tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/nelson-mandela-university-1946/articlesNelson Mandela University2024-02-20T07:41:23Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2227172024-02-20T07:41:23Z2024-02-20T07:41:23ZOrang Afrika menemukan fosil dinosaurus jauh sebelum istilah ‘palaentologi’ ada<p>Penghargaan untuk penemuan tulang dinosaurus pertama biasanya diberikan kepada orang-orang Inggris atas penemuan mereka antara abad ke-17 dan ke-19 di Inggris. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/learning/htmls/plot.htm">Robert Plot</a>, seorang ahli sejarah alam Inggris, adalah orang pertama yang <a href="https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/dinosaurs-and-fossils/who-discovered-the-first-dinosaur-fossils?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share-from-amnh-org">mendeskripsikan</a> tulang dinosaurus, dalam bukunya <em>The Natural History of Oxfordshire</em> pada 1676. Selama dua abad berikutnya, palaentologi dinosaurus akan didominasi oleh banyak ilmuwan alam Inggris. </p>
<p>Namun, <a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/10.1144/SP543-2022-236">penelitian kami</a> menunjukkan bahwa sejarah palaentologi dapat ditelusuri lebih jauh ke masa lalu. Kami menyajikan bukti bahwa tulang dinosaurus pertama mungkin telah ditemukan di Afrika sejak 500 tahun sebelum Plot.</p>
<p>Kami adalah tim ilmuwan yang mempelajari fosil di Afrika Selatan. Mengintip literatur arkeologi, sejarah, dan palaentologi yang telah dipublikasikan dan tidak dipublikasikan, kami menemukan bahwa ada ketertarikan terhadap fosil di Afrika sepanjang kehidupan manusia di benua tersebut. </p>
<p>Hal ini tidak mengejutkan. Manusia berasal dari Afrika: <em>Homo sapiens</em> telah ada setidaknya selama <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22336">300 ribu tahun</a>. Benua ini memiliki keanekaragaman singkapan batuan yang besar, seperti lapisan Kem Kem di Maroko, depresi Fayum di Mesir, Lembah Celah di <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-maasai-legend-behind-ancient-hominin-footprints-in-tanzania-119373">Afrika timur</a> dan Karoo di Afrika selatan, yang mengandung fosil-fosil yang selalu dapat diakses oleh nenek moyang kita. </p>
<p>Jadi, orang Afrika yang menemukan fosil lebih dulu bukan cuma kemungkinan, melainkan tidak bisa dihindari.</p>
<p>Sering kali, fosil dinosaurus pertama yang seharusnya ditemukan oleh para ilmuwan justru ditemukan oleh pemandu lokal. Contohnya adalah penemuan dinosaurus raksasa <a href="https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Jobaria/390687"><em>Jobaria</em></a> oleh suku Tuareg di Niger dan <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/542624-Giraffatitan"><em>Giraffatitan</em></a> oleh suku Mwera di Tanzania.</p>
<p>Makalah kami mengulas apa yang diketahui tentang pengetahuan masyarakat asli Afrika tentang fosil. Kami membuat daftar fosil yang tampaknya telah lama dikenal di berbagai situs di Afrika, dan mendiskusikan bagaimana fosil-fosil tersebut mungkin telah digunakan dan ditafsirkan oleh masyarakat Afrika sebelum ilmu palaentologi muncul.</p>
<h2>Tempat berlindung dari batu Bolahla di Lesotho</h2>
<p>Salah satu yang menarik dari makalah kami adalah situs arkeologi Bolahla, sebuah tempat berlindung dari Zaman Batu di Lesotho. Berbagai teknik penanggalan menunjukkan bahwa situs ini ditempati oleh orang Khoesan dan Basotho dari abad ke-12 hingga ke-18 (1100 hingga 1700 Masehi). </p>
<p>Bolahka dikelilingi oleh bukit-bukit yang terbuat dari endapan yang terkonsolidasi yang tertimbun di bawah gurun pasir yang keras seperti Sahara. Endapan ini berusia sekitar 180 juta hingga 200 juta tahun yang lalu, ketika dinosaurus pertama berkeliaran di Bumi. </p>
<p>Bagian Lesotho ini sangat terkenal karena menghasilkan spesies <em>Massospondylus carinatus</em>, dinosaurus berleher panjang dan berkepala kecil sepanjang 4–6 meter. Tulang fosil <em>Massospondylus</em> berlimpah di daerah tersebut dan sudah ada ketika situs ini diduduki oleh orang-orang pada Abad Pertengahan. </p>
<p>Pada 1990, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3889171">arkeolog</a> yang bekerja di Bolahla menemukan bahwa tulang jari <em>Massospondylus</em>, sebuah fosil ruas jari, telah diangkut ke dalam gua. Tidak ada kerangka fosil yang mencuat dari dinding gua, jadi satu-satunya kemungkinan bahwa tulang jari ini berakhir di sana adalah karena seseorang di masa lalu mengambilnya dan membawanya ke gua. </p>
<p>Mungkin orang ini melakukannya karena rasa ingin tahu, atau mengubahnya menjadi liontin atau mainan, atau menggunakannya untuk ritual penyembuhan tradisional. </p>
<p>Bukan hal yang aneh jika, setelah hujan lebat, orang-orang di daerah tersebut menemukan tulang belulang spesies yang sudah punah yang telah tersapu dari batu induknya. Mereka biasanya mengidentifikasikannya sebagai milik monster mirip naga yang melahap manusia atau bahkan seluruh rumah. </p>
<p>Di Lesotho, suku Basotho menyebut <em>Massospondylus</em> sebagai “Kholumolumo”. Sementara itu, di provinsi Eastern Cape yang berbatasan dengan Afrika Selatan, suku Xhosa menyebutnya sebagai <a href="https://chosindabazomhlaba.com/2022/03/29/ukufika-kwamacikilishe-angamagongqongqo/">“Amagongqongqo”</a>.</p>
<p>Sayangnya, tanggal pasti kapan barisan tersebut dikumpulkan dan diangkut tidak diketahui. Berdasarkan pengetahuan saat ini, aktivitas itu bisa saja terjadi saat pendudukan tempat penampungan dari abad ke-12 hingga ke-18. Hal ini membuka kemungkinan bahwa tulang dinosaurus ini bisa saja dikumpulkan hingga 500 tahun sebelum penemuan Robert Plot.</p>
<h2>Pengetahuan awal tentang makhluk yang telah punah</h2>
<p>Kebanyakan orang mengetahui tentang fosil jauh sebelum era ilmiah, sepanjang ingatan kolektif masyarakat. </p>
<p>Di Aljazair, misalnya, orang-orang menyebut beberapa jejak kaki dinosaurus sebagai milik <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940109380182">“burung Roc”</a> yang legendaris . Di Amerika Utara, lukisan gua yang menggambarkan jejak kaki dinosaurus dilukis oleh <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940109380182">suku Anasazi</a> antara tahun 1000 dan 1200 Masehi. Penduduk asli Australia mengidentifikasi jejak kaki dinosaurus sebagai milik “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940109380182">Emu-man</a>” yang legendaris. </p>
