SUBSCRIBE VIA RSS
Taphovenatrix: Dinosaur Taphonomy PhD
  • News and Updates
  • About
  • Research
    • Publications & Outreach
    • Current Research
    • Past Research

Deer know what humans taste like

7/5/2017

0 Comments

 
A white-tail deer has been caught on camera eating human remains.

The remains were part of a taphonomic experiment at the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF) in Texas, USA, where they were studying what types of scavengers visit human carcasses. They were left uncovered with cameras photographing anything that came to scavenge them. Imagine being the person reviewing those images, expecting to see coyotes, or racoons, or turkey vultures, and instead uncovering the first recorded instance of human bone-munching deer.
Picture
I think what's more creepy is that the deer is chewing on a human rib, and then STARES AT THE CAMERA. "Yeah, that's right. Now you know, and I know you know..."
Image from Meckel et al. (2017).
​This is not the first case of a classically herbivorous (plant-eating) animal eating bones from rotting carcasses--a behaviour called osteophagy--but it is the first time a deer has been captured nibbling on human remains.

Herbivorous animals practice osteophagy when they need more phosphate, calcium, and other nutrients in their diet. Porcupines, giraffes, cows, and even tortoises have been seen chewing on bones, most often already dry and easily accessible bones like ribs.

When recording traces of tooth-marks on bones in the modern, archaeological, or palaeontological record, it is important to remember that not all scavengers that interact with carcasses are trying to consume flesh. And that while carnivorous scavengers typically eat soft tissue and fresh bone leaving behind puncture holes and pits, bone-eating herbivores chew on the ends of older bones with teeth normally used to eat plants leaving behind long scores and forked splinters.
Picture
The end of the deer-chewed human rib. After the researchers saw the photographs of the deer visiting the human carcass, they raced out to find the bones it had left behind. Image from Meckel et al. (2017).
References
Meckel, L. A., McDaneld, C. P., Wescott, D. J., 2017. White-tailed Deer as a Taphonomic Agent: Photographic Evidence of White-tailed Deer Gnawing on Human Bone. DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.13514.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About the author

    Dr Caitlin Syme is a palaeontologist studying the taphonomy (preservation state) of fossil non-avian dinosaurs, crocodiles and fish from the Winton Formation, Queensland, Australia. Think forensic science or CSI for fossils, and you're on the right track!

    Posts on this blog focus mainly on vertebrate palaeontology and taphonomy, as well early career researcher (ERC) productivity tips and insights.


    TWEETS

    Tweets by @taphovenatrix

    Search website

    Loading

    Blog topics

    All
    Data Management
    Dinosaur Comics
    Documentary
    Fossil ReadMe
    Funny
    Interesting Research
    News Articles
    Obscure D.o.t.W
    Palaeo Pondering
    Personal
    Ph.D.
    Pseudoscience
    Technology
    T Rex Trying


    Blogroll

    Chinleana
    DinoGoss
    Dinosaurpalaeo
    Dinosaur Tracking
    Love in the Time ofChasmosaurs
    Not Exactly Rocket- Science
    Palaeoblog
    Pharyngula
    PhD Comics
    Phenomena: Laelaps
    Prerogative of Harlots
    Pseudoplocephalus
    SV-POW!
    Tetrapod Zoology
    The Integrative Paleontologists
    The Mammoth Prairie
    The Professor Is In
    UQ Palaeo Blog

    Follow me!

    Academia.edu
    Mendeley
    ResearchGate

    Who's been visiting?


    Archives

    February 2018
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    April 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011


    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.