The Tales of a Handlebar Mustache

jtotheizzoe:

Shark Tooth Swords and Species Diversity

As part of my just-launched and soon-to-cease effort of tying in the beginning of Shark Week to larger science stuff … can you imagine studying shark species diversity using frightening shark-tooth weaponry of indigenous peoples? 

The kind of weapons pictured here, a trident and sword coated with shark teeth, are not only super-terrifying but also super-informative. Since shark species can be ID’d by their teeth, scientists can date the presence of a species in a particular region to when they were hunted and converted to stabby sticks. It’s ecology through weaponry!

Joshua Drew of Chicago’s Field Museum presented this work last week at the ESA convention in Portland, OR. As Ed Yong reports, some species found in centuries-old weapons are now missing.

(tip o’ the trident to Ed Yong on Twitter. Photos by Joshua Drew and Antiquearms)