[PaleoMammalogy • 2018] Junzi imperialis • New Genus of Extinct Holocene Gibbon associated with Humans in Imperial China

 Junzi imperialis

Turvey, Bruun, Ortiz, Hansford, Hu, Ding, Zhang & Chatterjee, 2018

DOI: 10.1126/science.aao4903 

Abstract
Although all extant apes are threatened with extinction, there is no evidence for human-caused extinctions of apes or other primates in postglacial continental ecosystems, despite intensive anthropogenic pressures associated with biodiversity loss for millennia in many regions. Here, we report a new, globally extinct genus and species of gibbon, Junzi imperialis, described from a partial cranium and mandible from a ~2200- to 2300-year-old tomb from Shaanxi, China. Junzi can be differentiated from extant hylobatid genera and the extinct Quaternary gibbon Bunopithecus by using univariate and multivariate analyses of craniodental morphometric data. Primates are poorly represented in the Chinese Quaternary fossil record, but historical accounts suggest that China may have contained an endemic ape radiation that has only recently disappeared.

 


Samuel T. Turvey, Kristoffer Bruun, Alejandra Ortiz, James Hansford, Songmei Hu, Yan Ding, Tianen Zhang and Helen J. Chatterjee. 2018. New Genus of Extinct Holocene Gibbon associated with Humans in Imperial China. Science. 360(6395); 1346-1349. DOI: 10.1126/science.aao4903

science.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2018/06/20/360.6395.1346.DC1

The noblewoman's ape

Human activities are causing extinctions across a wide array of taxa. Yet there has been no evidence of humans directly causing extinction among our relatives, the apes. Turvey et al. describe a species of gibbon found in a 2200- to 2300-year-old tomb ascribed to a Chinese noblewoman. This previously unknown species was likely widespread, may have persisted until the 18th century, and may be the first ape species to have perished as a direct result of human activities. This discovery may also indicate the existence of unrecognized primate diversity across Asia.

Vanished ape found in ancient Chinese tomb, giving clues to its disappearance  sciencemag.org/news/2018/06/vanished-ape-found-ancient-chinese-tomb-giving-clues-its-disappearance

Chinese grave reveals vanished gibbon genus  science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6395/1287

Ancient Royal Tomb Yields Strange New Ape Species  on.natgeo.com/2IadhQP via @NatGeo

Ancient Chinese tomb reveals previously unknown extinct species  fw.to/MiyAvFb

[Mammalogy • 2017] Primate Archaeology Evolves

[upper] Locations and examples of stone tool use by wild non-human primates and early hominins.
[lower] Archaeologically excavated stone tools used in percussive activities.

Haslam, Hernandez-Aguilar, Proffitt, et al. 2017. 

   DOI:   10.1038/s41559-017-0286-4 

Abstract

Since its inception, archaeology has traditionally focused exclusively on humans and our direct ancestors. However, recent years have seen archaeological techniques applied to material evidence left behind by non-human animals. Here, we review advances made by the most prominent field investigating past non-human tool use: primate archaeology. This field combines survey of wild primate activity areas with ethological observations, excavations and analyses that allow the reconstruction of past primate behaviour. Because the order Primates includes humans, new insights into the behavioural evolution of apes and monkeys also can be used to better interrogate the record of early tool use in our own, hominin, lineage. This work has recently doubled the set of primate lineages with an excavated archaeological record, adding Old World macaques and New World capuchin monkeys to chimpanzees and humans, and it has shown that tool selection and transport, and discrete site formation, are universal among wild stone-tool-using primates. It has also revealed that wild capuchins regularly break stone tools in a way that can make them difficult to distinguish from simple early hominin tools. Ultimately, this research opens up opportunities for the development of a broader animal archaeology, marking the end of archaeology’s anthropocentric era.

Fig. 1 | Locations and examples of stone tool use by wild non-human primates and early hominins.
a, Bearded capuchin monkey (Sapajus libidinosus), Brazil. b, West African chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus), Guinea. c, Burmese long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis aurea), Thailand. d, Stone tools from Lomekwi 3, Kenya, dated to 3.3 Myr ago. e, Stone tool from Gona, Ethiopia, dated to 2.6 Myr ago.