<p>Di sebelah selatan, penakluk terkenal Hernan Cortes diberi fosil tulang paha Mastodon oleh suku <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Fossil_Legends_of_the_First_Americans.html?id=CMsgQQkmFqQC&redir_esc=y">Aztec</a> pada tahun 1519. Di Asia, orang-orang Hindu menyebut amon (fosil kerang laut yang melingkar) sebagai “<a href="https://theconversation.com/shaligrams-the-sacred-fossils-that-have-been-worshipped-by-hindus-and-buddhists-for-over-2-000-years-are-becoming-rarer-because-of-climate-change-209311">Shaligrams</a>” dan telah memujanya selama lebih dari 2.000 tahun. </p>
<h2>Mengklaim pengakuan</h2>
<p>Fakta bahwa orang-orang di Afrika telah lama mengetahui tentang fosil telah terbukti dari cerita rakyat dan catatan arkeologi. Namun, kita masih harus banyak belajar tentang hal itu. </p>
<p>Sebagai contoh, tidak seperti orang-orang di Eropa, Amerika dan Asia, para ahli paleontologi asli Afrika beberapa kali menggunakan fosil untuk pengobatan tradisional. Kami masih belum yakin apakah ini merupakan ciri budaya yang benar-benar unik yang dimiliki oleh sebagian besar budaya Afrika atau karena pengetahuan kami yang masih belum lengkap. </p>
<p>Selain itu, beberapa situs fosil yang cukup menonjol, seperti tempat tidur Kem Kem di Maroko dan gua-gua Unesco <a href="https://www.maropeng.co.za/content/page/introduction-to-your-visit-to-the-cradle-of-humankind-world-heritage-site">Cradle of Humankind</a> di Afrika Selatan, masih belum memberikan bukti yang kuat untuk pengetahuan asli. Hal ini sangat disayangkan. Tradisi yang berhubungan dengan fosil dapat membantu menjembatani kesenjangan antara masyarakat lokal dan ahli palaentologi, yang pada gilirannya dapat berkontribusi dalam <a href="https://theconversation.com/graffiti-threatens-precious-evidence-of-ancient-life-on-south-africas-coast-157777">melestarikan</a> situs-situs warisan yang penting.</p>
<p>Dengan mengeksplorasi palaentologi asli di Afrika, tim kami mengumpulkan potongan-potongan masa lalu yang terlupakan yang memberikan penghargaan kepada masyarakat setempat. Kami berharap hal ini akan menginspirasi generasi baru ahli paleontologi lokal untuk mengikuti jejak para pemburu fosil pertama di Afrika.</p>
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<p><em>Rahma Sekar Andini dari Universitas Negeri Malang menerjemahkan artikel ini dari bahasa Inggris</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222717/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julien Benoit menerima dana dari program DSI-NRF African Origins Platform dan GENUS (DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Penn-Clarke menerima dana dari GENUS (DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Helm tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham, atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi selain yang telah disebut di atas.</span></em></p>Some time between 1100 and 1700 AD, a Massospondylus bone was discovered and carried to a rock shelter in Lesotho.Julien Benoit, Senior Researcher in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the WitwatersrandCameron Penn-Clarke, Senior Researcher, University of the WitwatersrandCharles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2219952024-01-31T15:25:44Z2024-01-31T15:25:44ZWetlands are superheroes: expert sets out how they protect people and places<p>In the past, wetlands were often seen as <a href="https://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/Books/PDF/wetlands-and-people.pdf">undesirable landscapes</a> – waterlogged areas that were difficult to navigate, impossible to build on or farm, and a source of pests such as mosquitoes. But the view on wetlands has shifted as we have learnt how important these ecosystems are for essential “services”. They purify water and provide habitats for plants and animals.</p>
<p>Wetlands are also critical for supporting some people’s livelihoods, particularly in developing countries, including water-scarce countries like <a href="https://www.gov.za/WorldWetlandsDay2024">South Africa</a>. Wetlands provide over <a href="https://www.worldwetlandsday.org/materials#">1 billion livelihoods globally</a>; 660 million people depend on them for aquaculture and fishing. Livestock owners rely on wetlands as a water source for their animals.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/wetlands-do-the-job-of-expensive-technology-if-we-let-them-125452">Wetlands do the job of expensive technology, if we let them</a>
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<p>In the last decade, the potential for wetlands to help with climate change adaptation has become more recognised. Wetlands absorb the carbon dioxide (CO₂) that contributes to global warming, and they reduce some of the impacts of climate change by curbing floods. </p>
<p>As a researcher, I led South Africa’s first national assessment of coastal wetlands as <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-study-to-estimate-blue-carbon-storage-in-south-africa-is-useful-for-climate-strategy-195458">“blue carbon”</a> sinks. These are marine habitats that can take up and store more carbon than terrestrial forests. My research has also assessed the impact that climate change will have on <a href="https://theconversation.com/mangrove-forests-wont-be-able-to-spread-further-in-south-africa-so-protecting-them-is-crucial-193547">mangrove forests</a>, otherwise known as coastal wetlands.</p>
<p>This has given me insights into wetlands and their importance in helping prevent the worst effects of climate change.</p>
<h2>Wetlands for people and planet</h2>
<p>Wetlands can provide a “nature-based solution” to assist with climate change, but only if they are protected and managed. For example, wetlands absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (like all plants do), and convert this into organic carbon (which makes up the plant as it grows). This organic carbon is deposited into the wetland mud as the plant grows through seasonal cycles, and the waterlogged conditions help to trap it there and prevent it being released back into the atmosphere. This carbon can be locked up for decades or centuries, which is a meaningful timescale for tackling climate change challenges. </p>
<p>In addition to mitigating climate change, wetlands can help humans to adapt to climate change. Many coastal areas are prone to increased flooding as a result of climate change, due to a combination of higher intensity storms and rainfall as well as rising sea levels. Wetlands are considered “ecological infrastructure” that provides protection from flooding. They have been successfully incorporated into shoreline <a href="https://www.wetlands.org/innovative-solutions-to-reduce-emissions-from-coastal-engineering/">engineering</a>. </p>
