Desert gazelles

[Mikey Brass]

There is a recent article in the journal "Physiological and Biochemical Zoology", entitled "Physiological Adjustments of Sand Gazelles (Gazella subgutturosa) to a Boom-or-Bust Economy: Standard Fasting Metabolic Rate, Total Evaporative Water Loss, and Changes in the Sizes of
Organs during Food and Water Restriction".

The article argues that the desert gazelle reduced water expenditure through slowing their metabolism by shrinking their hearts and livers.

This finding has potential impacts upon the reconstruction of faunal environments and the interaction between humans, animals and the landscape. I am thinking, in particular, of the debates surrounding the timing and place of the first domestication of cattle in North Africa.