Fig. 2 | Archaeologically excavated stone tools used in percussive activities.
 a, Lomekwi 3 (Kenya); 3.3 Myr old, tool user unknown but possibly Kenyanthropus platyops.
b, Panda 100 (Ivory Coast); used by West African chimpanzees (P. t. verus).
c, Laem Son 5 (Thailand); used by Burmese long-tailed macaques (M. f. aurea).  

Michael Haslam, R. Adriana Hernandez-Aguilar, Tomos Proffitt, Adrian Arroyo, Tiago Falótico, Dorothy Fragaszy, Michael Gumert, John W. K. Harris, Michael A. Huffman, Ammie K. Kalan, Suchinda Malaivijitnond, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, William McGrew, Eduardo B. Ottoni, Alejandra Pascual-Garrido, Alex Piel, Jill Pruetz, Caroline Schuppli, Fiona Stewart, Amanda Tan, Elisabetta Visalberghi and Lydia V. Luncz. 2017. Primate Archaeology Evolves. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 1; 1431–1437.  DOI:   10.1038/s41559-017-0286-4 

ResearchGate.net/publication/319965166_Primate_archaeology_evolves

Primate Archaeology Sheds Light On Human Origins  sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090715131437.htm

[Mammalogy • 2017] Rediscovery of The Type Series of The Sacred Shrew, Sorex religiosus I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1826 (Mammalia: Soricidae), with Additional Notes on Mummified Shrews of Ancient Egypt

  Crocidura religiosa   (I. Geoffroy-Saint Hilaire, 1826)

Illustration: P.J. Smit.

 Woodman, Koch & Hutterer, 2017.  

DOI:  10.11646/zootaxa.4341.1.1 

Abstract

In 1826, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire described the Sacred Shrew, Sorex religiosus [= Crocidura religiosa] from a series of 22 embalmed individuals that comprised a portion of the Italian archeologist Joseph Passalacqua’s collection of Egyptian antiquities from an ancient necropolis near Thebes, central Egypt. Living members of the species were not discovered until the beginning of the 20th century and are currently restricted to the Nile Delta region, well north of the type locality. In 1968, the type series of S. religiosus was reported lost, and in 1978, a neotype was designated from among a small collection of modern specimens in the Natural History Museum, London. Our investigations have revealed, however, that the type series is still extant. Most of the specimens used by I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire to describe S. religiosus still form part of the Passalacqua Collection in the Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. We summarize the taxonomic history of S. religiosus, review the history of the Passalacqua collection, and explain why the type series was thought to have been lost. We designate an appropriate lectotype from among the original syntypes of S. religiosus in the Ägyptisches Museum. Our examination of the shrew mummies in the Passalacqua collection also yielded a species previously unrecorded from either ancient or modern Egypt: Crocidura pasha Dollman, 1915. Its presence increases the number of soricid species embalmed in ancient Egypt to seven and provides additional evidence for a more diverse Egyptian shrew fauna in the archeological past. Finally, we provide details that will assist in better understanding the variety of mummification procedures used to preserve animals in ancient Egypt.

Keywords: Mammalia, ancient Egyptian history, animal mummy, Crocidura olivieri, Crocidura pasha, Crocidura religiosa, embalming practices, taxonomy

FIGURE 6. Crocidura religiosa, as seen by the Victorian artist P.J. Smit. Detail from plate 23 in Anderson & de Winton (1902).

FIGURE 5. X-ray (A) and micro-CT-scans (B-E) of the skull of the lectotype AM 690 of Sorex religiosus I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1826 (GLS 15.3 mm): A, B, lateral views; C, sagittal cross section: D, dorsal view; E, ventral view. See the interactive 3D scan in Fig. S2. 

FIGURE 4. Lectotype ÄM 690 of Sorex religiosus I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1826. A, External view of mummy; B, X-ray of entire specimen. Scale in mm. Photograph courtesy of S. Steiss, Berlin; X-ray image courtesy of C. Schmidt, Berlin.