<p>Naturally occurring coastal wetlands (such as mangroves and salt marshes) can also buffer the effects of flooding if they are restored and maintained in <a href="https://envirobites.org/2022/05/02/rising-sea-levels-call-for-rising-wetlands/">good condition</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-root-cause-of-flooding-in-accra-developers-clogging-up-the-citys-wetlands-184270">A root cause of flooding in Accra: developers clogging up the city's wetlands</a>
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<p>Unfortunately, in many urban areas these wetlands have been lost or replaced with hard infrastructure such as buildings or roads. The protection from wetlands is then lost and flooding or sea-level rise can be more severe. Detailed studies at the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/16085914.2019.1662763">Knysna</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272771421003474">Swartkops</a> estuaries in South Africa have shown that salt marshes, another type of wetland, can provide protection from rising sea levels if they are restored. </p>
<h2>What’s missing</h2>
<p>For wetlands to continue to provide these services for climate mitigation and adaptation, their sustainability must be ensured. Many of these steps must be taken at the level of regional or national government, but individual citizens can also get involved. </p>
<p>Some actions that ordinary people can take to help preserve wetlands include:</p>
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<li><p>educating themselves and others about the value of wetlands</p></li>
<li><p>participating in wetland restoration projects or clean-ups </p></li>
<li><p>directly contributing to organisations that conserve wetlands, such as the <a href="https://sawetlandsociety.org/">South African Wetland Society</a> and <a href="https://www.birdlife.org.za/">BirdLife South Africa</a></p></li>
<li><p>conserving water and reducing pollution from household chemicals </p></li>
<li><p>advocating for planning and zoning of new housing and business park developments that include wetlands in their design.</p></li>
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<p>Even with adequate protection, the ability of wetlands to provide a variety of important ecological services is also limited by certain thresholds. For example, catastrophic flooding can cause scouring and erosion of wetlands, wiping them out completely.</p>
<p>Careful planning must be put in place to prepare for climate change-caused disasters like this. The complexity of climate change means that solutions need to be complex too: both nature and human engineering are resources for mitigation and adaptation. </p>
<p>Solutions will also need to be designed for local conditions: there isn’t a general solution for the same challenge in different areas. For example, for a solution that involves creating wetlands as <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acfdba/pdf">supporting infrastructure</a>, the size of the wetlands and the number of wetlands can influence how effective the flood mitigation of an area will be in comparison to built infrastructure such as flood control reservoirs and dams. Creating natural infrastructure such as wetlands can provide a cost-effective solution to improve built infrastructure in this way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221995/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline L Raw works for Climate Neutral Group, a part of Anthesis which is the largest group of sustainability consultants globally. She is also a Research Associate at the Nelson Mandela University and has received funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa. </span></em></p>Wetlands can prevent flooding, trap carbon and support livelihoods, as long as they are protected and managed.Jacqueline L Raw, Carbon Project Developer, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2215892024-01-28T19:03:27Z2024-01-28T19:03:27ZBanksias are iconic Australian plants, but their ancestors actually came from North Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571053/original/file-20240124-19-b1td3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C57%2C5416%2C3608&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-yellow-flower-with-green-leaves-on-a-branch-wmy7IFiAQZQ">Sandie Peters/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Few plants conjure up the Australian bush better than banksias, whose beautiful flowers are irresistible to honeyeater birds, small marsupials and nature lovers.</p>
<p>But our research, published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2024.125778">Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics</a>, shows that the ancestors of banksias actually migrated here from North Africa. </p>
<p>From <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcad055">early fossil pollen studies</a>, we already knew that the protea family (Proteaceae), which includes banksias, grevilleas, waratahs and macadamias in Australia, originated in northwest Africa 130 million years ago. </p>
<p>Our task was to track their migration to Australia, where they became the unique symbols of the Australian bush that we admire today. To give credit where it’s due, we need to know where our natural heritage originated. So, how did this iconic group of plants get here?</p>
<h2>Looking at the entire family</h2>
<p>Our study relied on two approaches. We used a DNA assessment of the entire protea family to create an evolutionary tree. Then we inserted key fossil pollen records of a known age into the tree, to serve as a “molecular clock”. This helped us work out the time of origin of all genera in this family.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571077/original/file-20240124-27-trdrd4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An orange-pink flower resembling a bottle brush" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571077/original/file-20240124-27-trdrd4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571077/original/file-20240124-27-trdrd4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571077/original/file-20240124-27-trdrd4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571077/original/file-20240124-27-trdrd4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571077/original/file-20240124-27-trdrd4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571077/original/file-20240124-27-trdrd4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571077/original/file-20240124-27-trdrd4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption"><em>Banksia hookeriana</em>, the most important species used in the wildflower trade in Western Australia and now widely planted. This is the most studied of all members of the protea family.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Byron Lamont</span></span>
