Prehistoric elephant nursery probably made easy prey for Neanderthals

By Riley Black

A fossilised footprint of an elephant calf

Neto de Carvalho et al.

More than 100,000 years ago, elephants raised their newborns among the dunes of the past Spanish coast. Fossil footprints suggest astatine slightest 14 calves, belonging to the extinct straight-tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus), were portion of a prehistoric nursery – and that they were hunted by Neanderthals.

Carlos Neto de Carvalho astatine the Naturtejo UNESCO Global Geopark successful Portugal and his colleagues identified the tracks connected a wide fossil aboveground called the Matalascañas Trampled Surface (MTS) successful Huelva, Spain, that contains the footsteps …