Crocidura religiosa (I. Geoffroy-Saint Hilaire, 1826)

Diagnosis. Small and greyish-brown Crocidura with paler underparts and limbs. Fur short and silky. Tail thick at base and covered with long bristle-like hairs over most of its length. Head and body length 54 mm, tail 26-40 mm, hindfoot short (8–10 mm s.u., 9–11 mm c.u.). Skull short (GLS 14.4-16.1 mm, Table 1) and slender; braincase flat and dorsal profile straight. Upper toothrow (I1-M3) 5.9-6.8 mm, height of coronoid process (COR) 3.0-3.7 mm. Dentition not specialized. First upper incisor robust, but of medium size (Figs. 3, 5, S2). Upper unicuspid teeth with well-developed cinguli. Upper premolar (P4) with a short parastyle. M1 and M2 with well-separated protocone and hypocone. Upper third molar small. Cutting surface of lower incisor smooth.

Distribution. Today, C. religiosa is confined to the Upper Nile valley and delta (Fig. 1). Its current population status is unknown (Hutterer et al., 2008; Happold, 2013). The most recently reported collection dates from 1988 (Handwerk, 1990). A possible Pleistocene record from Bir Tarfawi indicates the species also may have occurred in southern Egypt at that time, but the identity of the fossil fragments needs to be confirmed (Kowalski et al., 1989; Butler, 1998).

 Vernacular name. We propose to use "Sacred Shrew" as the English common name for this small species. The name coined for it by I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1826: 294–295) is “musaraigne sacrée,” first translated into English by Partington (1837) and subsequently used by Smedley et al. (1845), Reichenbach (1852: "Heilige Spitzmaus"), Fitzinger (1868), Bodenheimer (1960), and Woodman (2015). “Egyptian Pigmy Shrew” has been used by Le Berre, 1990, Wolsan & Hutterer (1998), Wilson & Cole (2000), Hutterer (2005), Aulagnier et al. (2008), and Happold (2013), while Osborn & Helmy (1980), Osborn & Osbornová (1998), and Hoath (2003) used “Dwarf Shrew.”

Neal Woodman, Claudia Koch and Rainer Hutterer. 2017. Rediscovery of The Type Series of The Sacred Shrew, Sorex religiosus I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1826, with Additional Notes on Mummified Shrews of Ancient Egypt (Mammalia: Soricidae).  Zootaxa. 4341(1); 1–24. DOI:  10.11646/zootaxa.4341.1.1

   

[Archaeology • 2016] Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)

Abstract

The ancestor of all modern domestic cats is the wildcat, Felis silvestris lybica, with archaeological evidence indicating it was domesticated as early as 10,000 years ago in South-West Asia. A recent study, however, claims that cat domestication also occurred in China some 5,000 years ago and involved the same wildcat ancestor (F. silvestris). The application of geometric morphometric analyses to ancient small felid bones from China dating between 5,500 to 4,900 BP, instead reveal these and other remains to be that of the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). These data clearly indicate that the origins of a human-cat ‘domestic’ relationship in Neolithic China began independently from South-West Asia and involved a different wild felid species altogether. The leopard cat’s ‘domestic’ status, however, appears to have been short-lived—its apparent subsequent replacement shown by the fact that today all domestic cats in China are genetically related to F. silvestris.

Fig 2. Geometric morphometric analyses of the five archaeological Chinese cat mandibles.
 Left column: lateral view of the mandibles—the first and the fourth specimens being transposed right side left, the scale bare represents 1cm. Middle column: Boxplot comparison of centroid size of the archaeological specimen (A), with those of modern: domestic cat (Dom), leopard cat (Pb), European wildcat (Fss) and SW Asian wildcat (Fsl). Right column: species identification of the specimen based on discriminant analyses computed on mandible shape variables. Percentages within brackets correspond to the probability of being identified as Pb.

