Polar bears may have roamed ice age Scotland, say experts
Polar bears may have roamed ice age Scotland, say experts
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Bu içerikte, araştırmacıların son buzul çağında İskoçya’da kutup ayılarının yaşadığına dair olası kanıtlar bulduklarını gösteren bilgilere yer verilmektedir. Ulusal Müzeler İskoçya ve Aberdeen ile Edinburgh üniversitelerinden uzmanlar, Assynt’teki kireçtaşı kayalıklarında toplanan fosillerin yeniden incelenmesi sonucunda 30.000 ila 50.000 yıl önce yaşamış, bugünkü kutup ayılarının beslenme alışkanlıklarına benzer şekilde neredeyse tamamen deniz ürünleri tüketen ayılara ait olduğunu belirtmişlerdir. Fosiller önceden kahverengi ayıların kemikleri olarak tanımlanmıştı ancak yapılan kimyasal analizler sayesinde tekrar incelenmiştir. Ayrıca, mağara sisteminde İskoçya’da artık soyu tükenmiş diğer hayvanlara ait kemikler de bulunmuştur. Araştırmacılar, İsveç’teki işbirlikçileriyle yapılan DNA analizleriyle ayı türlerini belirlemeye çalışmaktadır.
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Experts from National Museums Scotland and universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh re-evaluated fossils collected from the area of limestone cliffs in Assynt.
They said their analysis of three samples suggested they belonged to bears from 30,000 to 50,000 years ago with diets made up almost entirely of seafood – just like today’s polar bears.
The samples had previously been identified as brown bears.
Advancements in the chemical study of bones and teeth allowed researchers to re-examine the remains.
Bones of other animals now extinct in Scotland have also been recovered from the system of caves over the years – including lemming, wild horses, lynx and wolf.
Prof Kate Britton, from the University of Aberdeen, said: “We have identified several samples which stick out like a sore thumb both from the diets of other bears living in Scotland thousands of years ago and from what we’d expect of today’s brown bears.
“Instead of consuming the meat of land-based animals, plants, or even a little salmon, like contemporary brown bears, these bears appear to have lived almost exclusively on seafood.”
Prof Britton said it could mean the samples are of a subspecies of brown bear, but added it was also possible they were of polar bears.
Dr Andrew Kitchener, of National Museums Scotland – where the bear fossils are held – said polar and brown bear habitats may have overlapped thousands of years ago as they do today.
He added: “It presents interesting questions about the ancestry of bears that later roamed our islands.”
The team is now conducting DNA analysis of the samples with collaborators in Sweden to determine the species of the bears.
Polar bears may have roamed ice age Scotland, say experts
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