Unique fossil footprints have shown that hunting could be one of the reasons for the extinction of giant sloths in America.
Once on the territory of modern South and North America, giant sloths lived - herbivorous animals that exceeded the size of modern elephants and reached a mass of several tons. The first people on the continent still caught them, however, as it was believed until now, soon climate change led these giants to extinction. However, the new work, the results of which are published in the journal Science Advances, makes us look at their disappearance from a different angle.
Back in April 2017, White Sands National Park biologist David Bustos and his colleagues discovered more than 100 fossilized footprints of giant sloths and humans. Dating showed that they were left 10-15 thousand years ago, and at the same time. In some places, the footprints of people and animals overlap and overlap as if they interacted.
According to the authors, the meeting was definitely not accidental: people hunted the Pleistocene giants. Scientists managed to partially reconstruct this scene: apparently, a group of hunters secretly watched one or more sloths, surrounded them and attacked. Some footprints show that the animals turned sharply towards the danger and fought back, rising on their hind legs. Nevertheless, it is not possible to say who emerged victorious from this fight.
The unique find - the first recorded scene of the hunting of our distant ancestors for a large game - shows that people could play an important role in the extinction of giant sloths.
Sergey Vasiliev