Traces of burrows usually consist of casts, but in some cases, partially empty burrows of Pleistocene age have been found. Saffer and coworkers (2004) relate a story of one such discovery in Argentina. A man putting a pole in his back-yard was surprised to see the pole sink completely through the ground. He called city services, believing that he found an abandonned well. When finally palaeontologists were called in, they discovered claw marks of a ground sloth (Scelidotherium), and three complete skeletons of extinct bears. Saffer and coworkers (2004) suggest that the bears were using an abandonned groundsloth burrow for aestivation. The burrow was probably plugged, which allowed the void inside to be preserved.
Identifying the animal
|Infill
