The post Scottish Fold Siamese Mix: Pictures‚ Info‚ Temperament &; Traits by Rachael Gerkensmeyer appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it‚ but all of these articles were assigned‚ contracted and paid for‚ so they aren't considered public domain. However‚ we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article‚ then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com. Click Below to Skip Ahead Characteristics Temperament Intelligence Food &; Diet Exercise Health Training Grooming Fun Facts Scottish Fold Siamese mix cats are not that common‚ so there is not much known about them. To learn about this designer cat breed means to learn about the Scottish Fold and the Siamese cat breeds. This way‚ you can get an idea of what a mix of the two is like. You can also glean insight from people who own a Scottish Fold Siamese mix. However‚ we did all the research for you‚ so here is everything that you should know about this interesting and adorable cat breed. Breed Overview Height: 8–10 inches Weight: 8–15 pounds Lifespan: 11–14 years Colors: Usually white or cream and chocolate‚ blue‚ grey‚ or black Suitable for: Families‚ singles‚ seniors‚ apartments‚ houses Temperament: Smart‚ loyal‚ curious‚ independent‚ even-tempered Combining trademark folded ears from the Scottish Fold and the specific coloring of the Siamese‚ there is an endless pool of possibilities when it comes to this cat hybrid. Although we’re not sure how or when the mix-breed started‚ we do know one thing – they are some of the most unique looking cats around! Scottish Fold Siamese Characteristics Scottish Fold Siamese Mix Kittens Image Credit: Nicasio Renos‚ Shutterstock If you’re lucky enough to find a Scottish Fold Siamese mix for sale‚ be ready for a cute‚ chatty and fun-loving kitten! Their physical features can be a magical combination of both parent breeds‚ or they can lean more towards one than the other. Each mix is slightly different. Image Credit: (L) Irina Vasilevskaia‚ Shutterstock | (R) Sharon Snider‚ Shutterstock Temperament &; Intelligence of the Scottish Fold Siamese Mix To understand the temperament and intelligence of the typical Scottish Fold Siamese mix‚ you should first consider these aspects of their parent breeds. Here is a breakdown of the temperament and intelligence of both the Siamese and the Scottish Fold. The Siamese Temperament and Intelligence Siamese cats are known for being friendly and interactive. They typically aren’t afraid to join in on social activities whenever they can. These are cats that live for playtime due to their high energy levels and goofy personalities. These cats are also known for being talkative. They love to “chat it up” with their human companions while hanging out around the house. The average Siamese cat is also extremely intelligent and can learn to do things like to play fetch and come when called. The Scottish Fold Temperament and Intelligence The Scottish Fold is an even-tempered cat breed that isn’t nearly as active as the Siamese. These cats prefer to lounge and watch what is going on from afar rather than get directly involved in the action. However‚ they don’t just sleep all day. They do like to socialize‚ play games‚ and explore the house‚ preferably when there isn’t too much commotion going on. This is a sweet cat breed that is gentle with children and other animals living in the household. The Scottish Fold Siamese mix can be expected to display a temperament somewhere between that of the Siamese and the Scottish Fold. One cat may be more like their Siamese parent‚ while another is more like their Scottish Fold parent‚ but most cats will fall somewhere in the middle. Expect intelligence‚ sociability‚ playfulness‚ and communicative overall. Are These Cats Good for Families? The typical Scottish Fold Siamese mix makes for an excellent family pet. They are interactive‚ social‚ and good with kids. They don’t mind spending time at home alone while the family is busy with school and work. They love to cuddle during movie time‚ and they can help keep you warm during the winter while you’re sleeping at night. Does This Breed Get Along With Other Pets? This designer mixed breed can get along well with other pets that they happen to share a home with‚ but they aren’t fond of rowdy dogs or other cats that they don’t live with. If a dog roommate is calm and relaxed‚ a Scottish Fold Siamese mix might even go snuggle up with them. However‚ this mixed breed is more likely to just keep to themselves if they aren’t comfortable with the behavior of