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<p>We then searched the literature for records of ancient sedimentary deposits that contain fossil pollen with affinities to banksias in Africa, South America, Antarctica (which was covered in forest until 40 million years ago) and Australia. </p>
<p>This was made possible by the fact the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/pollen">hard walls of pollen grains</a> allow them to be preserved for millions of years. Also, the pollen grains of plants in the protea family are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/SB97022">quite distinctive</a> from those of other families. We then compared the dates and locations of the fossil pollen against our family tree.</p>
<p>This showed that by 120 million years ago, the ancestors of banksias had begun crossing into northeast South America. The two continents remained joined at their tips until 100 million years ago.</p>
<p>The plants then migrated down the east side of South America – first reaching the Scotia Isthmus about 110 million years ago – and crossed onto the Antarctic Peninsula. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coastal-banksia-has-its-roots-in-ancient-gondwana-138434">The coastal banksia has its roots in ancient Gondwana</a>
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<h2>Two routes into Australia</h2>
<p>Here, the ancestors separated into two groups. One, the soft-leaved group, followed a cool-temperate rainforest pathway (dark for up to four months of the year) along the south side of Antarctica. They entered Australia via Tasmania from 105 million years ago. </p>
<p>The rainforest elements continued up the east coast, with some eventually reaching New Guinea; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501648">others entered New Caledonian rainforests</a> directly from southern Antarctica. This route remained open until 45 million years ago, when Australia and Antarctica finally separated. </p>
<p>The other, hard-leaved group followed an open, fire-prone woodland pathway along the warmer, sunnier northern side of Antarctica. They entered Australia via the southwest tip that remained attached to Antarctica until about 70 million years ago. </p>
<p>The two points of entry were separated by a huge inland sea that occupied the Great Australian Bight during that period.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571078/original/file-20240124-25-yrlux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571078/original/file-20240124-25-yrlux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571078/original/file-20240124-25-yrlux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571078/original/file-20240124-25-yrlux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571078/original/file-20240124-25-yrlux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571078/original/file-20240124-25-yrlux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571078/original/file-20240124-25-yrlux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571078/original/file-20240124-25-yrlux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migratory pathway taken by the ancestors of banksias beginning 132 million years ago in north Africa. Note how the ancestors split into two groups on entering Antarctica from South America, banksia itself entering via southwest Australia and the rainforest species via Tasmania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Modified from Lamont et al. (2024) Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A proliferation of banksias</h2>
<p>Since banksia itself appears to have arisen 100 million years ago, the genus either evolved in northeast Antarctica or at the extreme corner of southwestern Australia. From there, they spread to the rest of Australia over the next 50 million years.</p>
<p>Banksias now consist of <a href="https://anpsa.org.au/genera/banksia/">around 200 species</a>, 90% of which are endemic to southwestern Australia. Ancestors of the bulk of the hard-leaved genera, such as grevilleas, hakeas, macadamias and waratahs, also entered Australia via the southwestern tip. They then migrated east along the margins of the Nullarbor Plain – thickly vegetated back then – to southeast Australia.</p>
<p>Until the results of our new study, it was believed the protea family arose in Australia and spread from here to Africa, South America, New Caledonia and Asia. Almost all migration would have needed to be over the oceans, as it was thought to have happened after the breakup of the Gondwanan supercontinent. </p>
<p>In fact, the journey was entirely overland as it occurred when Gondwana was largely intact, except for the early departure of Greater India.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571079/original/file-20240124-15-c2155i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571079/original/file-20240124-15-c2155i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571079/original/file-20240124-15-c2155i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571079/original/file-20240124-15-c2155i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571079/original/file-20240124-15-c2155i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571079/original/file-20240124-15-c2155i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571079/original/file-20240124-15-c2155i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571079/original/file-20240124-15-c2155i.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banksia shrubland 300km north of Perth, Western Australia. Three species of banksia, about 1.5 metres tall, are present in this image as well as several other members of the protea family, such as <em>Adenanthos</em> and <em>Xylomelum</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Byron Lamont</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Plants out of Africa</h2>
<p>Anthropologists are keen to point to the “<a href="https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/the-first-migrations-out-of-africa/">out of Africa</a>” hypothesis for the origin and <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-path-for-early-human-migrations-through-a-once-lush-arabia-contradicts-a-single-out-of-africa-origin-214719">migratory history of humans</a>. It now appears such a hypothesis is equally applicable to some important groups of plants.</p>