 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147295  

Fig 1. Modern distribution of wild felid species, archaeological site location and mandible shape relationship between modern wild felid species and domestic cat.
(A), Modern Old World distribution of the different wild cat subspecies (Felis silvestris) and the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), and location of the three Middle-Late Neolithic sites of the Shaanxi and Henan Provinces (China) analyzed in this paper: 1, Quanhucun, 2, Wuzhuangguoliang, 3, Xiawanggang;
 (B), Phenotypic relationship (unrooted neighbour joining tree) built on mandible shape distances between modern domestic cat (F. catus), leopard cat (P. bengalensis) and the two relevant sub-species of wild cat (F. s. silvestris; F. s. lybica) from our analyses.  DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147295 

Jean-Denis Vigne, Allowen Evin, Thomas Cucchi, Lingling Dai, Chong Yu, Songmei Hu, Nicolas Soulages, Weilin Wang, Zhouyong Sun, Jiangtao Gao, Keith Dobney and Jing Yuan. 2016. Earliest “Domestic” Cats in China Identified as Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis). PLoS ONE. 11(1): e0147295.  DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147295

Earliest Cat Domesticated in China Was the Leopard Cat, Scientists Say http://on.natgeo.com/29c0FdI via @NatGeo

[Mammalogy / Archaeology • 2016] Archaeological Excavation of Wild Macaque Stone Tools

Figure 1. (a) Site LS5 at low tide, Piak Nam Yai, facing north along the island's east coast. The site is situated beneath the large boulder on the left. (b) Use-damage on tools collected after use by PNY macaques, showing (clockwise from top) pitting, crushing and fracture damage, with the use-wear highlighted by dashed white lines in each instance. Modified from Haslam et al. (2013, Fig. 4). (c) Burmese long-tailed macaque using a stone tool to open and eat oysters from an intertidal basalt boulder, Piak Nam Yai, Thailand. (d) LS5B during excavation, with a buried boulder visible at the base of the excavation (along with the rising water table), and the boulder that overhangs the site present at the left of the photograph. The scale on the buried boulder is 5 cm.

 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.05.002

Abstract

More than 3 million years of excavated archaeological evidence (Harmand et al., 2015) underlies most major insights into the evolution of human behaviour. However, we have seen almost no use of archaeological excavation to similarly broaden our under- standing of behaviour in other animal lineages. The few published examples include recovery of a late Holocene assemblage of stones from the Ivory Coast, attributed to the agency of both humans (Homo sapiens) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) (Mercader et al., 2002, 2007), and exploration of the occupation sites of non- tool-using species such as penguins (Emslie et al., 2014) and other birds (Burnham et al., 2009). The development of viable methods for identifying and interpreting past non-human tool use landscapes is essential if we are to gain a better understanding of technological evolution within other animals, including our close relatives, the primates. Recently, the growth of primate archaeology has built on the close phylogenetic relationship between humans and other primates to begin filling in this lacuna (Haslam et al., 2009; Carvalho, 2011; Stewart et al., 2011; Haslam, 2012, 2014; Visalberghi et al., 2013; Haslam et al., 2014; McGrew et al., 2014; Benito-Calvo et al., 2015; Luncz et al., 2015; Kühl et al., 2016).

Here, we present the first report on an archaeologically exca- vated Old World monkey tool use site, which was created by wild Burmese long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis aurea) (Bunlungsup et al., 2016) during shellfish-processing activities in coastal Thailand. These macaques use stone and shell pounding tools to access a wide variety of coastal and inter-tidal resources, including shellfish, crabs and nuts (Fig. 1) (Malaivijitnond et al., 2007; Gumert et al., 2009, 2011; Gumert and Malaivijitnond, 2012; Tan et al., 2015), and previous work has demonstrated that use-wear on the stone tools permits reconstruction of past ma- caque activities (Haslam et al., 2013). Uncovering the history of this foraging behaviour opens up opportunities to study its evolution within the macaque lineage and, more broadly, to retrieve comparative data for researchers studying human and primate coastal exploitation (e.g., Marean, 2014; Russon et al., 2014).

............

Figure 2. 3D scans of selected macaque tools excavated from LS5, Piak Nam Yai, Thailand: (a) PNY065, (b) PNY064, (c) PNY076, (d) PNY079, (e) PNY080, (f) PNY062, (g) PNY082. (a) and (c–g) have crushing and/or fracture wear on their narrow ends; (b) and (e–f) have pitting wear on the tool face. Each tool is shown with both a photorealistic and surface-only scan, to illustrate use damage.

