4 ms·

Fossil footprints: the longest known prehistoric journey

65 points by caiobegotti 6y ago

kkotak 6y ago
I am surprised that such an important development is not being comment on on HN. Considering how mental health affects fellow techies, this should be as impactful a development as real time glucose level tracking for diabetics.
trhway 6y ago
>what is even more remarkable is that they followed their own trackway home again a few hours later. [...] Between the outward and return journeys, a sloth and a mammoth crossed the outward trackway. The footprints of the return journey in turn cross those animal tracks. a crowded place it was.
- CalRobert 6y ago
  Given the shifting baselines phenomenon, I wonder how much less life we see on a typical basis, even in "wilderness", than we would have in the past.
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    Dusk and dawn are good times to see wildlife, especially during the pandemic, and even in "suburbia."
    - Mary-Jane 6y ago
      I moved out of my city and into a rural town a few years ago. I am still amazed at the volume and variety of wildlife out here - and trying to grow a garden during the pandemic made me appreciate Elmer Fudd's take on wascally wabbits!
      - CalRobert 6y ago
        Same here, though "field" rather than town. ! I couldn't believe just how _loud_ the dawn chorus can be. The borage and calendula hum with bees as well. It's helped my anxiety about the planet to at least have this little oasis.
sradman 6y ago
From the paper Walking in mud: Remarkable Pleistocene human trackways from White Sands National Park (New Mexico) [1]: > We describe a long prehistoric human trackway (1.5 km) of Late Pleistocene age at White Sands National Park (New Mexico, USA). > The trackway indicates two journeys. The outbound tracks are crosscut by giant ground sloth and Columbian Mammoth tracks. > The precise geochronology of the tracks remains uncertain... The most parsimonious interpretation of this window is that track formation occurred before 10 k BP, however the upper biostratigraphic limit depends on the arrival date for human colonisers in the Americas and more specifically at WHSA [White Sands]. [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379120305722 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02773...
CalRobert 6y ago
"What’s more, research yet to be published tells of children playing in puddles formed in giant sloth tracks, jumping between mammoth tracks and of hunting and butchery." This is a delightful image! I hope this research stands up to review.

65 points by caiobegotti 6y ago

I am surprised that such an important development is not being comment on on HN. Considering how mental health affects fellow techies, this should be as impactful a development as real time glucose level tracking for diabetics.

trhway 6y ago

>what is even more remarkable is that they followed their own trackway home again a few hours later. [...] Between the outward and return journeys, a sloth and a mammoth crossed the outward trackway. The footprints of the return journey in turn cross those animal tracks. a crowded place it was.

CalRobert 6y ago
Given the shifting baselines phenomenon, I wonder how much less life we see on a typical basis, even in "wilderness", than we would have in the past.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  Dusk and dawn are good times to see wildlife, especially during the pandemic, and even in "suburbia."
  - Mary-Jane 6y ago
    I moved out of my city and into a rural town a few years ago. I am still amazed at the volume and variety of wildlife out here - and trying to grow a garden during the pandemic made me appreciate Elmer Fudd's take on wascally wabbits!
    - CalRobert 6y ago
      Same here, though "field" rather than town. ! I couldn't believe just how _loud_ the dawn chorus can be. The borage and calendula hum with bees as well. It's helped my anxiety about the planet to at least have this little oasis.

sradman 6y ago

From the paper Walking in mud: Remarkable Pleistocene human trackways from White Sands National Park (New Mexico) [1]: > We describe a long prehistoric human trackway (1.5 km) of Late Pleistocene age at White Sands National Park (New Mexico, USA). > The trackway indicates two journeys. The outbound tracks are crosscut by giant ground sloth and Columbian Mammoth tracks. > The precise geochronology of the tracks remains uncertain... The most parsimonious interpretation of this window is that track formation occurred before 10 k BP, however the upper biostratigraphic limit depends on the arrival date for human colonisers in the Americas and more specifically at WHSA [White Sands]. [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379120305722 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S02773...

CalRobert 6y ago

"What’s more, research yet to be published tells of children playing in puddles formed in giant sloth tracks, jumping between mammoth tracks and of hunting and butchery." This is a delightful image! I hope this research stands up to review.