<p>This is the first time the southwest corner of Australia has been recognised as a major migratory route for the protea family.</p>
<p>We now need to take seriously the Antarctic–southwest Australian link as a likely major entry route for many other hard-leaved plant groups into Australia. They could have originated in Antarctica and South America, and possibly even Africa.</p>
<p>This north Antarctic pathway might well also apply to eucalypts, whose oldest records are for southern South America, as well as currently endemic animals and microbes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221589/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Byron Lamont receives funding from the Australian Research Council </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lynne Milne is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Forensic Society and the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists. She is currently the Treasurer of the Royal Societies of Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tianhua He received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Cowling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Today, these plants are iconic to the Australian bush. But banksias and their many relatives originated in far-away shores 130 million years ago.Byron Lamont, Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Plant Ecology, Curtin UniversityLynne Milne, Curtin UniversityRichard Cowling, Professor, Nelson Mandela UniversityTianhua He, Senior lecturer, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2169262024-01-16T14:14:57Z2024-01-16T14:14:57ZAn ancient system that could bring water to dry areas<p>Some of Africa’s dry areas face serious water shortages due to minimal rainfall. An ancient system of drawing water from aquifers, the “qanat system”, could help. Gaathier Mahed, an environmental scientist and expert on the management of groundwater, has <a href="https://waqfacademy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/SaniBook_Draft_2Aug09_1c_Part2_chapter13.pdf#page=2">studied the feasibility</a> of these systems. He tells us more._</p>
<h2>How does the qanat system work?</h2>
<p>There are bodies of water underground known as aquifers, some of which can be found at the tops of valleys or near mountains. A qanat system taps these aquifers and, using underground tunnels, moves the water, using gravity, over many kilometres. The tunnel then exits at a lower-lying area. </p>
<p>When the water exits the tunnel, farmers can use it to irrigate their crops. People can also access the water along the stretch of the tunnel using wells.</p>
<p>It’s a system that’s managed by everyone, and its benefits are shared. Everybody has a vested interest and a role to play. Community bonds can be strengthened – in stark contrast to tensions we see over water resources today.</p>
<p>It’s a highly complex communal system to manage. Laws governing the system have existed since the <a href="https://www.ircwash.org/sites/default/files/English-1968-Origin.pdf">9th century</a>. These laws relate to the construction and proximity of <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-00268-8_3">qanat tunnels</a> to each other. They also govern the exits of the qanats. For instance, land owners at the exits can use the water first and must aid in managing them. </p>
<h2>Where did it come from and where is it used?</h2>
<p>The qanats have been used <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1506/">for centuries</a> in arid and semi-arid parts of north Africa, the Middle East and Asia, where water supplies are limited. It’s known by a variety of names, “foggara” in north Africa, “falaj” in Oman and “qarez” in parts of Asia. </p>
<p>It’s thought to have been <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/harvesting-water-and-harnessing-cooperation-qanat-systems-middle-east-and-asia">developed</a> in Persia in the first millennium BC. As the Islamic Empire <a href="https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldcivilization/chapter/islamic-conquest-of-the-maghreb/">spread</a> across the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, north Africa, and parts of Europe from 661 to 750 CE, so did knowledge about qanats.</p>
<p>Today, some of the region’s qanat systems, <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1506/">like those in Iran</a>, are protected under heritage status. Some of these qanats, although declining in number, are still used. They are <a href="https://environmentalsystemsresearch.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40068-015-0039-9">largely protected</a> for historical and cultural reasons.</p>
<h2>Why is it not being more widely used?</h2>
<p>There are several reasons why the tunnel system is not more widely used in Africa. </p>
<p>Qanats need to be built somewhere with the right geological formations. These generally seem to be fractured sandstones. The level of groundwater is also important for the flow of water in the qanat. The volume of water in the aquifer stems from the rainfall in the mountainous regions. </p>
<p>Qanats can only be built where there’s a slope, like a mountain or a valley. And the slope must have a <a href="https://www.livius.org/articles/misc/qanat/">specific angle</a>. If it’s too steep, erosion of the qanat will occur and it will collapse. If it’s not steep enough the water will not flow fast enough and could become chemically altered due to interaction with minerals in the ground. </p>
<p>The digging of the tunnel and development of the system over large areas of land is labour intensive and can take many years. The qanats cover many kilometres and need to be maintained every year, by cleaning out the silt build-up. </p>
<p>Knowledge of building qanats and maintaining them is being lost. People have migrated from rural areas to cities and adopted boreholes in certain areas instead. </p>
<p>Some qanats are drying up due to over exploitation of the water resource.</p>
<h2>Why should the system be used more widely?</h2>
<p>In most instances people in arid areas drill wells to access groundwater. These boreholes have a lifespan and eventually new wells have to be drilled. Pumps and materials don’t last forever, and wells can get clogged by microbial organisms and fine material in the subsurface.</p>