 Michael Haslam, Lydia Luncz, Alejandra Pascual-Garrido, Tiago Falótico, Suchinda Malaivijitnond and Michael D Gumert. 2016. Archaeological Excavation of Wild Macaque Stone Tools. Journal of Human Evolution.  DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.05.002

 ResearchGate.net/publication/303692979_Archaeological_excavation_of_wild_macaque_stone_tools

[Fungi • 2012] Ochroconis lascauxensis • Two New Species of the Genus Ochroconis, O. lascauxensis and O. anomala isolated from Black Stains in Lascaux Cave, France

Lascaux Cave, France.

Source: Prof. Saxx. http://commons.wikimedia.org

Abstract

In the year 2001, some conspicuous black stains appeared on the walls of Lascaux Cave in France, which progressively disseminated throughout the cave. These black stains were so evident by 2007 that they have become one of the cave’s major problems. In a mycological study of the black stains, Ochroconis strains were abundant among the isolates and constituted the major group of melanised fungi. Two new species of the genus Ochroconis, O. lascauxensis and O. anomala, were isolated and described. The description is based on the morphology of the fungi and the phylogenetic relationships of two of its gene regions internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and RNA polymerase II subunit B (RPB2). In addition, data on their physiology and cellular fatty acid profiles are reported. The development of these species was likely linked to the presence of unusual carbon and nitrogen organic sources provided by the intensive biocide treatments.

Highlights

► Two new species of the genus Ochroconis, O. lascauxensis and O. anomala are described. ► They were isolated from black stains on the walls of the Lascaux Cave, France. ► The descriptions are based on the morphology and ITS and RPB2 gene regions. ► In addition, data on their physiology and cellular fatty acids profiles are reported. ► The presence of these species was likely linked to an intensive biocide treatment.

Keywords: Black stains; Lascaux Cave; Ochroconis anomala; Ochroconis lascauxensis

Fig 2. Progression of black stains on walls and paintings (the Black Cow) in the Nave between the years 2000 and 2007. The ellipse marks the affected area. Pictures from Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, Centre National de la Préhistoire.

DOI: 10.1016/j.funbio.2012.02.006

A Smudge on Paleolithic Art | Ochroconis lascauxensis

In 2001, black stains began to appear on the walls of Lascaux Cave in France. These stains were so prevalent by 2007 that they became one of the major concerns for the conservation of the precious rock art at the site that dates from the Upper Palaeolithic. A white fungus, Fusarium solani, outbreak had been successfully treated when, a few months later, black staining fungi appeared. The genus Ochroconis primarily includes fungi occurring in the soil and associated with the decomposition of plant matter. While the two new species isolated from Lascaux, are as far as known harmless, at least one species of the group, O. gallopava, causes diseases in immunocompromised humans.

Pedro Maria Martin-Sanchez, Alena Nováková, Fabiola Bastian, Claude Alabouvette, Cesareo Saiz-Jimenez. 2012. Two New Species of the Genus Ochroconis, O. lascauxensis and O. anomala isolated from Black Stains in Lascaux Cave, France. Fungal Biology. 116(5), 574–589. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.funbio.2012.02.006

Leander, Sandy. 2013. Scientists announce top 10 new species for 2013. 

ASU News. Arizona State University. http://top10species.org/Paleo2.html

[News • 2013] The Phylogeny of Little Red Riding Hood: Study Provides Insights into Origins, Evolution of Folktales

Little Red Riding Hood

by Arthur Rackham, 1909.

Abstract

Researchers have long been fascinated by the strong continuities evident in the oral traditions associated with different cultures. According to the ‘historic-geographic’ school, it is possible to classify similar tales into “international types” and trace them back to their original archetypes. However, critics argue that folktale traditions are fundamentally fluid, and that most international types are artificial constructs. Here, these issues are addressed using phylogenetic methods that were originally developed to reconstruct evolutionary relationships among biological species, and which have been recently applied to a range of cultural phenomena. The study focuses on one of the most debated international types in the literature: ATU 333, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. A number of variants of ATU 333 have been recorded in European oral traditions, and it has been suggested that the group may include tales from other regions, including Africa and East Asia. However, in many of these cases, it is difficult to differentiate ATU 333 from another widespread international folktale, ATU 123, ‘The Wolf and the Kids’. To shed more light on these relationships, data on 58 folktales were analysed using cladistic, Bayesian and phylogenetic network-based methods. The results demonstrate that, contrary to the claims made by critics of the historic-geographic approach, it is possible to identify ATU 333 and ATU 123 as distinct international types. They further suggest that most of the African tales can be classified as variants of ATU 123, while the East Asian tales probably evolved by blending together elements of both ATU 333 and ATU 123. These findings demonstrate that phylogenetic methods provide a powerful set of tools for testing hypotheses about cross-cultural relationships among folktales, and point towards exciting new directions for research into the transmission and evolution of oral narratives.