the other animals that they are living with. Things to Know When Owning a Scottish Fold Siamese Mix Food &; Diet Requirements Like all felines‚ Scottish Fold Siamese mixes are carnivores‚ so they don’t require anything more than animal protein to get the nutrients required for a long‚ happy‚ and healthy life. Scottish Fold Siamese mixes should eat a high-quality commercial food product that contains real meat or fish as the first ingredient. The food may contain grains‚ fruits‚ or veggies‚ but these should be at the end of the ingredient list. These cats can eat cooked‚ unseasoned meat from the kitchen too. Image Credit: Alexandr Korolev‚ Shutterstock Exercise These cats should get at least 30 minutes of exercise each day to ensure that they don’t become overweight‚ to stave off the development of health problems‚ and to keep the heart and mind healthy for a lifetime. Exercise can include activities such as fetch and laser light chase. Puzzle toys‚ electronic toys‚ and hanging toys can also help get this cat active during the day. Training Scottish Fold Siamese mixes can be trained to do various things if you have the patience and time to put into daily training. All it takes is 10 to 15 minutes of training each day to teach this designer breed to do things like come when called‚ stay when asked to‚ fetch toys when thrown‚ and even walk on a leash! Grooming Fortunately‚ this designer mixed breed doesn’t require any special grooming to stay clean and healthy‚ as they do a good job of keeping themselves groomed. Owners may wish to trim their cat’s nails once a month or so to keep furniture damage to a minimum. Brushing is optional but can help reduce overall shedding throughout the year. Image Credit: Alexandr Korolev‚ Shutterstock Health and Conditions Scottish Folds and therefore‚ their crossbred offspring have a gene mutation that affects their cartilage and can have a negative impact on their health. There are a few other health conditions that these cats may be prone to. Minor Conditions Asthma Bronchial disease Amyloidosis Serious Conditions Polycystic kidney disease Cardiomyopathy Heart defects Male vs. Female You likely will not notice much difference between male and female Scottish Fold Siamese mixes in general. Males might be a little more independent and females a bit more affectionate. Males are usually bigger‚ but not enough to make it obvious even when in the same room with a female. Overall‚ both male and female Scottish Fold Siamese mixes are loving‚ sociable‚ smart‚ and family oriented. 3 Little-Known Facts About the Scottish Fold Siamese Mix The Scottish Fold and the Siamese cat are both unique breeds‚ so it stands to reason that a breed made up of these two cats would be just as interesting. Here are a few facts that you may not know about this designer breed. 1. They Are Controversial Scottish Folds have been controversial for decades due to a dominant gene mutation that affects their cartilage and makes their ears look “folded” over. The folded ears make for a cute cat‚ but the gene mutation can lead to serious problems and a life filled with pain. Unfortunately‚ Scottish Fold Siamese mix kitties have the same mutation‚ which makes them controversial too. 2. They All Have a Known Common Ancestor The lineage of all Scottish Fold Siamese mix cats can be traced to one female cat by the name of Susie that resided in Scotland. She had a litter of kittens‚ and a neighbor of Susie’s owner asked for one and used the kitten to develop the Scottish Fold breed. Therefore‚ all Scottish Folds and Scottish Fold mixes have a lineage that can be traced back to Susie! 3. They Like to Cuddle Scottish Fold Siamese mix cats tend to love cuddling up with their human companions whenever the opportunity arises. They will sleep in a bed with their companions if possible‚ and they won’t leave a sitting lap empty for long if they can help it. Final Thoughts This designer mixed breed is a beautiful type of cat that can make families of all sizes happy. They are quite rare‚ though‚ so it isn’t easy to find one to buy. You may be able to find a Siamese or Scottish Fold at your local humane society to rescue that will be just as good of a pet as a Scottish Fold Siamese mix. Sources BBC: Should Scottish Folds Be Banned? Cat Fancier’s Association: The Scottish Fold YouTube: Teach a Cat to Walk on a Leash   Featured Image Credit: Alexandr Korolev‚ Shutterstock The post Scottish Fold Siamese Mix: Pictures‚ Info‚ Temperament &; Traits by Rachael Gerkensmeyer appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it‚ but all of these articles were assigned‚ contracted and paid for‚ so they aren't considered public domain. However‚ we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article‚ then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

