Ten thousand years ago in New Mexico, a giant sloth stopped in its tracks. It sensed a human up ahead. The human was walking along the edge of Lake Otero while carrying a small child. After the human passed by, a mammoth or a mastodon walked across their path. How do we know this? Their ghost tracks tell us their story.
Ghost tracks are not tracks made by ghosts.
Although, yes, the giant sloth, mammoth, and those ancient humans are long dead. The tracks were nicknamed ghost tracks because if the conditions are not right, they disappear. The area primarily consists of white sand. The sand has to have just the right amount of moisture for the tracks to be visible. But when they are, you can easily see the tracks with your naked eyes.
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The fossilized footprints give us some insight into their lives.
For example, we know that the giant sloth could sense the humans. The tracks show that it stopped and lifted itself onto its hind legs to sniff the air. After, the sloth changed directions to avoid the humans.
Sloths avoided humans.
David Bustos told Gizmodo:
“What we often see are giant ground sloths changing their movements in response to humans. They’ll stand up. And they’ll turn around. We’ve got several in other places throughout the park. Any time there are human [prints] around a sloth, [the sloth will] start spinning in circles or doing funny things.”
We know that the human was carrying a small child.
Their tracks indicated that they were carrying something. And, every once and a while, they stopped to put the child down. So, the child left footprints as well. The size of the child’s footprints indicates they were about 3 years old.
After the humans left, a mammoth or mastodon walked by.
It left some tracks that stepped on top of the human’s tracks. The intersecting tracks help to establish the timeline of events. The mammoths did not seem to care that the humans were around. They did not change their direction.
Interestingly, there is a second set of human tracks later.
The second set of tracks are coming from the direction the first set of tracks went. The footprints are similar to the previous tracks and might be the same person. But, this time, they are not holding anything. Perhaps they left the child at another location?
It is fun to speculate what these tracks mean.
They give us a brief vignette into the lives of prehistoric humans and animals. Lake Otero is scattered with fossilized footprints, each with a story. So, these ghost prints will continue to tell stories about the ghosts who made them.
h/t: Gizmodo