Fragments of human hair found in the teeth of 19th-century man-eating lions 18:10

Scientists analyzed ancient DNA taken from hairs in the dental cavities of man-eating lions shot in 1898. The results of the research were published in the journal Current Biology.

In 1898, two adult maneless lions terrorized a construction camp near the Tsavo River in Kenya. The animals attacked at night and ate at least 28 people. They were shot by project engineer John Henry Patterson, who sold the lions’ remains to the Museum of Natural History. Field in Chicago in 1925.

In the early 1990s, thousands of hair fragments belonging to the animals they had eaten were found in the teeth of predators. In a new study, scientists analyzed ancient DNA in hairs taken from lion teeth. In doing so, they focused on mitochondrial DNA. It is found in special cellular structures that produce energy. Mitochondrial DNA is better protected and therefore easier to reconstruct.

The analysis revealed DNA from giraffe, humans, wildebeest, waterfowl, antelope, zebra and lions. Scientists also confirmed that the lions are brothers. They refused to run human DNA on the grounds that relatives of the victims might still be living in the area. It is unknown what effect the knowledge that their ancestors had been eaten by a lion had on them.

The discovery of the antelope DNA was unexpected, as the nearest group is about 80 kilometers away from the lions’ habitat. The lions were probably hunting them when they left the Tsavo area for six months and stopped terrorizing construction workers.

Interestingly, scientists found no trace of buffalo DNA. Using the microscope, they found a buffalo hair. At the same time, in Tsavo, buffalos have now become the main prey of lions. According to Patterson’s field journal, he never recorded seeing buffalo or native cattle. This is consistent with the fact that plague at that time nearly wiped out cattle and their wild relatives, including the African buffalo. The virus came to Africa from India in the early 1880s.

Previously new plant species discovered Using a drone in Hawaii.

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Source: Gazeta

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