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Quartz is one of the world’s most abundant materials – and one of humanity's oldest fascinations. From ancient myths to modern science‚ quartz has played a part in pretty much every aspect of human development – and it’s pretty to boot.But have you ever wondered what’s going on behind the twinkling gem at the end of your necklace? Come with us on a journey through geology‚ chemistry‚ electronics – and just a little bit of parrotfish poop.The gemstone that’s everywhereFor a rock that’s so ubiquitous in jewelry‚ you might be surprised by how rare quartz really isn’t. Being made almost entirely of oxygen and silicon – the two most abundant elements on Earth by mass – finding the ingredients to form the mineral is a cinch.What’s perhaps trickier is creating the right environment for it. “Most quartz forms in either igneous rocks or environments with geothermal waters‚” explained Addison Rice‚ geologist‚ environmental engineer‚ and PhD student in paleoceanography and geosciences at Utrecht University‚ in an article for the International Gem Society.“In igneous rocks‚ quartz forms as magma cools. Like water turning into ice‚ silicon dioxide will crystallize as it cools. Slow cooling generally allows the crystals to grow larger‚” she continued. “Quartz that grows from silica-rich water forms in a similar way. Silicon dioxide dissolves in water‚ like sugar in tea‚ but only at high temperature and pressure. Then‚ when the temperature or pressure drops‚ the solution becomes saturated‚ so quartz crystals form.”Luckily‚ if there’s two things the Earth has a lot of‚ it’s water and magma. The result‚ therefore‚ is a crust to the planet which is about one-eighth quartz: billions and billions of silicon dioxide molecules all built into stacks of tetrahedra to create the sparkling gemstones we know‚ love‚ and pay willingly for.So where is it all?If 12 percent of the Earth’s continental crust is quartz‚ you might be wondering why exactly we’re not tripping over lumps of it every day. Well‚ in fact‚ we kind of are: beach sand‚ particularly‚ is mostly quartz‚ eroded over eons into the ever-smaller particles under our feet (unless you’re in Hawai'i – the famous white sand there is made of poop).Close-up photo of sand grains.Image Credit: Jeff Holcombe/Shutterstock.comOf course‚ there’s a chance you’re looking for quartz in bigger lumps than a grain of sand. That’s not a problem: “it is present in many igneous and metamorphic rocks‚ is a major constituent of granite pegmatites‚ and a chief component of sandstones‚” explained Craig R Glenn‚ a professor of Earth Science in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Hawai'i. Rock crystal quartz can be found pretty much around the globe‚ he wrote‚ with especially notable formations in the Alps‚ Southeastern Brazil‚ Madagascar‚ and Japan. In the US‚ it’s best to look to Hot Springs‚ Arkansas or Little Falls and Ellenville‚ New York‚ he advised.If you want some particular type of quartz‚ however – smokey‚ or colored some rainbow hue – you might need to look elsewhere. And that’s because…Where do the colors of quartz come from?Basic quartz has a simple recipe: silicon and oxygen. Composed of just these two elements‚ it forms a simple see-through quartz so clear that it’s easy to see why the Ancient Greeks confused it for water.They "assumed quartz crystals were ice frozen so hard it wouldn’t melt‚” explains the Smithsonian National Museum of History on their website. “They called the crystals ‘krystallos‚’ their word for ice and the origin of our word crystal. Quartz crystals really were the original ‘crystals.’”But add in even a trace amount of some other element‚ and a variety of vivid colors can be produced. Amethyst‚ for example – which you might not realize counts as quartz‚ but definitely does – owes its purple hue to the presence of iron‚ irradiated by gamma rays from the rock surrounding the gem. Heat that stone to above 440°C (825°F)‚ however‚ and you’ll create a sunny yellow citrine.You can even find quartz which has solidified halfway through the process. Half amethyst‚ half citrine‚ the result is known as ametrine.Image Credit: Ra'ike‚ CC BY-SA 3.0‚ via Wikimedia CommonsSome quartzes are not so discerning: strawberry quartz looks the way