A remarkable find in an active underground stream has recently been made deep beneath the rolling hills of the Edwards Plateau. During a snorkelling excursion through the low ceilings and dark passages of Bender's Cave in Comal County, Texas, researchers discovered an enormous ‘lag assemblage’ of Pleistocene megafauna. It is also uniquely important, as it contains fossils from previously undocumented species in the region (giant tortoises and lion-sized pampatheres (Holmesina septentrionalis).
These finds are forcing palaeontologists to rethink their beliefs about the ancient climate of Central Texas, as the data gest that there was a much warmer and more humid climate during a time that was previously thought to be dominated by cool, dry grasslands. The cave’s unique hydrological conditions acted as a natural preservative, shielding these delicate remains from the typical erosion of time.
