Some 43,000 years ago , not long after a vent rained down ash on what would become a dried lake layer in Oregon , a ruck of Columbian mammoth ambled across the fringe of a lake . The soft ground preserved in time this ancient wandering , giving researchers the rarefied chance to study theextinct animals’social group .
When it comes to ancient animals , a lot focus is understandably on the bone of the long - dead animate being . But fogey footprint , also known as trackways , can also tell us a surprising amount about the motive power of the beasts that made them . For example , by study the prints result by sauropods , palaeontologists were able to regulate that the healthy dinosaurs walked with their white tie concur aloft , not dragging along the earth as originally thought .
More importantly , fogey step can instruct us about things never usually preserved through time : the behavior of extinct animals .
From study the prints entrust behind as ancient animals cheat the landscape , we can separate that some moved in large herds , protect their youthful by keep them in the eye of moving group , or ferment in packs to bring down fair game much bigger than themselves . The set of mammoth prints bring out in the old Oregonian lake bed is no different .
This late piece of research has focalise in on just a 20 - footmark segment of the trackway that show some strange aspects . For a offset , the prints of the single , probably distaff adult were in particular secretive together , but it also looks like the print on the right were more deep impressed than those on the left . The researchers suspect that this means the mammoth was limp as she walk .
Yet that is not the most intriguing part . As the limping mammoth trudged along , it seems that one or perhaps two unseasoned mammoths approach the lumbering female , before retire again .
“ These juvenile may have been interacting with an wound grownup female , reelect to her repeatedly throughout the journeying , possibly out of concern for her slow progression , ” aver Museum of Natural and Cultural History palaeontologist Greg Retallack in astatement . “ Such behavior has been mention with wounded adult in mod , matriarchal herds of African elephants . ”
While this might not be surprising , it is still impressive that behavior like this can be infer from the footprint of animate being that were alive over 40,000 years ago . It is also pretty nice to support the theory that in all likelihood they did behave like go elephants do today . The full study can be found in the journal ofPalaeogeography , Palaeoclimatology , Palaeoecology .