it does because of large particles of hematite‚ or lepidolite‚ or muscovite‚ or piemontite‚ or pretty much anything else that finds its way into the rock and looks enough like strawberry seeds. Some are so particular that it took millennia for us to decipher what was going on: rose quartz has been used in jewelry since at least 7000 BCE‚ but it was only at the turn of the 21st century that various spectrometry methods revealed what gives the rock its rosy hue. The culprit? A mineral none of the researchers had seen before‚ but which was similar to a very rare aluminum borate silicate mineral named dumortierite. It’s currently nicknamed dididumortierite.ChalcedonyWhile most of the quartzes we’ve seen so far wouldn’t look out of place on an engagement ring or a pendant‚ there’s another whole branch of the mineral’s family tree that‚ at first glance‚ may not strike you as precious at all.“Some quartz varieties‚ such as amethyst‚ citrine‚ and rose quartz‚ are cut from single crystals‚ but more are polycrystalline. This means that a stone is composed of many interlocking crystals‚” explains gemologist Pat Daly in an article for Gem-A‚ the Gemmological Society of Great Britain.“Chalcedony is a quartz gem composed of very small crystals which cannot be distinguished with a loupe or a standard gemmological microscope‚” Daly writes.The result is a rock that doesn’t look gem-like at all – things like the opaque nickel-green of chrysoprase‚ or the earthy chaos of jasper and bloodstone. One of the most recognizable forms of chalcedony is agate: it “occurs as nodules‚ often in spaces which were once bubbles in volcanic rocks‚” Daly explains‚ which gives it its near-omnipresent banding patterns.A piece of agate held in the Muséum de Nantes‚ showing the rock's trademark ribboning pattern.Image Credit: Koreller via Wikimedia Commons‚ (CC BY-SA 4.0)“It grows inwards from the walls of the cavities as fibrous crystals of quartz‚” Daly writes. “The fibres radiate out from nucleation points‚ forming a series of domes which compete for space as they grow. Structural banding‚ parallel with the advancing growth surfaces‚ is always present even if color banding is absent.”The power of quartzHumans have always loved shiny things‚ and quartz was never an exception. “People in the earliest recorded times believed in the magical powers of quartz‚” notes the Gemological Institute of America. “Ancient Roman‚ Egyptian‚ and Greek civilizations used quartz crystals as potent talismans.” Quartz turns up in mythologies and traditions as wide-ranging as the Aborigines of Australia and the prehistoric peoples of Ireland; “the Romans used rose quartz as a seal to signify ownership‚” the Institute explains‚ “and Egyptians believed the stone could prevent aging.”A rose quartz vase from Qing Dynasty China‚ 18th centuryImage Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art‚ Gift of Heber R. Bishop‚ 1902‚ (CC0 1.0)But what may surprise you is that all these groups’ beliefs in the power held within quartz crystals – well‚ they weren’t exactly wrong‚ if you take the term "power" literally.We're not about to start talking about centering your chakras or finding your birth stones here – but it's definitely true that quartz can make a particular type of energy. Specifically‚ it's electrical energy: give the stone a squeeze – or to use more scientific terminology‚ subject it to mechanical stress – and you can make a small electrical charge move through it.It’s called piezoelectricity – the name comes from the Greek “piezein”‚ or “squeeze” – and it was originally discovered all the way back in 1880‚ by a (pre-Marie-era) Pierre Curie and his brother Jacques.           People had known there was something fishy going on if you smushed quartz before that‚ but nobody had been able to prove it – and indeed‚ even after the brothers confirmed and named the phenomenon‚ it turned out to be so complex that no real headway was made for decades.Today‚ though‚ it’s one of the many properties that makes quartz so indispensable to the modern world. Without quartz and its piezoelectric properties‚ we wouldn’t have sonar or most modern watches and clocks; it’s used in transmitting radio and TV signals; it’s even in your computer and your GPS.All of which is‚ we think you’ll agree‚ much more interesting and impressive than sticking it up your hoo-ha.All “explainer” articles are confirmed by fact checkers to be correct at time of publishing. Text‚ images‚ and links may be edited‚ removed‚ or added to at a later date to keep information current.  

