rutelinae)
