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Why does it have to be a hominid? I saw some birds crack open bodes for the marrow on Planet Earth
by cowpig 9y ago
Why does it have to be a hominid? I saw some birds crack open bodes for the marrow on Planet Earth
- pavel_lishin 9y ago> Researchers working at a site in the northern part of the island of Luzon report the discovery of 57 stone tools found with more than 400 animal bones, including the mostly-complete remains of a rhino (the now-extinct Rhinoceros philippinensis, a poorly known subspecies… having a specimen that’s about 75 percent complete is an achievement in and of itself). > Using the electron-spin resonance method on its tooth enamel, the team established that the rhino was about 709,000 years old. Thirteen of its bones, according to the study’s authors, showed signs of butchering, including cuts and “percussion marks” on both humeri (forelimb bones), which is typical of smashing open a bone to access the marrow. Birds don't typically use stone tools heavy enough to split a rhino's bones.
- pvaldes 9y agoHyaenas can do also serious damage to big bones in a corpse (But are known to eat the bones also).
- cobbzilla 9y agoBrings up a good point: the article didn't mention how old the rhino was when it died; maybe the rhino was carrion and the hominins were opportunists on the scene? or has this been ruled out & we know the animal was hunted?
- pavel_lishin 9y agoI don't think that matters too much; the important thing is that the bones were split with what appeared to be human tools, whether it was hunted or found.
- cobbzilla 9y agoWe've been using stone tools for ~2.6M years. Is the mystery which hominin is responsible? Or is this the oldest of stone tools to get at bone marrow? I'm trying to understand what's interesting here.
- pavel_lishin 9y ago> Is the mystery which hominin is responsible? That; as far as we know, tool-using hominins hadn't spread that far by that point, and couldn't have because you can't swim that far without a boat that requires more civilization than we think was around then.
- dogma1138 9y agoBrides have been known to use tools and there are a few species of prey dropping birds out there that drop their prey on the ground to crack it open. Now I’m not suggesting that there was a bird capable of picking up a rhino but possible capable of picking up individual bones and dropping them or like crows picking up rocks and dropping them on the carcass. The former is actually a thing: The bearded vulture has learned to crack bones too large to be swallowed by carrying them in flight to a height of 50–150 m (160–490 ft) above the ground and then dropping them onto rocks below, which smashes them into smaller pieces and exposes the nutritious marrow.
- dogma1138 9y agoBirds ffs iPhone, brides using tools isn't that impressive i think.
- pavel_lishin 9y agoSure, but the article makes it sound like these are very specifically hand-tools - but I didn't read any of the actual research. And as I recall, the Pacific is one of the places where some pretty damn big birds live, probably big enough to crack open big mammal bones with just their beaks.
- qw 9y agoSome city crows have learned to drop nuts onto a pedestrian crossing and let the cars crush it. They then wait for the traffic light to change before safely retrieving the food.
- amorphid 9y agoWere there larger birds back then? Larger birds might use larger tools?