<p>First, the qanat is sustainable as it works with gravity and no electricity is needed. It can even be used to create clean energy. For instance, in Iran cold air that comes out of qanat tunnels is <a href="https://clubofmozambique.com/news/irans-ancient-wind-catchers-beat-the-heat-naturally-241589/">used to cool</a> the interior of large buildings. </p>
<p>Second, water lost to evaporation is minimal in comparison to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11269-011-9850-x">surface water</a> supplies.</p>
<p>Third, it can have a wide scale impact. Qanats are multiple kilometres long and once this water hits a floodplain, it can <a href="https://core.ac.uk/reader/82487040">irrigate multiple</a> hectares of land.</p>
<p>Fourth, it fosters social cohesion. Many people, with different skills, are involved in maintaining the system. </p>
<p>Fifth, the lifespan of the system <a href="https://environmentalsystemsresearch.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40068-015-0039-9">extends beyond</a> that of a deep water well, which is only about 20 years. Tunnels do not clog as easily as wells. </p>
<p>Finally, the quality of water coming from the mountains is much better than water on the plains. It’ll have lower salinity and be better for crops and people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216926/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gaathier Mahed does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Qanats are an ancient system which could be a useful way of getting water to farms in arid areas.Gaathier Mahed, Senior lecturer, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2188332024-01-04T10:27:36Z2024-01-04T10:27:36ZAfricans discovered dinosaur fossils long before the term ‘palaeontology’ existed<p>Credit for discovering the first dinosaur bones usually goes to British gentlemen for their finds between the 17th and 19th centuries in England. <a href="http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/learning/htmls/plot.htm">Robert Plot</a>, an English natural history scholar, was the first of these to <a href="https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/dinosaurs-and-fossils/who-discovered-the-first-dinosaur-fossils?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share-from-amnh-org">describe</a> a dinosaur bone, in his 1676 book The Natural History of Oxfordshire. Over the next two centuries dinosaur palaeontology would be dominated by numerous British natural scientists. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/10.1144/SP543-2022-236">our study</a> shows that the history of palaeontology can be traced back much further into the past. We present evidence that the first dinosaur bone may have been discovered in Africa as early as 500 years before Plot’s.</p>
<p>We’re a team of scientists who study fossils in South Africa. Peering through the published and unpublished archaeological, historical and palaeontological literature, we discovered that there has been interest in fossils in Africa for as long as there have been people on the continent. </p>
<p>This is not a surprise. Humankind originated in Africa: <em>Homo sapiens</em> has existed for at least <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22336">300,000 years</a>. And the continent has a great diversity of rock outcrops, such as the Kem Kem beds in Morocco, the Fayum depression in Egypt, the Rift Valley in <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-maasai-legend-behind-ancient-hominin-footprints-in-tanzania-119373">east Africa</a> and the Karoo in southern Africa, containing fossils that have always been accessible to our ancestors. </p>
<p>So it wasn’t just likely that African people discovered fossils first. It was inevitable.</p>
<p>More often than not, the first dinosaur fossils supposedly discovered by scientists were actually brought to their attention by local guides. Examples are the discovery of the gigantic dinosaurs <a href="https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Jobaria/390687"><em>Jobaria</em></a> by the Tuaregs in Niger and <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/542624-Giraffatitan"><em>Giraffatitan</em></a> by the Mwera in Tanzania.</p>
<p>Our paper reviews what’s known about African indigenous knowledge of fossils. We list fossils that appear to have long been known at various African sites, and discuss how they might have been used and interpreted by African communities before the science of palaeontology came to be.</p>
<h2>Bolahla rock shelter in Lesotho</h2>
<p>One of the highlights of our paper is the archaeological site of Bolahla, a Later Stone Age rock shelter in Lesotho. Various dating techniques indicate that the site was occupied by the Khoesan and Basotho people from the 12th to 18th centuries (1100 to 1700 AD). The shelter itself is surrounded by hills made of consolidated sediments that were deposited under a harsh Sahara-like desert some 180 million to 200 million years ago, when the first dinosaurs roamed the Earth. </p>
<p>This part of Lesotho is particularly well known for delivering the species <em>Massospondylus carinatus</em>, a 4 to 6 metre, long-necked and small-headed dinosaur. Fossilised bones of <em>Massospondylus</em> are abundant in the area and were already so when the site was occupied by people in the Middle Ages. </p>
<p>In 1990, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3889171">archaeologists</a> working at Bolahla discovered that a finger bone of <em>Massospondylus</em>, a fossil phalanx, had been transported to the cave. There are no fossil skeletons sticking out the walls of the cave, so the only chance that this phalanx ended up there was that someone in the distant past picked it up and carried it to the cave. Perhaps this person did so out of simple curiosity, or to turn it into a pendant or toy, or to use it for traditional healing rituals. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dinosaur-tracksite-in-lesotho-how-a-wrong-turn-led-to-an-exciting-find-208963">Dinosaur tracksite in Lesotho: how a wrong turn led to an exciting find</a>
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<p>After heavy rains, it is not unusual that the people in the area discover the bones of extinct species that have been washed out of their mother-rock. They usually identify them as belonging to a dragon-like monster that devours people or even whole houses. In Lesotho, the Basotho call the monster “Kholumolumo”, while in South Africa’s bordering Eastern Cape province, the Xhosa refer to it as “<a href="https://chosindabazomhlaba.com/2022/03/29/ukufika-kwamacikilishe-angamagongqongqo/">Amagongqongqo</a>”.</p>
