A dental microwear study of seaweed-eating and grazing sheep from Orkney

✍ Scribed by Ingrid L. Mainland

• Book ID: 101288758
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 257 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1047-482X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1212(200003/04)10:2<93::aid-oa513>3.0.co;2-u

✦ Synopsis

The potential of dental microwear for recognizing the use of seaweed as fodder in the past is explored through the analysis of microwear patterning in modern seaweed-eating and grazing sheep from Orkney. Seaweed-eating and grazing sheep are clearly distinguished on the basis of microscopic dental wear patterns. This reflects an emphasis on anterior-posterior jaw movements and large pitted features in the seaweed-eaters and can be attributed to the differing forces and/or masticatory movements required in the comminution of grasses and seaweed. Differences between seaweed-eating and grazing individuals are maintained when the grazing group is expanded to include grazing sheep from Greenland and the Scottish borders. It is concluded that the microwear of seaweed-eating sheep is highly distinctive and that dental microwear analysis potentially has a widespread application for identifying seaweed grazing within Scotland and the North Atlantic islands.