From naked mole rats to elephants, research in wildlife biology increasingly entails interference with individual animals, and there are innumerable reasons to justify this interference for the proper management of populations. As Boyd (2002) has emphasized, however, there is a central question about the extent to which it is reasonable to intervene in a population when the species is endangered. This comment arose as part of a debate published last year in this journal on the possible harmful effects of immobilizing black rhinos and fitting them with radio-collars. Alibhai, Jewell & Towindo (2001) had prompted the debate with a discussion on the possible reduction of fertility in black rhinos caused by immobilization followed by an account of the wounding of a rhino by an ill-fitting radio-collar (Alibhai & Jewell, 2001).

We are pleased to announce that from January 2003 the Journal of Zoology will have an Editorial Office based in Virginia, U.S.A. Authors from North America should submit their papers to Professor John L. Gittleman, Department of Biology, Gilmer Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4328, U.S.A. Email: JLGittleman@virginia.edu

The Editors decided, during the year, that there was really little need for a Short Communications Section and it would be more effective to incorporate short papers into the body of the Journal. Great thanks therefore go to Martyn Gorman for his many years as Editor of the Communications from the Mammal Society and latterly for his editing of the Short Communications.

By the end of 2000, the majority of the members of the Editorial Board had completed a five year term and an editorial decision was taken to replace the Board with a small team of international Editorial Consultants who would be asked to act as ambassadors for the Journal as well as giving advice on editorial matters. I should therefore like to thank all the retiring members of the Editorial Board for their work on the Journal and welcome the new Editorial Consultants whose names are given on the inside front cover of this issue.

During 2000, 160 papers were published in the twelve monthly parts of volumes 250–252 and there was approximately eleven months between acceptance of a paper and its publication. Our aim is to reduce this time to a maximum of ten months from now on.

Over the year, 286 manuscripts were submitted to the Journal and reports were written on them by 471 referees, whose names are listed below. As in previous years, I should like to make full acknowledgement of the generosity of these referees in both their time and expertise, without which the Journal could not survive. I should also like to thank all the authors who have sent in colour slides for possible reproduction on the covers.

Communications from the Mammal Society, which have been published twice yearly, in June (see pp. 209–244, this issue) and December, will cease from the end of this year. From January 1999, this Section of the Journal of Zoology will be allocated to Short Communications, and contributions will be welcomed on all taxa within the general field of zoological research, both invertebrate and vertebrate. Three copies of each paper, following the Instructions for Contributors printed at the back of the Journal of Zoology, should be sent directly to Dr M. L. Gorman, Editor of Short Communications, Journal of Zoology, Department of Zoology, Aberdeen University, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen AB24 2TZ, Scotland, U.K. Tel.: +44 (0)1224 272850; fax: +44 (0)1224 272396; e-mail: m.gorman@abdn.ac.uk.

In 1991 the twelfth season of excavation of the Akkadian buildings at Tell Brak in Syria, under the direction of David and Joan Oates, yielded the skeletons of five domestic donkeys to add to the skeletons of a dog and a donkey that were retrieved in 1987 (Clutton-Brock 1989). The positions of the new skeletons are shown on the plan, p. 163, and their excavation is described by D. and J. Oates (1991). It appears from the finding, in 1992, of a small temple in the same area (FS), together with fragments of yet another donkey skeleton, that the deposition of the carcasses had a ritual significance. The temple was at first thought to be dedicated to the god Šakkan, whose name was read on bullae found in the courtyard, but this reading has since been disputed. However, the presence of the donkey skeletons and of a number of gazelle horns in the temple ante-cella suggests that the deity had some special connection with these animals, as we know that Šakkan did (p. 164). The donkeys were probably sacrificed at the same period as the donkey and dog excavated in 1987 and can be similarly dated to an historical date of c. 2200 BC.

As with the previous donkey skeleton the five new equids were identified as donkeys rather than horses, hemiones, or hybrids, on the enamel patterns of the cheek teeth and on the size and proportions of the limb bones; see Clutton-Brock (1986 and 1989) and Eisenmann (1986) for the anatomical and dental distinctions between the species of equids.

During the 1987 season of excavations at Tell Brak under the direction of David and Joan Oates, the skeleton of a small equid was revealed on the floor of what was probably the courtyard of a large public building believed to date to the Akkadian period (locus FS 565). Poplar beams from an adjacent courtyard have provided radiocarbon dates of 3990 ± 50 and 3960 ± 50 BP (BM-2554 and -2556, see p. 213), 2580–2455 cal B.C.

Associated with the equid skeleton was a small number of bones of domestic pig, cattle, sheep/goat, and a Demoiselle crane (Anthropoides virgo; identified by G. Cowles, Bird Section, BM(NH)).

Excavation of the bones showed that not only was the skeleton exceptionally well preserved but that the soft parts of the body were moulded in the earth (Plates XXIX a-b). The lungs and stomach could be easily discerned and the coiled intestines were represented by strings of coprolites. The “soft parts” were covered with what appeared to be a surface film of orange-green material. Everything was lifted with as much care as possible by the excavation conservator, Mrs. Risë Taylor-Andreasen, using Paraloid B72 (methyl methacrylate/ethyl acrylate) and UHU (cellulose nitrate) as consolidants where essential.

The last volumes of the report on the excavations at Jericho have been delayed owing to the death of Dame Kathleen Kenyon. This article was written in 1977 as a specialist contribution to the final report but, in view of the delay, Dr Clutton-Brock wishes to present the evidence here so that any observations by her colleagues may be considered before the final publication. The provenance of the material has been correlated with the system designed for the final reports.

Animal remains from two seasons of excavation at the Tell of Abu Salabikh (1975–1976) were examined during a month's visit to the site in October 1977. A proportion of this material was then selected for further study and was kindly sent on loan to the British Museum (Natural History) by the Department of Antiquities, Baghdad. Work is continuing on these specimens and on the equid skeleton described by Postgate and Moorey which had been loaned to the Museum a year earlier. The photographs, Plates XIV–XVI, were taken on site by Mr. David Nicolson and our thanks are due to him for his patience in the face of dust and sandflies.

The collection of animal remains was large, numbering perhaps more than 10,000 elements which were mixed with an equal or greater number of human bones. The animal bones were in a very fragmentary condition as is usual with the remains of food. They had suffered further breakage by the action of the compacted soil of the floors under which they were buried as well as by disturbance and re-burial following human interments. Furthermore the very high concentration of salts in the soil contributed to the fragmentation process. Shortage of time prevented analysis of this comminuted bone but the dimensions of every measurable element were recorded.