Casovari: The world’s most dangerous bird, bred by humans 18,000 years ago, study says

Today, cassowary is the largest backbone of New Guinea, and its feathers and bones are valuable materials for making body decorations and ceremonial wear. Bird meat is considered tasty in New Guinea.

There are three types of cassava tubers that are native to northern Queensland, Australia and parts of New Guinea. Douglas thought our ancient ancestors were mostly raised The smallest species, the dwarf cassowary, weighs around 20 kilograms (44 lbs).

Fossil egg shells were dated carbon as part of the study, and their ages ranged from 18,000 to 6,000 years.

Not for snacks

To achieve their results, the researchers first examined the egg shells of living birds, including turkeys, emus and ostriches.

As the growing chicks get calcium from the egg shells, the inside of the egg shell changes. Using high-resolution 3D images, the researchers were able to create a model of what the eggs looked like at different stages of hatching.

Scientists tested their specimen on modern emu and ostrich eggs before applying them to fossil egg shell fragments found in New Guinea. The team found that most of the egg shells found in those places were all near maturity.

“What we found was that most of the egg shells were harvested late,” Douglas said. “The egg shells seem too late; the pattern is not random.”

These late stage egg shells Noting that the people living in these two rock shelters harvest the eggs, the study says that the cassowary embryos have fully developed limbs, cranes, claws and feathers.

But do humans deliberately collect these eggs and allow them to lay eggs or do they collect eggs to eat? They could both have done it, Douglas said.

“We also saw eggs burning in the shells,” Douglas said in a news release. “There are enough specimens of late egg shells that show they are not burning, they are hatching and we can say we have not eaten them.”

Large bird as a valuable resource

Less mature egg shells showed signs of burning.

“Today, people in the mountains raise cashew chicks to collect feathers, consume or trade with birds. As one of the largest invertebrates in New Guinea, the cassowary was highly valued in the past.

However, researchers still do not know much.

In order to successfully hatch and raise cassava chicks, people need to know where the nests are, know when the eggs were laid, and remove them from the nest shortly before hatching. This is not an easy task as the birds do not build nests on the same site every year. Once a female lays eggs, the males accept the nest duty and do not render for 50 days when the eggs are hatched.

“People may have hunted the males and then collected the eggs because the males would not leave the nest unattended and they would not feed much during the incubation period.

The study was published Monday in the co-reviewed scientific journal PNAS.