In a surprise turn of events, one of the largest diamond mines in Africa, Catoca in Angola, contains 118 million year old dinosaur, crocodile and large mammal tracks. The mammal tracks show a raccoon-sized animal, during a time when most were no bigger than today’s rats.
Almost 70 distinct tracks were uncovered in the Catoca mine in Angola. All of the tracks were discovered in a small sedimentary basin, formed around 118 Ma, during the Early Cretaceous, in the crater of a kimberlite pipe.
The most significant of these finds are those whose morphology is attributable to a large mammalian trackmaker, the size of a modern-day raccoon. There is no evidence from bones or teeth of an Early Cretaceous mammal of this size from Africa or elsewhere in the world. The most comparably sized mammalian skeleton is known from China, and is 4-7 Ma older than the Angolan tracks. It has an estimated head-body length between 42 and 68 cm, but due to missing hands and feet, a comparison with the tracks from Catoca is not possible.
18 sauropod tracks were also found nearby, with a preserved skin impression. These are the first dinosaur tracks to be discovered in Angola, and were found by the same palaeontologist, Octávio Mateus, who discovered Angolatitan adamastor, the first Angolan ever found, in 2005. Another trackway was attributed to a crocodilomorph trackmaker, a group that includes all modern crocodiles and extinct relatives, and has a unique laterally rotated handprint.
The tracks discovered in Catoca represent the first fossils from the inlands of Angola ever found. The first mammal tracks were discovered in December 2010 by the mine geologist Vladimir Pervov who contacted the palaeontologist Octávio Mateus. Octávio visited and collected the footprints in July 2011 and unveiled the dinosaur tracks. For almost eight months, the Catoca Diamond Mine, the fourth largest diamond mine in the world, stopped mining that sector in order to preserve the findings and make the study possible. This work is part of the PalaeoAngola Project, a scientific program of collaboration between various international institutions with the aim to research and promote vertebrate palaeontology in Angola.
Contributing Source: Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology
Header Image Source: WikiPedia
