Some experts say that the concentration of paleoburrows in Brazil's south is simply because the region is a hub for palaeontology research. In June this year, this site – the largest paleoburrow in the state – was brought under official protection to safeguard it from human activity. Most are in the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, but Minas Gerais, another southern state, boasts some remarkable examples, including a 340m-long paleoburrow and a collection of six 40m-long tunnels that lead to 10m-wide by 4m-high chambers. Nobody knows for sure why the south of Brazil has so many. In the last 15 years, more than 1,500 have been recorded in this region, clinching it the title of having the highest concentration of megafauna paleoburrows in the world. The farmer's 2009 discovery came at the beginning of a surge of interest in paleoburrows, after hundreds were identified in southern and south-eastern Brazil. Most paleoburrows nowadays are filled with sediments, although some remain completely or partially clear, such as the one I had visited and the one the farmer had uncovered. You see, you feel that this was not made by humans." He was right. Heinrich Theodor Frank, a geologist by profession and paleoburrow expert at heart, told me that upon entering any one of these tunnels, "you find an open book. It felt like walking into an oversized rabbit warren. Distinctive long claw marks criss-crossed the walls. Inside it was dark and cool, the curved surfaces buffed smooth from many millennia of coarse sloth hair rubbing against it. After an hour trek through a forest-clad canyon in the state of Santa Catarina, I reached my destination: a 2m-high tunnel carved into a large, weathered rock. Almost 100 different species of sloths roamed the Americas between 15 million to 10,000 years ago alongside car-sized giant armadillos that also dug long tunnels through rocks in Brazil.ĭuring this trip, I visited the Southern Canyons Path Geopark that spreads across the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, home to several paleoburrows. They grew up to 4m long and walked on all fours, although research suggests some could stand and move bipedally. These giant ground sloths, described in one paper as "a hamster the size of an elephant", were far removed from today's unhurried, tree-dwelling ones. He'd uncovered a megafauna paleoburrow, a prehistoric tunnel dug through rock by what Luiz Carlos Weinschutz, a geologist and one of the scientists who visited the farmer's property, concluded was the work of a giant ground sloth or giant armadillo from at least 10,000 years ago. The farmer had stumbled upon a puzzling subject in palaeontology that is still unfolding today. Deep claw marks embedded into the walls indicated its past occupant was not human. Hearing about this unusual find, researchers came to investigate and were surprised to find a tunnel nearly 2m high by almost 2m wide and about 15m long running across the field and right under the farmer's house. Much to the farmer's shock, the tractor had broken through what looked like top of an underground cavity. He jumped out and saw the wheel had sunk deep into the dry soil. In 2009, a farmer was driving through his corn field in the south of Brazil when he suddenly felt his tractor sink and lurch to one side, making the vehicle shudder to a halt.
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