Extinct ice age creatures from 100,000 years ago discovered in Texas cave
Yahoo • • science
Key Points:
- Paleontologist John Moretti discovered a large collection of Ice Age animal fossils, including giant tortoise shells and remains of a lion-sized armadillo cousin, while snorkeling in an underground stream at Bender's Cave in Central Texas.
- The fossils, dating back about 100,000 years to a warm interglacial period during the last Ice Age, also include giant ground sloths, saber-tooth cats, camels, and mastodons.
- Researchers believe the bones were deposited during ancient floods and reflect a climate that supported both forest dwellers and warm-temperature species in Central Texas.
- The findings, published in Quaternary Research, offer new insights into the region’s prehistoric environment and animal communities previously unknown for this part of Texas.
- Experts highlight that these discoveries challenge previous assumptions about species distribution in Texas and underscore ongoing learning about Earth's climatic and ecological history.