<p>The exact date when the phalanx was collected and transported is unfortunately lost to time. Given the current knowledge, it could have been at any time of occupation of the shelter from the 12th to 18th centuries. This leaves open the possibility that this dinosaur bone could have been collected up to 500 years prior to Robert Plot’s find.</p>
<h2>Early knowledge of extinct creatures</h2>
<p>Most people knew about fossils well before the scientific era, for as far back as collective societal memories can go. In Algeria, for example, people referred to some dinosaur footprints as belonging to the legendary “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940109380182">Roc bird</a>”. In North America, cave paintings depicting dinosaur footprints were painted by the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940109380182">Anasazi people</a> between AD 1000 and 1200. Indigenous Australians identified dinosaur footprints as belonging to a legendary “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940109380182">Emu-man</a>”. To the south, the notorious conquistador Hernan Cortes was given the fossil femur of a Mastodon by the <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Fossil_Legends_of_the_First_Americans.html?id=CMsgQQkmFqQC&redir_esc=y">Aztecs</a> in 1519. In Asia, Hindu people refer to ammonites (coiled fossil-sea-shells) as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/shaligrams-the-sacred-fossils-that-have-been-worshipped-by-hindus-and-buddhists-for-over-2-000-years-are-becoming-rarer-because-of-climate-change-209311">Shaligrams</a>” and have been worshipping them for more than 2,000 years. </p>
<h2>Claiming credit</h2>
<p>The fact that people in Africa have long known about fossils is evident from folklore and the archaeological record, but we still have much to learn about it. For instance, unlike the people in Europe, the Americas and Asia, indigenous African palaeontologists seem to have seldom used fossils for traditional medicine. We are still unsure whether this is a genuinely unique cultural trait shared by most African cultures or if it is due to our admittedly still incomplete knowledge. </p>
<p>Also, some rather prominent fossil sites, such as the Moroccan Kem Kem beds and South African Unesco <a href="https://www.maropeng.co.za/content/page/introduction-to-your-visit-to-the-cradle-of-humankind-world-heritage-site">Cradle of Humankind</a> caves, have still not provided robust evidence for indigenous knowledge. This is unfortunate, as fossil-related traditions could help bridge the gap between local communities and palaeontologists, which in turn could contribute <a href="https://theconversation.com/graffiti-threatens-precious-evidence-of-ancient-life-on-south-africas-coast-157777">preserving</a> important heritage sites.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rock-stars-how-a-group-of-scientists-in-south-africa-rescued-a-rare-500kg-chunk-of-human-history-192508">Rock stars: how a group of scientists in South Africa rescued a rare 500kg chunk of human history</a>
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<p>By exploring indigenous palaeontology in Africa, our team is putting together pieces of a forgotten past that gives credit back to local communities. We hope it will inspire a new generation of local palaeoscientists to walk in the footsteps of these first African fossil hunters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julien Benoit receives funding from the DSI-NRF African Origins Platform program and GENUS (DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences) </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Penn-Clarke receives funding from GENUS (DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Helm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some time between 1100 and 1700 AD, a Massospondylus bone was discovered and carried to a rock shelter in Lesotho.Julien Benoit, Senior Researcher in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the WitwatersrandCameron Penn-Clarke, Senior Researcher, University of the WitwatersrandCharles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2165482023-12-26T08:48:13Z2023-12-26T08:48:13ZUnusual ancient elephant tracks had our team of fossil experts stumped – how we solved the mystery<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559289/original/file-20231114-17-wm62rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elephants communicate underground by generating seismic waves. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anadolu Agency</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past 15 years, through our scientific study of tracks and traces, we have identified more than 350 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.039">fossil vertebrate tracksites</a> from South Africa’s Cape south coast. Most are found in cemented sand dunes, called aeolianites, and all are from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Pleistocene-Epoch">Pleistocene Epoch</a>, ranging in age from about 35,000 to 400,000 years. </p>
<p>During that time we have honed our identification skills and have become used to finding and interpreting tracksites – a field called ichnology. And yet, every once in a while, we encounter something we immediately realise is so novel that it has been found nowhere else on Earth.</p>
<p>Such a moment of unexpected discovery happened in 2019 along the coastline of the De Hoop Nature Reserve, about 200km east of Cape Town. Less than two metres away from a cluster of fossil elephant tracks was a round feature, 57cm in diameter, containing concentric ring features. Another layer was exposed about 7cm below this surface. It contained at least 14 parallel groove features. Where the grooves approached the rings, they made a slight curve towards them. The two findings, we hypothesised, were connected with each other and appeared to have a common origin.</p>
<p>Elephants are the largest, heaviest land animals. They leave large, deep, easily recognisable tracks. We’ve documented 35 fossilised elephant track sites in our study area, as well as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2021.32">first evidence</a> of fossilised elephant trunk-drag impressions. </p>
