Footprints preserve terminal Pleistocene hunt? Human-sloth interactions in North America

Predator-prey interactions revealed by vertebrate trace fossils are extremely rare. We present footprint evidence from White Sands National Monument in New Mexico for the association of sloth and human trackways. Geologically, the sloth and human trackways were made contemporaneously, and the sloth...

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Published inScience advances Vol. 4; no. 4; p. eaar7621
Main Authors Bustos, David, Jakeway, Jackson, Urban, Tommy M, Holliday, Vance T, Fenerty, Brendan, Raichlen, David A, Budka, Marcin, Reynolds, Sally C, Allen, Bruce D, Love, David W, Santucci, Vincent L, Odess, Daniel, Willey, Patrick, McDonald, H Gregory, Bennett, Matthew R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 01.04.2018
Subjects
Animals
Anthropology
Applied Ecology
Archaeology
Fossils
Geology
Humans
North America
Paleontology
SciAdv r-articles
Sloths
North America
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Summary:Predator-prey interactions revealed by vertebrate trace fossils are extremely rare. We present footprint evidence from White Sands National Monument in New Mexico for the association of sloth and human trackways. Geologically, the sloth and human trackways were made contemporaneously, and the sloth trackways show evidence of evasion and defensive behavior when associated with human tracks. Behavioral inferences from these trackways indicate prey selection and suggest that humans were harassing, stalking, and/or hunting the now-extinct giant ground sloth in the terminal Pleistocene.
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ISSN:2375-2548
2375-2548
DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aar7621