El Nino weakening doesn't mean cooler temperatures this summer, forecasters say
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Researchers have discovered what they say is the earliest direct evidence of a shark attack on a human, with the sea creature inflicting some 790 injuries on a man 3,000 years ago.
Experts from the University of Oxford made the discovery while studying the remains of an adult male excavated from the Tsukumo site near Japan's Seto Inland Sea, which were covered in traumatic injuries to his arms, legs, front of chest and abdomen.
"We were initially flummoxed by what could have caused at least 790 deep, serrated injuries to this man," said researchers J. Alyssa White and Rick Schulting in a joint statement. "There were so many injuries and yet he was buried in the community burial ground, the Tsukumo Shell-mound cemetery site."
Some of the lesions were very sharp, deep, and V-shaped, and were similar to wounds caused by metal implements that weren't used by the Jōmon culture hunter-gatherers of this period, and terrestrial carnivores and scavenger tooth marks were also not consistent with the injuries.
"Through a process of elimination, we ruled out human conflict and more commonly-reported animal predators or scavengers," they added.
The shark species most likely responsible for the attack was either a tiger or white shark, researchers said.
Their findings were published Wednesday in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
The team worked with George Burgess, director emeritus of the Florida Program for Shark Research, to study forensic shark attack cases and put together a reconstruction of the rare case.
"There are very few known examples of shark attacks in the archaeological record," Schulting told CNN, adding that the earliest concrete example the team could find came from a late pre-Columbian site in Puerto Rico, dated to just before 1000 AD.
"The main reason that so few cases are known is simply because they were so rare," Schulting said. "Even today, with so many more people in the world, only a handful of lethal shark attacks occur each year."
After radiocarbon analysis the team concluded that the man died between 1370 BC and 1010 BC -- more than 3,000 years ago.
The team mapped the lesions onto a 3D model of a skeleton to visualize and analyze the injuries.
Experts think that the prehistoric hunter gatherer victim was alive at the time of attack due to the distribution of wounds, with his left hand missing, indicating a defense wound.
"We suspect that the man was probably out fishing with some companions in the Inland Seto Sea in southern Japan. They could have been fishing from a boat, or diving for shellfish," Schulting told CNN. "Perhaps they were even hunting sharks, as shark teeth are sometimes found in Jōmon archaeological sites.
"One or more sharks -- we suspect one but can't be certain about that -- attacked the man either while he was already in the water, or perhaps he lost his balance and fell, or was pulled overboard if the shark was on a fishing line -- this would not have been a small shark," he added.
Schulting said there were "so many tooth marks all over the skeleton" that the attack must have lasted "for some time."
The man's body was retrieved soon after the attack, and he was buried at the ceremony. He was also missing his right leg, and his left leg was placed on top of his body, researchers added.
Co-author Mark Hudson, a researcher with the Max Planck Institute, added in a statement that the case is a rare example of archaeologists being able to reconstruct a dramatic episode in the life of a prehistoric community.
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
A 15-year old boy who was critically injured after a stabbing in Nepean on Thursday has died of his injuries, Ottawa's English public school board said Sunday.
Police say it’s fortunate no one was injured or killed in a collision at North Vancouver’s Park and Tilford shopping centre Saturday evening that sent one vehicle careening into a flower shop and another into a set of concrete barriers outside a Winners store.
The Maple Leafs battled back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Boston Bruins with consecutive 2-1 victories - including one that required extra time - in their first-round playoff series to push the club's Original Six rival to the limit before suffering a devastating Game 7 overtime loss.
Amid scientists' warnings that nations need to transition away from fossil fuels to limit climate change, Canadians are still lukewarm on electric vehicles, according to a study conducted by Nanos Research for CTV News.
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A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Madonna put on a free concert on Copacabana beach Saturday night, turning Rio de Janeiro's vast stretch of sand into an enormous dance floor teeming with a multitude of her fans.
Thieves killed two Australians and an American on a surfing trip to Mexico in order to steal their truck, particularly because they wanted the tires, authorities said Sunday.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
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Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.