Forget the term bird brain‚ many bird species are actually famous for their intelligence. And while parrots and corvids get all the credit‚ another group of birds is joining the ranks. The Oriental pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris) is fascinating not just for its extraordinary mating and reproductive behaviors‚ but it's also impressed scientists with its ability to understand object permanence.Object permanence is the idea that an object still exists even when you can’t see it. In human children‚ there are six developmental stages that can test their understanding. Previously‚ other non parrot or corvid bird species have made it to stage four‚ but hornbills are the only other birds that have made it to stage six.The idea that the birds would have a good understanding of object permanence occurs because‚ during the hornbills' breeding stage‚ the female will seal herself inside the hollow cavity of a tree to lay her eggs. The male will bring food to her and their chicks even though he has never seen them as they remain sealed inside the tree with the female.                To test this‚ six oriental pied hornbills underwent a series of seven standard Piagetian tasks involving visible and invisible displacements. Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who developed this scale and worked extensively on cognitive development in children. Stages one and two are about recognizing objects‚ so the tests with the hornbills began at stage three. The birds were trained to use a plastic bar with three prongs facing them‚ which they could use to indicate where they thought a food reward was out of three possible options hidden under red cups. The birds had never before been in a situation where the food reward was either partially or fully hidden from their view.In the later stages of the experiment‚ a red box was introduced and the food was manipulated under the cups within the box before the box was shown to be empty‚  adding greater complexity‚ as can be seen in this video of the experiments.                 Of the six hornbills tested‚ three achieved full stage six‚ or double invisible displacement. The other three achieved stage five‚ double visible displacement. These findings represent the first time a bird not in either the parrot or corvid families has displayed object permanence levels that are comparable to apes. The paper is published in Biology Letters. 

“Giant”‚ “sea”‚ and “spider” are perhaps not words best seen in combination – but unfortunately for any arachnophobes and thalassophobes out there‚ giant Antarctic sea spiders have crawled straight out your nightmares and into existence. Although not technically spiders‚ these strange‚ spindly creatures certainly look like their namesake (that’ll be the legs)‚ and they hide a fair few secrets‚ some of which have finally been revealed after more than 140 years of mystery.The common giant Antarctic sea spider’s (Colossendeis megalonyx) reproduction has long puzzled scientists. Up until very recently‚ they knew nothing at all about the reproductive ecology‚ embryology‚ or larval development of the species‚ or others in the family Colossendeidae. However‚ during a 2021 expedition‚ a team from the University of Hawaii at M&;amacr;noa were able to observe some of their reproductive habits for the first time‚ and solve part of the mystery.“In most sea spiders‚ the male parent takes care of the babies by carrying them around while they develop‚” lead researcher Professor Amy Moran said in a statement. “What’s weird is that despite descriptions and research going back over 140 years‚ no one had ever seen the giant Antarctic sea spiders brooding their young or knew anything about their development.”Some sea spiders are tiny‚ but Antarctic species can have leg spans of more than a foot.Image credit: S. RuppDiving under the Antarctic ice‚ the team happened upon and collected groups of giant sea spiders that appeared to be mating‚ taking them to tanks for further observation.Two of the groups produced thousands of tiny eggs contained in a gelatinous cloud‚ which were found to have the same size and appearance as eggs not grown in the lab. Their development was slow‚ as is characteristic of cold-blooded animals in the Antarctic‚ with the first larva hatching approximately eight months after eggs were laid. Hatchlings‚ they witnessed‚ sunk in the water and did not swim.The team also observed the adults’ behavior around the eggs‚ finding that one adult – presumed to be a father – stayed close‚ appearing to groom the cluster of eggs‚ for almost three days. During this time‚ the eggs became compacted and were attached to rock. Most species of sea spiders carry their eggs until they hatch‚ which is known as brooding‚ making this behavior highly unusual.“Post-spawning care of nonbrooded embryos in the Colossendeidae is an exciting finding‚” the researchers write in a paper describing their findings‚ “because it may represent an evolutionarily intermediate strategy between free-spawning and the paternal brooding exhibited by most other groups of sea spiders.”“We were so lucky to be able to see this‚” PhD student Aaron Toh added. “The opportunity to work directly with these amazing animals in Antarctica meant we could learn things no one had ever even guessed.”This groundbreaking first look at the reproductive strategy of C. megalonyx‚ “the largest and most conspicuous of the sea spiders”‚ is so important for understanding more about the biology and natural history of these bizarre animals‚ and others like them‚ that live in one of the least studied parts of the ocean.The study is published in the journal Ecology.

