Death trap for predators of ancient times

According to the latest study published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE, a large cave near the capital Madrid (Spain) was once a death trap for most dangerous predators of about 10 million. last year…

The cave is called Cerro de los Batallones, which formed about 9 to 10 million years ago. In 1991, miners found several animal bones while they were drilling 30km outside Madrid, then called paleontologists to excavate. Here, they discovered an array of underground, fossil-filled caves of animals, including red pandas, bear dogs, tigers and many bones of species of elephants, Modern giraffes, rhinos and horses. Up to now, nearly 18,000 fossils have been found in the cave beneath this worm.

Two tigers surrounded the dead body of a rhino

However, at the time the bones were discovered in 1991, what happened to these animals was still a mystery.

To find this mysterious answer, Soledad Domingo, a researcher at the University of Michigan and colleagues, systematically analyzed bone samples found in the bottom of the cave. The proportion of predators in the cave is abnormally high (98% of all fossil specimens belong to predators), even some that have never been known before this cave was found. see.

Domingo 's team concluded that, 10 million years ago, the store was on the ground, and herbivores could often fall here, because a whole set of rhino bones was found in cave. However, perhaps most of the herbivores at that time were smart enough to avoid falling into this trap, only brave and aggressive young carnivores who were willing to enter the cave, or might be dragged down by taste of food and drink in the cave. Therefore, these animals trap and die, potentially because of hunger. Back, the rotting smell of these animals became bait for other animals.

Researchers still do not know how long the cave is before flooding affects it. These findings are only true for a cave, scientists still need to study more, to determine how the herbivores are located in the higher layers of the complex cave system. this.