Researchers at the University of Otago New Zealand have just published research results in the international scientific journal “Newspaper”. “Scientific Report” said they studied DNA taken from archaeological white mouse specimens and discovered traces showing that 10,000 years ago this animal was hunted by humans in the wild for food and then gradually domesticated. transformed and become a favorite pet for many people or used as a medical experiment.
Years ago Professor Lisa Matisoo-Smith expert in biological anthropology studied the DNA of the species that Pacific settlers brought with them on their migratory boats, and she used this DNA as a standard to determine the origin of the inhabitants and track their migrations. around the Pacific region.
Accepting Professor Matisoo’s research results- Smith and other scientists around the world have sought to understand the origin of white rats from where they came to the islands in the Caribbean.
According to Professor Matisoo-Smith, today’s white rats were domesticated by people in the Andes region, now Peru. Not only are they an important food source, they are also used during religious ceremonies and then transported and traded throughout South America.
Around 500 AD white rats were brought to the Caribbean islands by trade. Researchers initially thought that the Caribbean white mice came from Colombia, one of the locations in South America closest to the Caribbean. But through ancient DNA research of white rat carcasses found at several archaeological sites in the Caribbean Peru Colombia Bolivia Europe and North America they discovered that white rats in the Caribbean did not come from Colombia but from Peru.< /span>
What’s even more surprising is that white rat corpses found in the Colombian highlands belong to the rat species Bach is completely different. This shows that the domestication of white rats was carried out by humans both in Peru and Colombia completely independently of each other.
Genetic information along with archaeological conditions also show that through each period white mice were used for different purposes. “They were then and still are today an important food source in many regions of South America and in cultures originating from South America,” explains Professor Matisoo-Smith. Humans brought these rats alive to remote islands to exchange for other goods. White rats were brought to Europe by the Spanish in the late 1500s and early 1600s and then to North America in the early 1800s as pets. In the 119th century, white mice began to be used as medical experiments because they had many biological characteristics similar to humans, from which the phrase “used as white mice” began to appear in research work. All of today’s guinea pigs, those sold for meat in South America and Puerto Rico and those used for medical experiments, are descended from white rats that were domesticated in ancient Peru. span>
Why white mice are considered pets in some places while they are a food source? In other places, it is probably due to long-standing beliefs in each place about what can be used as food and what cannot.
Professor Matisoo-Smith said the study demonstrated the history of white mice was more complex than previously thought and also suggested further research. about the process of domestication, movement and distribution of mammals. Finding the origins of the Caribbean guinea pig has helped us understand human trade networks over the past 1,000 years.
Through DNA analysis of ancient white mice, we better understand the history human societies interacted for thousands of years across three continents. The results of this study also contribute to predicting the genetic diversity of white mice and the relationship of humans with this important livestock species.
Pham Huong
According to Science Daily
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