The most luminous object ever observed is so far outside the range of its peers that the astronomers who discovered it think it might never be exceeded. Not surprisingly‚ there are big questions about how something like this could operate so far off the scale we are used to.Black holes famously have such strong gravitational fields that we can’t see them. However‚ their accretion disks‚ where material such as disassembled stars orbits prior to being consumed‚ can be intensely bright. Indeed‚ the accretion disks from supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies make quasars the brightest objects in the universe. The only reason they don’t dominate our skies is that there are none nearby – the nearest quasar is 600 million years ago.Just how luminous quasars can be is an open question‚ one that has been pushed considerably wider by the discovery of J0529-4351 using the Siding Spring Observatory and confirmed with observations on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. J0529-4351’s apparent brightness is similar to two other powerful quasars‚ J0100+2802 and J2157-3602‚ and lies at a similar distance of around 12 billion light-years. There is‚ however‚ one big difference.J0100+2802 and J2157-3602 are both gravitationally lensed; in each case a closer galaxy focuses their light so that it appears a great deal brighter at our location than it normally would. Allowing for this lensing‚ these two quasars‚ while certainly very bright‚ would be part of the main pack of bright quasars we are in the process of discovering.The scientists who discovered J0529-4351 could not identify any major lensing. Unless there is something they missed‚ this makes it at least an order of magnitude more luminous than its apparently similar counterparts‚ putting it far ahead of any other quasars‚ let alone other objects‚ we know. “This is also the most luminous known object in the universe. It’s 200 trillion times brighter than our sun‚” said Dr Christian Wolf of the Australian National University in a statement‚ adding he doubts the record will ever be beaten. An alternative estimate puts the figure at 500 trillion‚ but what is 300 trillion times the brightness of the Sun between friends?The relationship between a quasar’s luminosity and the rate at which it accretes mass is not perfect. Factors such as the angle we are seeing it at‚ and how fast the hole is spinning‚ also play a part. Nevertheless‚ the discoverers think they have enough information to calculate the rate at which this monster is feeding.Some bright quasars are powered by a star the mass of the Sun being drawn into their accretion disk‚ and eventually consumed‚ every year. J0529-4351 is probably doing the same every day.J0529-4351 isn’t the most massive black hole ever found‚ but at 17 billion solar masses it’s certainly up there. The apparent contradiction between its exceptional brightness and its more ordinary mass is explained by its age‚ as we are seeing it sooner after the birth of the universe than some comparable objects.On the one hand than that means that at the point at which we see it there hadn’t been time to grow to record-breaking size. On the other hand‚ feeding rates could also have been be higher then. “In the adolescent universe‚ matter was moving chaotically and feeding hungry black holes. Today‚ stars are moving orderly at safe distances and only rarely plunge into black holes‚” Professor Rachel Webster from the University of Melbourne said.At this vast distance we can’t see J0529-4351 in any detail‚ but closer counterparts give us some powerful hints. “It looks like a gigantic and magnetic storm cell with temperatures of 10‚000 degrees Celsius‚ lightning everywhere and winds blowing so fast they would go around Earth in a second‚” Wolf said. “This storm cell is seven light years across‚ which is 50 per cent more than the distance from our solar system to the next star in the Galaxy‚ alpha Centauri.”By combining images from the Digitized Sky Survey 2‚ we get the general image‚ on which it is barely visible. The inset shows the location of the quasar in an image from the Dark Energy Survey‚ still revealing almost no detail.Image credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/Dark Energy SurveyJ0529-4351’s apparent brightness is around 16th magnitude‚ similar to Pluto at the furthest part of its orbit. That means modern professional telescopes have no trouble spotting it. The challenge is noticing that it is a quasar rather than a star within our galaxy. Surveys conducted using the Gaia space telescope missed it because their AI search programs had been trained on known quasars‚ and didn’t recognize something so far out of step with other examples. “A human astronomer looking at the Gaia spectrum would recognize the quasar and redshift at first sight‚” the authors observed.Co-author Dr Christopher Onken said‚ “It’s a surprise it remained undetected until now‚ given what we know about many other‚ less impressive black holes. It was hiding in plain sight.”The study is published in Nature Astronomy.

