Up to 18,000 years ago, humans in New Guinea were hatching cassowary chicks and may have raised them to adulthood, a new study has found. This suggests that chickens may not in fact have been the first domesticated birds.
Cassowaries are big, flightless birds native to Australia, the Aru Islands in Indonesia, and New Guinea.
This is not some small fowl, it is a huge, ornery, flightless bird that can eviscerate you, . said co-author Kristina Douglass, assistant professor of anthropology and African studies, Penn State.
The chicks are still traded as a commodity in New Guinea today, and will easily imprint on humans. If the first thing a chick sees is a human, it will follow them around as though they were its mother.
The researchers studied eggshells from between 18,000 and 6,000 years ago to determine how old the chicks inside were when they were cracked.
Developing chicks get calcium from their eggshells, with pits appearing on the inside of the shell during later stages. By studying the shells, the scientists established that the large majority of the eggs were harvested during the late stages of development.
While it's possible they were eating baluts - an Asian street food that involves boiling a near-developed chick in its shell - many of the samples didn't show any evidence of burn marks, suggesting that the eggs were hatched.
Bu hikaye BBC Focus - Science & Technology dergisinin November 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye BBC Focus - Science & Technology dergisinin November 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
5 SIMPLE WAYS TO RECLAIM YOUR ATTENTION
Primed for constant interruptions, your brain is now distracting itself, says science. It's time to break the cycle and retrain your focus
GOING ROGUE
Some planets are stuck following the same orbital paths their entire lives. Others break free to wander alone through the vast, empty darkness of interstellar space and there's a lot more of them than you might think
BED BUGS VS THE WORLD
When bloodthirsty bed bugs made headlines for infesting Paris Fashion Week in 2023, it shone a spotlight on a problem that's been making experts itch for decades: the arms race going on between bed bugs and humans. Now, with the 2024 Summer Olympics fast approaching, the stakes are higher than ever
THE EYES THAT WATCH THE SKY
When it launches in 2026, the Copernicus programme's Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring satellite will give us a new window on to Earth's atmosphere... And how we're altering it
TIME-RESTRICTED EATING LINKED TO HIGHER RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR DEATH
Skipping breakfast might not be so good for your health, after all
INSIDE THE PROJECT TO SCAN THOUSANDS OF RARE SPECIMENS
A major collaborative project has created 3D reconstructions of previously locked away museum specimens
VIDEO IS FIRST EVIDENCE OF AN ORCA KILLING A GREAT WHITE
Tourists sailing off the South African coast film a never-before-seen event: a lone orca attacking a 2.5m shark
AI REVEALS PROSTATE CANCER IS NOT JUST ONE DISEASE
DNA analysis carried out by artificial intelligence has helped scientists make a discovery that could revolutionise future treatment
MYSTERIOUS WAVES DETECTED IN JUPITER'S CORE
Scientists hope unusual fluctuations in the gas giant's magnetic field might reveal what's inside
MINI ORGANS GROWN FROM UNBORN BABIES MARK A BREAKTHROUGH IN PRENATAL MEDICINE
A new technique could allow congenital conditions to be diagnosed and treated before birth