The journal Scientific Reports echoes a work that analyzes 34 sets of fossil footprints found in Matalascañas (Huelva). According to the researchers, the area would have been used by straight- tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon antiquus ) to care for their young during the late Pleistocene (129,000 to 11,700 years ago).
Based on the rounded elliptical shape of the prints and other criteria, the authors attributed the tracks to straight-tusked elephants, which are closely related to elephants living today in the forests of Africa. To determine the individual age of each elephant, the authors calculated shoulder height and body mass based on the length of the footprint.
A prehistoric nursery
The researchers were able to identify footprints of fourteen pups that would be between days and two years old and weigh between 70 and 200 kilos. In turn, the tracks of eight young people (two to seven years old) and six adolescents (eight to fifteen years old) were categorized. The high frequency of young elephants may indicate that the area, which must have contained a pond between the dunes, was a breeding site for elephant herds. The surrounding vegetation would provide a food source for young elephants that were unable to travel long distances.
Based on the proximity to the pup tracks, the authors also identified adult tracks, possibly three females older than fifteen years. Only two footprints made by males were identified, much larger (more than 50 cm in length) and with estimated body masses of more than seven tons.
The authors conclude that this trampled surface of Matalascañas was probably a rich reproductive habitat where females raised their offspring that was very rarely visited by males.
Reference: Wroblewski, A.FJ., Gulas-Wroblewski, BE Earliest evidence of marine habitat use by mammals. Sci Rep 11, 8846 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88412-3
