One unknown day hundreds of thousands of years in the past, a prehistoric manatee relative was attacked by a hungry crocodile. After it was killed by the crocodile, the seacow’s stays have been scavenged by a tiger shark. This prehistoric meals chain anecdote relies on new fossil proof detailed in a study published August 29 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The findings counsel some similarities between the important thing gamers within the Miocene meals chain and people residing on Earth at this time.
Prey, predator, and scavenger
Scientists have discovered different proof of animals consuming each other within the fossil report that may inform them an important deal about the place organisms belonged on prehistoric meals chains. The mighty megalodon snacked on sperm whale snouts and will have even competed with nice white sharks for sources. About 508 million years in the past, Tokummia katalepsis captured comfortable prey with claws that labored like can openers.
On this new study, a crew of paleontologists digging in current day northwestern Venezuela discovered the fossilized cranium of a dugong sea cow from the extinct genus Culebratherium. The fossil dates about 23 million to 11.6 million years to the Early to Center Miocene epoch.
[Related: Meet the extinct sea cow that cultivated Pacific kelp forests.]
Some “conspicuous” deep tooth impacts centered on the ocean cow’s snout, counsel that the crocodile first tried to understand its prey by the snout to suffocate it. Two additional giant incisions point out that the crocodile then probably executed a “dying roll” whereas greedy the ocean cow. This conduct continues to be commonly observed in modern crocodiles.
Moreover, the crew discovered the tiger shark tooth in the sea cow’s neck. There have been additionally shark chunk marks all through its skeleton that the crew believes present how the stays have been picked aside by the scavengers. Trendy tiger sharks are additionally well-known scavengers who will eat just about something.
“In the present day, typically after we observe a predator within the wild, we discover the carcass of prey which demonstrates its operate as a meals supply for different animals too; however fossil data of this are rarer,” Aldo Benites-Palomino, a research co-author and paleontologist from the College of Zurich in Switzerland, said in a statement. “We now have been not sure as to which animals would serve this objective as a meals supply for a number of predators. Our previous research has recognized sperm whales scavenged by a number of shark species, and this new analysis highlights the significance of sea cows inside the meals chain.”
Whereas proof of predator-prey interactions could be discovered within the fossil report, they are typically within the type of broken-up fossils with marks whose significance is not entirely clear. This makes differentiating marks of lively predation and scavenging occasions difficult, in line with Benites-Palomino.
“Our findings represent one of many few data documenting a number of predators over a single prey, and as such present a glimpse of meals chain networks on this area through the Miocene,” mentioned Benites-Palomino.
A ‘paleontological rescue operation’
The worldwide crew of scientists discovered the fossil in outcrops of the Early to Middle Miocene Agua Clara Formation, south of town of Coro, Venezuela. The stays included a fragmentary skeleton with a partial cranium and eighteen related vertebrae. The preservation of the fossil’s cortical layer–which outlined how the mind’s grey matter was structured–additionally helped them observe such detailed proof of prehistoric predation.
Examine co-author and College of Zurich palaeobiologist Marcelo R Sanchez-Villagra known as the invention “exceptional,” partially as a result of it was discovered 62 miles away from different fossils and the way they discovered it.
[Related: This tiger-sized, saber-toothed, rhino-skinned predator thrived before the ‘Great Dying.’]
“We first discovered in regards to the web site by way of phrase of mouth from an area farmer who had observed some uncommon ‘rocks.’ Intrigued, we determined to analyze,” Sanchez-Villagra said in a statement. “Initially, we have been unfamiliar with the location’s geology, and the primary fossils we unearthed have been components of skulls. It took us a while to find out what they have been—sea cow stays, that are fairly peculiar in look.
The crew consulted geological maps of the areas and examined the sediments on this new space. That helped them decide the age of the rocks during which these fossils have been uncovered. It took a number of web site visits to fully unearth the stays, since these have been relatively sizable animal remains.
“After finding the fossil web site, our crew organized a paleontological rescue operation, using extraction methods with full casing safety,” mentioned Sanchez-Villagra. “The operation took about seven hours, with a crew of 5 folks engaged on the fossil. The following preparation took a number of months, particularly the meticulous work of getting ready and restoring the cranial components.”
