贺兰山之子:身怀绝技的岩羊

岩羊,生活在宁夏贺兰山的特有野生物种,为国家二级保护动物。2010年到2011年间,我们的撰稿人米飞飞曾随影视摄制团队,3次奔赴宁夏贺兰山拍摄科普纪录片《岩羊》。本期,她与我们分享了这些让她永生难忘的、影片拍摄背后那一幕幕扣人心弦的精彩、艰辛和危险,以及贺兰山保护区自然和谐的美丽。     

冬季跟随布仁巴图转场

<正>在新疆巴音布鲁克草原上,一年四季,随处可见蒙古族牧民赶着羊群忙碌转场的身影,尤其是从秋牧场到冬牧场的转移,黑头羊带着厚厚的秋膘,像是储足了过冬的热量,牛马和骆驼则充当运输的脚夫,匆匆行进在尘土飞扬的牧道上。     

TURNING ABOUT THE NAMTSO TASHI PENINSULA IN THE YEAR OF SHEEP

正Having gone around the holy mountain of Gang Rinpoche in 2014,the year of horse of the Tibetan calendar,I did the same with the Namtso Tashi Peninsula during the year of sheep in 2015.Namtso,Manasarovar,and Yamdrok Tso are known as the three holy lakes in Tibet,with Namtso     

INVESTIGATING SEASONALITY AND SEASON OF BIRTH IN PAST HERDS: A REFERENCE SET OF SHEEP ENAMEL STABLE OXYGEN ISOTOPE RATIOS

Intra‐tooth sequential analysis of enamel δ¹⁸O is currently used to investigate birth seasonality in past animal populations, offering new insights into seasonal availability of animal resources, herd management and seasonality of site occupation. Reference data sets are still required to address two major difficulties: (1) that inter‐individual variability in the record of the seasonal cycle is affected by tooth size; and (2) that the season of birth cannot be directly estimated from the timing of tooth growth, because of a delay in enamel mineralization. We present a data set acquired on the lower second molar of 10 modern sheep from Rousay (Orkney) born within a few weeks of each other in April/May and submitted to the same environmental conditions until death. All sheep have recorded a sinusoidal pattern of δ¹⁸O variation spanning approximately a year. From the difference between the expected and the measured time sequence, the delay of enamel mineralization is estimated to be 5–6 months. The data set is then described using a model mainly based on a cosine function. The period, corresponding to the length of the M2 crown formed over a year, averaged 35.8 mm. A very slight variation of tooth growth rate with time and no attenuation of the isotopic signal towards the cervical margin of the crown could be detected in this data set. The lowest δ¹⁸O values, corresponding to the sheep's first winter, were tracked at a distance from the enamel/root junction that varied between 23.0 and 30.3 mm (x_min mean = 27.6 mm); the highest δ¹⁸O values, corresponding to the sheep's second summer, were between 6.3 and 11.6 mm (x_max mean = 9.9 mm). Most of the variability can be attributed to tooth size. When normalized on the period, x_min and x_max are 0.28 (± 0.05) and 0.78 (± 0.05) on average, meaning that the Rousay sheep have recorded the minimum and maximum δ¹⁸O values on average at 78% and 28%, respectively, of the end of the periodic cycle recorded in the second molar.     

THE USE OF OXYGEN ISOTOPES IN SHEEP MOLARS TO INVESTIGATE PAST HERDING PRACTICES AT THE NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT OF ÇATALHÖYÜK,CENTRAL ANATOLIA

This paper presents a pilot study designed to test the use of oxygen isotopes for investigating aspects of early herding practices in the Neolithic of western Asia, using the site of Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia as a case study. Time‐sequenced δ¹⁸O values in dental enamel of archaeological sheep are assessed for post‐depositional diagenetic effects and compared with seasonal δ¹⁸O meteoric water values in the region today. The evidence is used to indicate the environmental conditions in which individual sheep spent their first year, enabling management of breeding and birthing seasons, and movement to seasonal pastures, to be investigated.