Biologic Rhythms Derived from Siberian Mammoths Hairs
Hair is preserved for millennia in permafrost; it enshrines a record of biologic rhythms and offers a glimpse at chronobiology as it was in extinct animals. Here we compare biologic rhythms gleaned from mammoth's hairs with those of modern human hair. Four mammoths' hairs came from varying locations in Siberia 4600 km, four time zones, apart ranging in age between 18,000 and 20,000 years before present. We used two contemporaneous human hairs for comparison. Power spectra derived from hydrogen isotope ratios along the length of the hairs gave insight into biologic rhythms, which were different in the mammoths depending on location and differed from humans. Hair growth for mammoths was {approx}31 cms/year and {approx}16 cms/year for humans. Recurrent annual rhythms of slow and fast growth varying from 3.4 weeks/cycles to 8.7 weeks/cycles for slow periods and 1.2 weeks/cycles to 2.2 weeks/cycles for fast periods were identified in mammoth's hairs. The mineral content of mammoth's hairs was measured by electron microprobe analysis (k-ratios), which showed no differences in sulfur amongst the mammoth hairs but significantly more iron then in human hair. The fractal nature of the data derived from the hairs became evident in Mandelbrot sets derived from hydrogen isotope ratios, mineral content and geographic location. Confocal microscopy and scanning electron microscopy showed varied degrees of preservation of the cuticle largely independent of age but not location of the specimens. X-ray fluorescence microprobe and fluorescence computed micro-tomography analyses allowed evaluation of metal distribution and visualization of hollow tubes in the mammoth's hairs. Seasonal variations in iron and copper content combined with spectral analyses gave insights into variation in food intake of the animals. Biologic rhythms gleaned from power spectral plots obtained by modern methods revealed life style and behavior of extinct mega-fauna.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE SC OFFICE OF SCIENCE (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-98CH10886
- OSTI ID:
- 1042259
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-97937-2012-JA; TRN: US201212%%670
- Journal Information:
- PLoS One, Vol. 6, Issue 6; ISSN 1932-6203
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
AGE DEPENDENCE
ANIMALS
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS
BIOLOGICAL EXTINCTION
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY
COPPER
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRON MICROPROBE ANALYSIS
EVALUATION
FLUORESCENCE
FOOD
FRACTALS
GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATIONS
GROWTH
HAIR
HUMAN POPULATIONS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INTAKE
IRON
LENGTH
METALS
MICROSCOPY
MINERALS
PERMAFROST
PRESERVATION
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SIBERIA
SPECTRA
SULFUR
VARIATIONS