Dj. De Ruiter et Lr. Berger, Leopards as taphonomic agents in dolomitic caves - Implications for bone accumulations in the hominid-bearing deposits of South Africa, J ARCH SCI, 27(8), 2000, pp. 665-684
It has been hypothesised that leopards were significant contributors to the
bone accumulations of the Plio-Pleistocene hominid-bearing caves of South
Africa. Interpretations of leopard activity in these fossil caves were prev
iously based upon reports of modern leopard behaviour in areas of southern
Africa that were lacking in caves. In 1991 a leopard lair with an accompany
ing bone accumulation was discovered in a dolomitic cave on the John Nash N
ature Reserve, South Africa. All of the bones in this cave could be unambig
uously attributed to the activity of one individual leopard over a 1-year p
eriod. The resulting bone assemblage indicates that, when available, leopar
ds will preferentially utilise the deep recesses of caves to the exclusion
of trees when feeding, and that the size of prey leopards are capable of ca
pturing, killing and transporting has previously been underestimated. The i
mplications this may have for understanding the accumulation of fossils in
the hominid-bearing caves of South Africa are that bones derived from leopa
rds consuming prey in trees probably did not contribute significantly to th
e assemblages, and further that it is not necessary to invoke sabre-tooth c
at involvement for the larger animals found in these assemblages. This mode
rn cave probably represents a more appropriated model for the accumulation
of bones int he fossil caves of the Sterkfontein Valley, and the assemblage
is being continually monitored to view any and all taphonomic alterations
that are occurring.