Jamshid J. Tehrani. 2013. The Phylogeny of Little Red Riding Hood. PLoS ONE. 8 (11): e78871 DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0078871

Little Red Riding Hood: Study Provides Insights into Origins, Evolution of Folktales

According to Durham University anthropologist Dr Jamshid Tehrani, evolutionary analysis can be used to study similarities among folktales. His findings demonstrate that the Little Red Riding Hood shares an ancient root with another popular folktale the Wolf and the Kids, although the two are now distinct stories.

http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/anthropology/science-little-red-riding-hood-origins-evolution-folktales-01546.html
http://phys.org/news/2013-11-mathematical-insights-evolution-folk-tales.html

[PaleoOrnithology • 2009] Rapid Somatic Expansion Causes the Brain to Lag Behind: The Case of the Brain and Behavior of New Zealand's Haast's Eagle Harpagornis moorei

Haast's eagle Harpagornis moorei

http://snafu-solomon.blogspot.com

New Zealand's late Pleistocene and Holocene Haast's eagle (Harpagornis moorei) was the sole predator of the moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes) and the largest eagle so far described. Recent molecular evidence has hypothesised that it evolved from a much smaller Asian/Australian eagle witthhin tht past 1.8 my. Osteometrof the igh-reaolution spirol computed tomography of skeletal remains of Haast's eagle were used to determine morphological and functionally significant characteristics of the central and peripheral nervous system and sensory apparatuses and to test these against hypotheses about behavior and evolution based on molecular and external morphology. Compared with other accipitrids, Haast's eagle had a proportionally low endocranial volume for its body weight. There was no anatomical evidence to support the significant use of olfaction by Haast's eagle, as the olfactory bulb size and cross-sectional area of the olfactory nerve foramen were no larger than would be expected for Accipitridae of this body weight. Both the size of the neural canal at the cervicothoracic junction and the brachial spinal quotient (ratio of neural canal area at cervicothoracic and caudal thoracic levels) were low, suggesting that the spinal cord at brachial levels was also small. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that Harpagornis had evolved to large size from a smaller ancestor and that the ancestors of Haast's eagle appear to have undergone rapid expansion of body size and elements of the hindlimb somatic nervous system at the expense of enlargement of the brain and visual, olfactory, and vestibular apparatuses.

2009. Rapid Somatic Expansion Causes the Brain to Lag Behind: The Case of the Brain and Behavior of New Zealand's Haast's Eagle (Harpagornis moorei). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 29(3):637-649. 

http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1671/039.029.0325

Maori legend of man-eating bird is true 

Creature that features in New Zealand folklore really existed, scientists say

 http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/maori-legend-of-maneating-bird-is-true-1786867.html via @Independent

_____________________________

Haast's Eagle

Legends of the Maori people of New Zealand describe a man-eating monster bird called Te Hokioi. That legend is thought to have been inspired by Haast's eagle, a giant raptor that survived until only about 500 years ago. Haast's eagles were huge, weighing 40 lbs with a nine-foot wingspan and three-inch long talons. They used their formidable size and strength to subdue and kill prey much larger than themselves, including the moa, a massive flightless bird that weighed as much as 300 lbs. 

