Exploring the DNA of fossil hyenas in Sicily before the arrival of Homo sapiens around 16,000 years ago. These hyenas belong to a distinct group from African hyenas: a ‘relict’ population of island hyenas, making them unique in the world, with their fossil DNA surviving in biological remains despite the warm Mediterranean climate.
In a study conducted by researchers from the Universities of Palermo, Milan, Florence, Rome Sapienza, Bangor University, and Cambridge, published in the international journal Quaternary Science Reviews, the DNA of a Sicilian fossil hyena was analyzed for the first time, extracted from a coprolite fragment, a fossilized hyena dung dating back over 20,000 years, found at the San Teodoro Cave site (Messina). The results revealed that Sicilian hyenas possessed very unique genetic characteristics, unlike any other fossil hyenas studied so far.
The hypothesis is “that at one time these hyenas’ population was spread across the continent, around 500,000 years ago. But upon reaching Sicily, due to geographic isolation, this population retained its genetic characteristics while they were lost elsewhere in Europe – explains Giulio Catalano, paleogeneticist at the University of Palermo and lead author of the study -. This was also facilitated by various genetic exchanges with African hyenas”. “The discovery and analysis of fossil DNA provide an endless source of inspiration for new research, highlighting Sicily’s geo-paleontological heritage as a resource worth preserving,” adds Dawid A. Iurino, paleontologist at the University of Milan and co-author of the study. “Thanks to the vast amount of data that can be obtained from an increasing number of remains from different species, we are able to trace the evolutionary history not only of humans but of multiple living forms,” concludes David Caramelli, professor of Anthropology at the University of Florence.
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