Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba (IDACOR), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Museo de Antropología, Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, 174 Hipólito Yrigoyen Av., Córdoba 5000, Argentina.
Int J Paleopathol. 2023 Jun;41:69-77. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2023.03.004. Epub 2023 Apr 3.
This article evaluates the prevalence of lesions in a modern osteological collection of guanacos (Lama guanicoe) and discusses the potential of paleopathological data to assess human intervention and environmental stress.
A modern osteological collection of guanacos (NISP = 862) from north-western Córdoba, Central Argentina.
The prevalence of pathological specimens per skeletal element and the pathological index (Bartosiewicz et al., 1997) was used. The prevalence of arthropathies, trauma and infections was quantified. Additionally, thorn lesions in the autopodium were recorded.
11.03 % of the specimens presented pathological changes and the mean pathological index was 0.01. Degenerative lesions were the most prevalent type (10.34 %), followed by traumatic (0.81 %) and infectious pathologies (0.12 %). Thorn lesions (2.55 %) were recorded especially in metapodials.
Guanacos are exposed to the development of degenerative lesions, mainly in the autopodium and vertebrae. These lesions are probably common in camelids and should not be used to argue human management. Traumatic and infectious lesions are less frequent.
This work provides baseline information for the paleopathological study of South American camelids and contributes to the characterization of a regionally endangered species.
The nature of the faunal assemblage did not allow for direct correlations between pathologies and individual variables such as sex or age.
The comparison of our results with other wild and domesticated modern populations would be valuable to expand the baseline information for paleopathological studies. The use of quantitative methods is encouraged for future comparative and diachronic studies.
本文评估了现代羊驼骨骼标本中病变的流行情况，并讨论了古病理学数据在评估人类干预和环境压力方面的潜力。
来自阿根廷中北部科尔多瓦省西北部的现代羊驼骨骼标本（NISP=862）。
使用每块骨骼元素的病变标本患病率和病理指数（Bartosiewicz 等人，1997）。定量评估了关节病、创伤和感染的患病率。此外，还记录了前肢的刺伤病。
11.03%的标本出现了病理性变化，平均病理指数为 0.01。退行性病变是最常见的类型（10.34%），其次是创伤性病变（0.81%）和感染性病变（0.12%）。刺伤病（2.55%）尤其记录在跗骨中。
羊驼易患退行性病变，主要发生在前肢和脊椎。这些病变在骆驼科动物中很常见，不应被用作人类管理的证据。创伤性和感染性病变则较少见。
本工作为南美骆驼的古病理学研究提供了基线信息，并有助于对一个地区濒危物种的特征进行描述。
动物群的性质不允许将病变与性别或年龄等个体变量直接相关联。
将我们的结果与其他野生和家养现代种群进行比较，将有助于扩大古病理学研究的基线信息。鼓励使用定量方法进行未来的比较和历时研究。