Birds That Eat People

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-mizejewski/animal-oddities-birds-tha_b_797815.html

http://snafu-solomon.blogspot.com/2012/11/haast-eagle-badass-of-week.html

http://www.wildlifeartcompany.com/art/detail.php?image=WAC-EA-00014&category=REXT

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/06/legendary-human-eating-bird-was-real-probably-could-have-eaten-people/ 

http://blogs.nature.com/news/2009/09/kiwi_scientists_add_to_maori_m_1.html

[PaleoMammalogy • 2013] Climate Change frames debate over the Extinction of Megafauna in Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea) | Climate Change, Not Human Activity, Led to Megafauna Extinction

 marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex the world’s most specialized mammalian carnivore

Abstract

Around 88 large vertebrate taxa disappeared from Sahul sometime during the Pleistocene, with the majority of losses (54 taxa) clearly taking place within the last 400,000 years. The largest was the 2.8-ton browsing Diprotodon optatum, whereas the ∼100- to 130-kg marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex, the world’s most specialized mammalian carnivore, and Varanus priscus, the largest lizard known, were formidable predators. Explanations for these extinctions have centered on climatic change or human activities. Here, we review the evidence and arguments for both. Human involvement in the disappearance of some species remains possible but unproven. Mounting evidence points to the loss of most species before the peopling of Sahul (circa 50–45 ka) and a significant role for climate change in the disappearance of the continent’s megafauna.

Keywords: megafauna extinction, Pleistocene extinctions, archaeology, human colonization, faunal turnover

Thylacoleo carnifex, the 100- to 130-kg marsupial lion with massive “bolt cutter-like” cheek teeth and the most powerful bite for its size of any mammalian carnivore, was a formidable predator of large animals.

Artwork: Peter Schouten

Climate Change, Not Human Activity, Led to Megafauna Extinction

  — Most species of gigantic animals that once roamed Australia had disappeared by the time people arrived, a major review of the available evidence has concluded.

The research challenges the claim that humans were primarily responsible for the demise of the megafauna in a proposed "extinction window" between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago, and points the finger instead at climate change.

An international team led by the University of New South Wales, and including researchers at the University of Queensland, the University of New England, and the University of Washington, carried out the study. It is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"The interpretation that humans drove the extinction rests on assumptions that increasingly have been shown to be incorrect. Humans may have played some role in the loss of those species that were still surviving when people arrived about 45,000 to 50,000 years ago -- but this also needs to be demonstrated," said Associate Professor Stephen Wroe, from UNSW, the lead author of the study.

"There has never been any direct evidence of humans preying on extinct megafauna in Sahul, or even of a tool-kit that was appropriate for big-game hunting," he said.

About 90 giant animal species once inhabited the continent of Sahul, which included mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania.

"These leviathans included the largest marsupial that ever lived -- the rhinoceros-sized Diprotodon - and short-faced kangaroos so big we can't even be sure they could hop. Preying on them were goannas the size of large saltwater crocodiles with toxic saliva and bizarre but deadly marsupial lions with flick-blades on their thumbs and bolt cutters for teeth," said Associate Professor Wroe.

The review concludes there is only firm evidence for about 8 to 14 megafauna species still existing when Aboriginal people arrived. About 50 species, for example, are absent from the fossil record of the past 130,000 years.

Recent studies of Antarctic ice cores, ancient lake levels in central Australia, and other environmental indicators also suggest Sahul -- which was at times characterised by a vast desert -- experienced an increasingly arid and erratic climate during the past 450,000 years.

Arguments that humans were to blame have also focused on the traditional Aboriginal practice of burning the landscape. But recent research suggests that the fire history of the continent was more closely linked to climate than human activity, and increases in burning occurred long before people arrived.

"It is now increasingly clear that the disappearance of the megafauna of Sahul took place over tens, if not hundreds, of millennia under the influence of inexorable, albeit erratic, climatic deterioration," said Associate Professor Wroe.

Stephen Wroe, Judith H. Field, Michael Archer, Donald K. Grayson, Gilbert J. Price, Julien Louys, J. Tyler Faith, Gregory E. Webb, Iain Davidson, and Scott D. Mooney. 2013. Climate change frames debate over the extinction of megafauna in Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea). PNAS.
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1302698110

Climate Change, Not Human Activity, Led to Megafauna Extinction

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130506181711.htm

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-evidence-theory-humans-megafauna.html

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/humans_and_megafauna_dont_blame_us-111308

[PaleoAnthropology / Google Doodle • 2013] the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mary Leakey

Google doodle celebrates British archaeologist 

| the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mary Leakey, who discovered the first fossilised skull of an extinct ape. http://gu.com/p/3dt8n/tw via @guardian

http://leakeyfoundation.org/