Heritage Cases

The overarching goal of this research is to examine the histology of the bones and teeth of Pliocene – Pleistocene giraffids from Langebaanweg to reconstruct their life history. To achieve this general objective, the following specific aims will be addressed: 1. Reconstruction of life history traits of Sivatherium hendeyi from bone histology. Growth rate, age at maturity and age at death will be estimated from the histology of metapodials, tibia and femora. 2. Reconstruction of life history traits of Giraffa jumae from bone histology. Growth rate, age at maturity and age at death will be estimated from the histology of metapodials, tibia and femora. 3. Reconstruction of the main selection pressures acting upon the Langebaanweg giraffids. The life history of extinct giraffes will be compared with ecological data (resource availability, extrinsic mortality) deduced for Langebaanweg to reconstruct the ecological context in which they evolved. We have been through all the material accessioned in the collection at Iziko SA Museum and we have identified the long bones we are interested in studying: femora, tibia, Tarsometatarsals (TMT), Metacarpals (MC), metatarsals (MT) and in cases where we were unsure which element it was we called the bone, a metapodial (TABLES 1, 2). Note that for our histology study we have only selected bones that are incomplete/fragmentary, and we will always preferentially make use of fractures/breaks already present in the bones. The black line on the images shows where we would sample the bones i.e., we basically need about 2cm maximum from each element indicated. On the spread sheet the museum have highlighted the bones we can use for this study, and a permission letter is attached to this application.