 Fri, 20 November 2020 Despite their proximity to the ocean, the flooded caves of Tsimanampetsotse National Park in southwest Madagascar are filled with fresh, clear water. While exploring one of the caves, named Vintany, divers accidentally stumbled upon a treasure trove of fossils. The thousands of year-old fossils, along with stalagmites that formed before the caves had filled with water, preserved detailed chronological records of vegetation and climate change. The divers understood the scientific importance of what they found, so they reached out to a colleague who in turn contacted researchers with knowledge of Madagascar’s history. I am a biological anthropologist and paleontologist who has spent decades exploring sites throughout the country. The teams that I have worked with have discovered new species and new skeletal elements of previously known species. We have solved mysteries regarding bones that previously had been attributed to the wrong species, and we have explored new ways to infer behavior from bones of extinct species... |
