This paper examines baboon bone assemblage created by carnivore voiding and discusses the implications of the findings for the potential recovery of important forensic evidence in the deaths of humans whose corpses have been fed on by carnivores.
Carnivore defecation and regurgitation are taphonomic processes that create discrete concentrations of bone pieces and soft tissue fragments of animals that have been consumed. Experiments in which baboon carcasses were fed to leopards and spotted hyenas demonstrate that primate metapodials and phalanges are well represented as readily identifiable specimens in such scat concentrations. Most often phalanges are recovered from scat as whole, articulated digit units (composed of the proximal through distal phalanges) still covered with ligaments, intact skin, and finger/toe nails. Considering the basic similarities between baboon and human physiques, the potential applications of these findings to human forensic cases are significant. Fingers and toes have features -- including fingerprints and sometimes distinctive finger and toe rings -- that are useful in the identification of human bodies. Some of the displaced fragments of a corpse can be recovered with systematic searches and collection of carnivore feces and regurgitations. 1 figure and 40 references