Paleontologists Discover Ice Age Megafauna in Texas Cave, Challenging Ecological History
Paleontologists have uncovered a significant collection of Ice Age megafauna in an underground stream in Central Texas, prompting a reevaluation of the region's ecological history. The discovery, detailed in the journal Quaternary Research, includes fossils of a giant tortoise and a lion-sized armadillo relative, Holmesina septentrionalis, neither of which were previously known to inhabit the Edwards Plateau. The findings emerged from a multi-year study initiated by local spelunker John Young, who first photographed the bones in Bender’s Cave. The research team, led by John Moretti from the University of Texas at Austin, conducted six visits to the site, collecting fossils from 21 sampling zones. The presence of these species, which are typically associated with warmer climates, contradicts the established understanding of the region as a cool, dry grassland during the last glacial period. 
