First tracks of newborn straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus)

Abstract

Tracks and trackways of newborns, calves and juveniles attributed to straight-tusked elephants were found in the MIS 5 site (Upper Pleistocene) known as the Matalascañas Trampled Surface (MTS) at Huelva, SW Spain. Evidence of a snapshot of social behaviour, especially parental care, can be determined from the concentration of elephant tracks and trackways, and especially from apparently contemporaneous converging trackways, of small juvenile and larger, presumably young adult female tracks. The size frequency of the tracks enabled us to infer body mass and age distribution of the animals that crossed the MTS. Comparisons of the MTS demographic frequency with the morphology of the fore- and hind limbs of extant and fossil proboscideans shed light into the reproductive ecology of the straight-tusked elephant, Palaeloxodon antiquus. The interdune pond habitat appeared to have been an important water and food resource for matriarchal herds of straight-tusked elephants and likely functioned as a reproductive habitat, with only the rare presence of adult and older males in the MTS. The preservation of this track record in across a paleosol surface, although heavily trampled by different animals, including Neanderthals, over a short time frame, permitted an exceptional view into short-term intraspecific trophic interactions occurring in the Last Interglacial coastal habitat. Therefore, it is hypothesized that Neanderthals visited MTS for hunting or scavenging on weakened or dead elephants, and more likely calves.

New dating of the Matalascañas footprints provides new evidence of the Middle Pleistocene (MIS 9-8) hominin paleoecology in southern Europe

“…The lowermost pedogenic level PS1 28 , located immediately under U1, is characterised by yellowish-reddish mottled colours and an extensive network of polygonal mats of at least 300 m in length, which is the maximum surface area exposed so far (Fig. 7 ) which preserves both hominin fossil footprints 6 and other associated vertebrate tracks 13 – 15 . Medium-fine sands form PS1 with a silty matrix (sample PS-2/0.3 m) displaying a strong vertically elongated arrangement of mottling, suggesting a genetic relationship with plant-root activity 28 .…”

“…Recently, a new track site with hominin footprints 6 and tracks ascribed to the auroch Bos primigenius ?, the red deer Cervus elaphus , the wild boar Sus scrofa , as well as Elephantidae ( Palaeoloxodon antiquus ), Canidae ( Canis lupus ), and waterbirds (geese, Anserinae, and waders, Charadrii) 13 – 15 was studied in the Asperillo Cliff, close to Matalascañas (Doñana Shoreline, Spain, Fig. 1 ).…”

Fossil footprints and what they mean for hominin paleobiology

“…These sites also included the tracks of elephants, which extended the last appearance date of elephants in this region by 300 thousand years 35 . Many of the other sites reviewed here preserve remarkable records of the mammalian biodiversity surrounding hominins—for example, sites along the Cape south coast document extensive track assemblages of giraffes, crocodiles, and birds, 69 and the track surface at Matalascañas records a wide variety of differently sized and aged elephant tracks 88 …”

“…35 Many of the other sites reviewed here preserve remarkable records of the mammalian biodiversity surrounding hominins-for example, sites along the Cape south coast document extensive track assemblages of giraffes, crocodiles, and birds, 69 and the track surface at Matalascañas records a wide variety of differently sized and aged elephant tracks. 88 In the right depositional contexts, both skeletal fossils and track assemblages can be well-documented within the same geological sequence. Such cases provide opportunities to directly compare the faunal records associated with both types of fossil data and build a more comprehensive picture of local paleoenvironments.…”

The late Early Pleistocene site of Fuente Nueva-3 (Guadix-Baza Depression, SE Spain): A hyena latrine developed on a quicksand trap for megaherbivores?

“…de Carvalho et al (2021), the estimates of ground support surface for all four feet would be comprised between 0.24 kg/m 2 in calves and 1.03 kg/m 2 in old adults, respectively.In the case of the giant, short-limbed Hippopotamus antiquus(Palmqvist et al, 2022b),Behrensmeyer and Laporte (1981) reported on the nding of single footprints and trails of large vertebrates in a 12 cm thick unit of sandy muds (sand:silt:clay = 12:59:29), dated to 1.6-1.5…”