Lion tracks reveal ancient African coastline
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Researchers in South Africa collaborated with San trackers from Namibia to identify fossilized lion tracks along the southern Cape coast.
Since 2008, the team has found over 400 vertebrate tracksites, focusing recently on lion tracks from the Pleistocene epoch, a period spanning 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago.
The San trackers, #oma Daqm and /uce Nǂamce, used their expertise to confirm the lion tracks at three sites and interpret the animals’ behavior, including identifying evidence of male and female lions traveling together. The study represents the only reported lion fossil tracksites in southern Africa and one of only two in all of Africa.
One track has been dated to around 70,000 years ago, revealing a time when lions roamed a coastline that looked different than it does today, at times extending 100km further south. The research team, based at Nelson Mandela University’s African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, has previously partnered with the San trackers on studies of pangolin and brown hyena tracks.
This collaboration demonstrates the value of combining scientific methods with Indigenous knowledge, providing a more complete understanding of the region’s ancient animal life. The team plans to continue working with Ju/'hoansi trackers, next focusing on identifying hominin and extinct antelope tracks.
