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More than a twelve young elephant — newborns , bambino and teenager — gamboled through clay in an glass age elephant " baby’s room " in southwestern Spain more than 100,000 twelvemonth ago , grant to new depth psychology of running that the youngster entrust behind .
scientist examined 34 sets of tracks belong to straight - tusk elephant ( Palaeoloxodon antiquus ) — extinct relatives ofmodern elephants — at a site known as the Matalascañas Trampled Surface in Huelva , on the Iberian Peninsula . As the name imply , this was a high - traffic area for a short geological period of time during the latter part of thePleistocene epoch(2.6 million to about 11,700 eld ago ) , when divers animals , include Neanderthals , crisscross the surface .
Reconstitution of mother-newborn interaction in the Matalascañas Trampled Surface.
The bearing of Neanderthal footprint — adult and juvenile — speck that they may have visited the baby’s room to hunt vulnerable elephant , preying on calves , point females in project " or opportunistically scavenge stillbirths and female dead from birth , " according to a unexampled study .
associate : pic : Finding elephant track in the desert
Most of the elephant tracks at the site belonged to youngsters , which were accompanied by several new grownup female person . Only two cut were thought to have been made by adult Male , suggesting that the area was a reproductive habitat primarily lodge in by females and their immature . The dim concentration of elephant tracks offer " grounds of a snapshot of social behavior , especially parental care , " the researchers reported .
Preserved footprint of an elephant calf at Matalascañas Trampled Surface, in southwestern Spain. This and other tracks belonged to straight-tusked elephants, the last proboscidean to roam the southernmost part of Europe.
unbowed - tusked elephant " were one of the most impressive metal money of elephant that ever lived , " said steer field of study writer Carlos Neto de Carvalho , a geologist and scientific coordinator of Naturtejo Global Geopark , a protected dominion in inland Portugal contain geological features that are recognized by the United Nations Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) .
These elephant digest over 13 fundament ( 4 meters ) tall at the articulatio humeri and weighed up to 17 tons ( 15 measured tons ) . Biologists who study modern elephants can approximate an animal ’s sizing , age and body mass based on the size , pattern and astuteness of tracks , and Neto de Carvalho and his colleagues applied the same methods to the ice historic period cut , he told Live Science in an electronic mail .
Most of the young elephant that produced the site ’s smallest cartroad were " quite petite , " he said . Their estimated shoulder heights were just 24 inch ( 60 centimeters ) , and they would have weighed about 155 pounds ( 70 kilo ) .
The Matalascañas Trampled Surface is usually blanketed by several feet of beach sand , which is " marvellous for the tourists visiting the coast of Andaluzia , but tremendous for very curious paleontologist , " Neto de Carvalho said . However , spring storm surges in 2020 lave away sand and uncover a vast area covered with 1000 of runway and trackways .
Of those , hundreds were oval footmark associated with elephant and their close relatives , measuring from 3.8 to 21.5 inch ( 9.6 to 54.5 centimeter ) in diameter . For the study , the scientists described tracks that they could definitively link to individual straight - detusk elephants , Neto de Carvalho say . There were 15 baby under 2 age old ; eight nipper between 2 and 7 yr old ; six adolescents age 8 to 15 years ; and five adults aged 15 years or older .
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In advanced elephant , societal mathematical group are sexually segregate . They typically revolve around a matriarchal mob made up of concern female care for their untried , with Male leave a group when they become sexually mature ( around age 14 or 15 ) and then return to female - led groups to match , the scientists write in the study . Matalascañas , which had seasonal pond and alimentary botany , would have been a perfect patch for an elephant nursery because young elephants need to booze frequently and ca n’t travel as far as adults can , so female person - led groups ordinarily stick close to piddle .
Other coastal dune sites in Portugal that save directly - tusked elephant tracks also show that herd were small and made up of females and offspring . All of these trackways were found at website " with ages over 100,000 yr to at least 70,000 years ago , so matriarchal herd of straight - tusked elephants have been confabulate the coastal areas for thousands of years , " Neto de Carvalho say .
" In the case of Matalascañas , there is effective ecological evidence for the behavioral design of such visits , " he added . " They were give birth stuffy to small freshwater lake and pool in an open landscape , where marauder of the newborn could be controlled from afar . "
However , Neanderthal footprints — and Harlan Stone tools that were also see at the site — suggest that elephant families may not have been capable to bilk hungry human vulture . Preserved evidence from other locations hints that elephants and their relatives , " peculiarly young individuals , " were a major part of the Neanderthal dieting , according to the subject field . A coastal nursery such as Matalascañas , where neonate , calves and vulnerable female were rich , could have been a seasonal elephant buffet for Neanderthals , the investigator report .
The findings were issue Sept. 16 in the journalScientific Reports .
Originally published on Live Science .
