Department of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Int J Legal Med. 2020 May;134(3):1227-1238. doi: 10.1007/s00414-019-02154-6. Epub 2019 Aug 30.
Forensic anthropologists in Southern Africa are often confronted with post-mortem modifications of human skeletal remains caused by animal scavenging. This is troublesome as the post-mortem pseudo-trauma could be misinterpreted. This study aimed to describe the skeletal trauma caused by Southern African scavengers which are of forensic interest. The scavenging animals selected for this study included wild dog, spotted hyena, lion, leopard, black-backed jackal, caracal, and porcupine housed at the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa. Sparsely fleshed and articulated bovine front and hind limbs as well as ribs were placed in each animal enclosure and collected after 2 days for cleaning and analysis. Felids (lion, leopard, and caracal) gnawed away the greater trochanter of the humerus leaving deep, parallel furrows. Hyena caused massive trauma to bone with one-third of the tibia shaft surviving with jagged fracture edges. Porcupines left distinctive fan-like parallel scores and large, oval depressions with an eroded, polished appearance. Wild dogs and jackals did not leave any distinctive patterns. Light scavenging trauma is distinct from other bone taphonomy but cannot be used to determine the species. Heavy scavenging trauma patterns can be used to determine the general type of perpetrating animal; however, the exact taxa or species cannot be determined.
南非的法医人类学家经常面临因动物食腐而导致的人类骨骼遗骸死后变化的问题。这很麻烦，因为死后的假性创伤可能会被误解。本研究旨在描述在法医学上具有重要意义的南非食腐动物造成的骨骼创伤。本研究选择的食腐动物包括野生犬、斑鬣狗、狮子、豹、非洲野犬、薮猫和豪猪，它们都被安置在南非国家动物园。将少量带肉和关节的牛前肢和后肢以及肋骨放置在每个动物围栏中，2 天后收集用于清洁和分析。猫科动物（狮子、豹和薮猫）啃噬了肱骨的大转子，留下了深深的平行凹槽。鬣狗对骨骼造成了严重的创伤，三分之一的胫骨干幸存下来，有锯齿状的骨折边缘。豪猪留下了独特的扇形平行划痕和大的椭圆形凹陷，表面有侵蚀和抛光的外观。野犬和非洲野犬没有留下任何明显的痕迹。轻微的食腐性创伤与其他骨骼埋藏学不同，但不能用于确定物种。严重的食腐性创伤模式可以用于确定一般的肇事动物类型；然而，无法确定确切的分类单元或物种。
