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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
