Footprints preserve terminal Pleistocene hunt? Human-sloth interactions in North America

作者：David Bustos, Jackson Jakeway, Tommy Urban, Vance T. Holliday, Brendan Fenerty, David A. Raichlen, Marcin Budka, Sally C. Reynolds, Bruce D. Allen, David W. Love, Vincent Santucci, Daniel Odess, P. Willey, H. Gregory McDonald, Matthew R. Bennett · 发表于：Science Advances · 年份：2018 · DOI：10.1126/sciadv.aar7621 · 被引用次数：74 · 研究领域：Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology、Evolution and Paleontology Studies、Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Predator-prey interactions revealed by vertebrate trace fossils are extremely rare. We present footprint evidence from White Sands National Monument in New Mexico for the association of sloth and human trackways. Geologically, the sloth and human trackways were made contemporaneously, and the sloth trackways show evidence of evasion and defensive behavior when associated with human tracks. Behavioral inferences from these trackways indicate prey selection and suggest that humans were harassing, stalking, and/or hunting the now-extinct giant ground sloth in the terminal Pleistocene.