When you hear the word “mummy”‚ we bet your mind goes straight to the dried and bandaged remains of long-preserved Egyptian pharaohs. However‚ despite their fame‚ these specimens are not the oldest mummies in the world. That title belongs to the Chinchorro people of Chile’s Atacama Desert who mummified their dead 7‚000 years ago.The Chinchorro people‚ an ancient culture of marine hunter-gatherers‚ were the first to settle in the north of Chile and the south of Peru‚ around 5450 BCE. Soon after their arrival‚ the Chinchorro began a novel funerary practice of preserving their dead in the dry desert sands that surrounded them.These ancient cemeteries are now inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their archaeological value‚ as they not only provide insights into this strange form of mummification‚ but also how the Chinchorro communities functioned‚ and how they were socially and spiritually structured. Importantly‚ unlike the Egyptians who reserved mummification for their social elite‚ the Chinchorro offered it as a ritual for everyone.So how did the Chinchorro mummify their dead? Well‚ the process was different to how the Egyptians approached it. First‚ the body would be stripped of its skin and its organs removed. Once the body’s cavities were dry‚ the skin would be sewn back on. The bodies were also sometimes wrapped in elaborate materials‚ such as reeds‚ sea lion skins‚ and alpaca wool.Then‚ the faces would be covered in clay‚ where a mask was then placed that had openings for the eyes and mouth. Finally‚ the mummies were given wigs made of human hair before being buried in the desert‚ the hope being that the arid conditions would preserve them forever.The first Chinchorro mummy was documented in 1917 by Max Uhle‚ a German archaeologist who discovered some of the bodies on a beach. Clearly these specimens were old‚ but‚ at the time‚ it was not possible to date them accurately. Then‚ with the development of carbon dating techniques‚ it was possible to date the mummies to being more than 7‚000 years old.Chinchorro mummies look a little different to their more famous Egyptian counterparts.Image credit: cristianzenon/Shutterstock.comSince the first discovery over 100 years ago‚ hundreds of other mummies have been found in the desert. Some of these have been discovered during building works or unearthed by curious animals.The communities living in Arica‚ in northern Chile‚ have been aware of these special bodies for a long time. This is because the bodies are close to the surface‚ so they are easy to discover. As such‚ these people have learnt to live with the dead that are scattered throughout their hometowns. They see them as part of their heritage and feel responsible for taking care of them.Unfortunately‚ due to climate change‚ many of the Chinchorro graves are being unearthed by abnormal weather events‚ which exposes the bodies to the elements. This will have serious impacts on their conservation for the future as archaeologists struggle to fund efforts to recover and preserve them.“The museums are a bit overwhelmed with all this material‚” Bernardo Arriaza‚ a leading expert on the Chinchorro at the University of Tarapacá in Arica‚ told the Guardian.Even those held within museums are now threatened by changing climate conditions. The rise in ambient humidity has led some mummies to sprout mould‚ while others have fallen to dry rot or hungry insects. All these challenges are exacerbated by the variety of materials that cover the mummies‚ each needing its own conditions for storage.In 2022‚ a new climate-controlled museum near Arica was being constructed to house the Chinchorro mummies. It is hoped that this sophisticated facility‚ worth around $19 million‚ may help protect these valuable artifacts from the distant past.