Tens of thousands of years ago, some extinct animals were part of the African landscape, among them a huge species of zebra that roamed the southern coast of South Africa.
A new scientific study revealed that a giant species of extinct zebras inhabited the coast of South Africa for millions of years.
The researchers found a large number of hoof prints from herds of the giant zebra of the type "Equus capensis" (Equus capensis), as well as fossil traces showing that this animal was more widespread in the region than previously thought.
The results of this study , conducted by researchers from Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, were recently published in the journal Quaternary Research.
He lived in the Egyptian Dakhla oases before his extinction
Tens of thousands of years ago, some extinct animals were part of the African landscape, among them huge species of zebras that roamed the shifting sands of what is today the southern coast of South Africa.
One of these species is the giant zebra "Equus capensis", whose tracks were first discovered in 1909 in the Cape region of South Africa, and then in other areas in Kenya, Ethiopia, Italy, the Arabian Peninsula and the Americas.
Fossilized bone remains of this animal were previously found in the Egyptian Dakhla oases during the nineties of the last century, according to one of the previous studies .
These remains date back more than 12,000 years, when vegetation covered large parts of the region.
The giant zebra, which became extinct a little more than 10,000 years ago, is distinguished by its height of about 1.5 meters at the shoulder and its weight of 450 kilograms, twice the weight of some other types of zebras that weigh less than 260 kilograms.
Although most of the fossils that scientists found for this organism were on the west coast of South Africa, it was not clear until now how common this species was in other regions of the continent.
Traces of hoofs indicate its spread in South Africa
The new study shows that the giant zebra was more common on the coast of southern Africa than previously thought. Researchers have discovered 26 equine hoof print sites, including those belonging to this extinct species.
The dating results of these antiquities showed that they date back to a period ranging between 161-43 thousand years ago, which makes this region contain most of the world-known traces of this extinct animal, according to an article published by researcher Charles Helm, the main author of the study on the website "The Conversation" (The Conversation). Conversation).
Of the 13 tracer sites that the researchers found carved into the rocks of the dunes (Euliana), the length of 12 centimeters or more, and eight of them are 10 centimeters or less, while the researchers were unable to reach the other five to measure their size.
According to the South African researcher, the traces of large hooves belong to the giant zebra, and the small ones to subspecies of the plains zebra "Equus quagga", which became extinct in the 19th century.
