Ancient cemetery containing fox bones suggest that animals were formerly treated as pets.

Ancient cemetery containing fox bones suggest that animals were formerly treated as pets.

Ancient cemetery containing fox bones suggest that animals were formerly treated as pets.

It is more likely that the fox was reared as a pet since research indicates that fox bones found in an Argentinean human cemetery stretch back 1,500 years.
These bones are estimated by experts to have arrived in Patagonia between 700 and 900 years ago. Numerous signs suggest that the fox highly prized and may even be the hunting companion of the person living with it.
According to Cinthia Abbona of the National Science and Technology Research Council of Argentina and Ophélie Lebrasseur of the University of Oxford, “it is either buried when it dies with its owner or someone with a special relationship.” the article’s co-first author.

In 1991, the hunting and collecting settlement of Cañada Seca, Argentina, had a Hispanic cemetery. The researchers reported in the journal Open Science of the Royal Society about their reanalysis of the items discovered during the excavation.
A collection of almost intact bones from an animal like a dog were discovered during the dig in addition to human remains.
The study team reported that, despite the first identification of animals as Lycalopex foxes, analytical and genetic testing revealed that the bones belonged to Dusicyon Avus. This is a species of fox that was extinct around 500 years ago; it was roughly the size of a German shepherd. I had no idea it roamed about in Patagonia’s northwest.
It was difficult to determine whether the animals were buried with people since the first excavation was carried out to deter thievery and interference after the unintentional discovery of the location.

动物下颌骨和头骨的残余物。

Lebrasseur countered that there was no sign the fox had been eaten and that the bones’ state of preservation indicated the animal had been buried, not left out in the open.
The fox was a person contemporaneous with the site, according to the team’s radiocarbon dating, which places its age at around 1,500 years. This demonstrates that foxes are buried there alongside other human remains, according to Lebrasseur.
Additionally, the scientists analyzed bones using stable isotopes, which allowed them to investigate fox diets.
Despite the fact that foxes are typically carnivorous, the study team discovered that foxes also consume vegetables, maybe including maize, in their diet, which is comparable to that of the people buried there. “It feeds on trash or is directly fed by humans,” Lebrasseur said, adding that the creature was previously in the area.

 

Skull of Dusicyon avus. This fox resembles a German shepherd in size. Photographer: Francisco Prevosti Lebrasseur said that the finding was in line with early accounts of a Buenos Aires cemetery, where the bones of similar kinds of foxes were discovered next to graves associated with the hunting and gathering culture around the end of 2000 BC. According to the report’s author, foxes are thought to be a member of the human social group and may even be kept as pets.
Expert on Patagonian hunters from the University of York, Dr. Alejandro Serna, did not take part in the research. He said that fresh research has shed light on the breadth and complexity of interactions between people and animals.
“Considering the large amount of evidence that pre-colonial dogs may enjoy a special status among hunters living in the current Argentine territory, it is reasonable that early similar species may have established such a special relationship with the Patagonians,” he said.

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