  We compare chemical abundances of Local Group dwarf spheroidals, obtained
from recent UVES/VLT observations, and of high redshift Damped Lyman alpha
systems (DLAs), corrected for dust effects. We focus, in particular, on the
abundance ratio between alpha-capture elements and iron, alpha/Fe, a well known
indicator of chemical evolution. Comparison of the data in the plane alpha/Fe
versus Fe/H shows a remarkable similarity between the dwarf spheroidals and the
DLAs, suggestive of a common trend in their chemical evolution. At any given
metallicity these two distinct types of astronomical targets show alpha/Fe
ratios systematically lower than those of Milky Way stars. In terms of chemical
evolution models, this suggests that, on average, dSph galaxies and DLA systems
are characterized by lower, or more episodic, star formation rates than the
Milky Way.
