Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Spotting Cheetahs: Identifying Individuals by Their Footprints
Published on: May 1, 2016
Footprints preserve terminal Pleistocene hunt? Human-sloth interactions in North America
David Bustos1, Jackson Jakeway1, Tommy M Urban2
1National Park Service, White Sands National Monument, P.O. Box 1086, Holloman Air Force Base, NM 88330, USA.
Abstract:
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.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Termination of Translation
Termination of Translation
Predator-Prey Interactions
Drag Force and Terminal Speed
Van der Waals Interactions
piRNA - Piwi-interacting RNAs

