A team of scientists studying vertebrate fossil trajectories and traces along the coast of South Cape Town, South Africa have identified the world’s first fossil-passing tube track with the help of Namibia’s Indigenous Master Tracker. Epidemiologists Charles Helm, Clive Thompson and Jan de Vynck tell the story.
What have you found?
A colleague discovered a fossil track east of the Stop Bay in the Western Cape of South Africa in 2018 and caught our attention. It was found on the surface of a loose wind-forced rock block (formed from hardened sand) that has rested near the climax marks of the private nature reserve.
We looked at it, but our cautious approach requires that we cannot confidently fix the cause of derailing. It is still mysterious.
How do you finally recognize it?
In 2023, we worked with two Ju /’Hoansi San colleagues from northeastern Namibia, #OMA DAQM and /UCENǂAMCE, who have been explaining Kalahari’s tracks throughout their lives. They are certified as the primary Aboriginal trackers, and we consider them one of the best in the world today. We call on their expertise to help us learn more about the fossil tracks on the southern coast. An example of the insights they provide is a repertoire about Hyena, and we published this together.
Read more: Fossil Hyena Tracks Discovered First in South Africa – How Expert Animal Trackers Help
We showed them interesting tracks, which included eight tracks and two scratches made from the tails of two animals. They inspected the track surface in detail, communicated with each other for a while, and then issued a statement: The track was registered by the pangolin.
This is a surprising statement, because fossil dressing tracks have not been recorded anywhere in the world before.
It also confirms that pangolins were once distributed in a larger range than they are now.
We then created a three-dimensional digital model of the orbit using a method called photogrammetry.
We shared these images with other tracking and pangolin experts in Southern Africa (such as Cybertracker, Tracker Academy, Pangolin Working Group in Africa, Wildlife Guide and Dressing Fellows at the TSWALU Foundation). No objection voice: No surprise, we agree that our saint colleagues are likely to be correct in the explanation.
Fossil tracks do have something special when compared to fossil bones – they seem to be alive, as if animals could have registered the track yesterday, not long ago.
What are the characteristics of pangolin repertoire?
Pangolins are mostly bipedals (walking on both legs) with unique, relatively cumbersome gaits. Track size and shape, distance between tracks and width of tracks all provide useful clues, as well as tail scratches and no obvious digital impression. In the words of our main tracker colleagues, a dressed hind foot track looks like “a round stick poked into the ground.” And it is slightly wider at the front end and its shape is slightly wider.
Our main tracker colleagues are familiar with Temminck’s Pangolin (Smutsia temminckii) In Kalahari, this is a possible species of tracks that may be found on Cape Town coast stones. Other track and field manufacturer candidates are considered, such as smaller crossover services, but are considered, but can be excluded or considered much less likely.
How do you know how big the fossil orbit is?
When pangolins walk, the surface will be made up of loose dune sand. Now it is stuck to the rock. We work with Andrew Carr, a colleague at the University of Leicester in the UK. He used a technique called optical stimulation of light to obtain the rock age in the area.
The results he provides for the region show that these tracks were between 90,000 and 140,000 years ago in the Ice Age. For most of this time, the coastline may be 100 kilometers south of its current location.
What is the importance of this discovery?
First, it proves what you can discover when you bring together different kinds of knowledge: Our Western scientific approaches are combined with the extraordinary skills of the main trackers, which have been instilled from an early age.
Without them, the track will remain mysterious and the erosion of the track and field hand is not recognized due to erosion, so the quality will deteriorate.
Read more: Fossil Chest: How to Keep Geography on the Cape Town Coast in South Africa
Second, we hope it will focus on the plight of Pergalin in modern times. There are eight existing clothing species in the world today, all of which are considered threatened by extinction. Pangolin meat is considered a delicious dish, and pangolin scale is used in traditional medicine, and pangolin is one of the most transported wild animals on the planet. A large amount of meat in Africa is hunted every year.
What’s in the future?
Thanks to the Discovery Wild Trust, our local primary tracker colleagues have just completed their third visit to the Southern Cape coast.
The results were once again both unexpected and excellent, and their tracking skills proved unparalleled once again. There is no doubt that more publications will draw their expertise and draw the attention of the wider scientific community, as well as anyone interested in our fossil heritage or the ancient hunter-gatherer tradition.
We hope that our partnership will continue to bring mutual benefit as we follow the spoon of ancient animals and explore the secrets of the Pleistocene era.
This article is republished from the conversation, a non-profit independent news organization that brings you factual and trustworthy analysis to help you understand our complex world. It is written by: Charles Helm Nelson Mandela UniversityClive Thompson, Nelson Mandela Universityand Jan Carlo de Vynck, Witwatersland University
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Clive Thompson is a trustee of the Discovery Wilderness Trust, a nonprofit that supports environmental protection and promotes tracking skills.
Charles Helm and Jan Carlo de Vynck do not consult, own shares of their own or receive funds for any company or organization that will benefit from this article, and do not disclose any relevant affiliation outside their academic appointments.
