A manatee swims for its life. In its body: deep bite marks from a crocodile that has chosen it as prey. It has no chance against the strong jaws of its attacker. Its blood attracts another predator. The shark first observes the scene – before striking itself.
This or something similar is how a morbid scene played out in prehistoric times, which has now been reconstructed by a research team. They examined the remains of the unfortunate manatee, which were discovered in what is now Venezuela, as part of a StudyResearchers from the University of Zurich (UZH), the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the Museo Paleontológico de Urumaco in Venezuela were involved.
The fossil remains of the manatee were discovered thanks to a tip from a local farmer. He pointed out unusual “rocks” to the researchers led by Marcelo R. Sanchez-Villagra, director of the Paleontological Institute and Museum at UZH. During the investigation, it emerged that the Agua Clara Formation near Coro in Venezuela actually contained the well-preserved bones of a prehistoric animal – the remains of the prehistoric manatee. Extensive excavations followed to recover them. “We organized a paleontological rescue operation in which the fossils were carefully recovered with a protective casing,” says Sanchez-Villagra.
After the seven-hour excavation, the preparation and restoration of the bones took several more months, according to the expedition leader. Like the rock layer, whose geology and sediments were analyzed, the animal dates from the early to middle Miocene. Its age is therefore estimated at 23 to 11.6 million years.
Overall, the partial skeleton of the manatee of the genus Culebratherium a piece of the skull and eighteen vertebrae. The good state of preservation of the bones provided crucial clues as to how the prehistoric animal died: several bite marks from two different predators were clearly visible.
