Multitudes of bones have been discovered by scientists excavating an ancient Wyoming sinkhole containing a rare trove of fossils of animals from the Ice Age including bones of animals such as the American Cheetah. The Natural Trap Cave at the base of the Bighorn Mountains in north central Wyoming was initially discovered in the 1970s.
Julie Meachen, paleontologist from Des Moines University is leading the exploration of the cave since its discovery.
After extensive excavation around 200 large bones of animals like horses that roamed North America from 12,000 to 23,000 years ago were uncovered. Numerous micro-fossils of creatures like birds, lizards and snakes were also discovered.
Meachen said, after the first of the three planned annual digs which ended on Friday, “ We found evidence of bison, a bit of gray wolf and quite a lot of cheetah and horse.” The particular value and abundance of fossils in the cave is grounded in the fact that the cave was difficult to stop which lead to animals falling 85 feet to their deaths, they were surprisingly well-preserved by the cold and damp conditions. It is expected that the new fossils will help provide a deeper insight about the climate, diet, and genetic diversity of North American creatures that disappeared around 10,000 years ago during the Ice Age.