<p>Elephants, like another group of massive land creatures, dinosaurs, can be viewed as geological engineers that create minor earth-moving forces on the ground they walk(ed) on. This can be related also to a remarkable ability that elephants possess: communicating by generating seismic waves. These are a form of energy that can travel under the surface of the Earth.</p>
<p>The feature we found in 2019 seemed to reflect just such a phenomenon: an elephant triggering waves that rippled outwards. After additional investigation and a thorough search for alternative explanations, we could report in a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016787823000792">recently published study</a> that we believe we’ve found the world’s first trace fossil signature of seismic, underground communication between elephants. </p>
<h2>Elephant seismicity</h2>
<p>Since the 1980s, an ever-increasing body of literature has documented “elephant seismicity” and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300007">seismic communication through infrasound</a>. The lower threshold of human hearing is 20Hz; below that, low frequency sounds are known as infrasound. Elephant “rumbles”, originating in the larynx and transmitted into the ground through the limbs, fall within the infrasonic range. </p>
<p>Infrasound at high amplitude (it would seem very loud to us if at a slightly higher frequency) can travel further than high frequency sounds, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.062">over distances as great as 6km</a>. Elephants have an advantage here. Lighter creatures cannot <a href="https://doi.org/10.1152/physiol.00008.2007">generate low-frequency sound waves through vocalisation</a>. It is thought that long-distance seismic communication can allow elephant groups to interact over substantial distances, and it has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.062">been shown</a> that sandy terrain allows the communication to travel furthest.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fossil-tracks-and-trunk-marks-reveal-signs-of-ancient-elephants-on-south-africas-coast-164306">Fossil tracks and trunk marks reveal signs of ancient elephants on South Africa's coast</a>
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<p>Continuing the elephant-dinosaur analogy, we considered the multitude of publications on dinosaur tracks. We are aware of only a single example that exhibits possible concentric rings within a track, from Korea, and none that involve parallel grooves. This suggests something unique about elephants that generates concentric rings within tracks and leads to the associated groove features. Elephant rumbling provides a plausible explanation.</p>
<p>In our scenario at De Hoop Nature Reserve, we postulate that vibrations from rumbling travelled down the elephant limb and created the concentric ring features. They are reminiscent of some of the patterns that become evident when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFAcYruShow">sprinkling sand onto a vibrating surface</a>. The surface on which the concentric rings appear must have been just below the dune surface at the time. The parallel grooves would then represent a trace fossil signature of subsurface communication. We’re not yet sure how old the trace fossil is; we’ve sent samples for testing.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tFAcYruShow?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A video showing sand vibrating when it’s exposed to sound.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Rumblings in rock art</h2>
<p>Elephant seismicity is a relatively new field of study for scientists. However, those who have lived close to elephants won’t be surprised at the idea of the animals communicating through vibration. Indeed, vibrations from elephant rumblings can sometimes be felt (rather than heard) by the astute observer. And it appears that this knowledge is not just recent. </p>
<p>The rock art experts on our team have identified and interpreted rock art that suggests the indigenous San people appreciated and celebrated this knowledge in southern Africa thousands of years ago. Elephants were of profound importance to the San and were prominently featured in <a href="https://www.archaeology.org.za/sites/default/files/attachments/publications/2019/09/02/ds_2018_december.pdf">their works of art</a>. Several rock art sites appear to contain paintings of elephants in relation to sound or vibration.</p>
<p>For example, at the Monte Cristo site in the Cederberg the artist has painted 31 elephants, in several groups. They are in a realistic arrangement. Fine red lines surround each elephant; zigzag lines touch the abdomen, groin, throat, trunk, and specifically the feet. Many zigzag lines link the elephant to the ground. The finest lines are closest to the elephants, and every elephant is connected to this set of lines. These are in turn connected to broader lines surrounding the elephant group, which radiate out and away from the elephants as concentric rings. </p>
<p>This is interpreted as the San artist’s probable illustration of seismic communication between elephants. The feeling of shaking and vibration, which the San call <em>thara n|om</em>, is vital to the San healing dances, including the <a href="https://www.archaeology.org.za/sites/default/files/attachments/publications/2019/09/02/ds_2018_december.pdf">elephant song and elephant dance</a>. Lines of energy, called <em>n|om</em>, are regarded as a vibrant life-giving force that animates all living beings and is the source of <a href="https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews/view/28011/way-of-the-bushman">all inspired energy</a>.</p>
<p>We believe that an understanding of elephant seismicity requires the integration of three bodies of knowledge: research on extant elephant populations, ancestral knowledge (often manifested in rock art) and the trace fossil record. </p>
<p>That elephant seismic communication might leave a trace fossil record has never been reported before, or even postulated. Our findings may have the potential to stimulate multi-disciplinary research into this field. This could include a dedicated search for sub-surface patterns in the sand in the vicinity of modern rumbling elephants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Helm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Elephants can be viewed as geological engineers that create minor tectonic forces on the substrate they walk on.Charles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2188512023-12-06T13:44:14Z2023-12-06T13:44:14ZCOP28: South Africa pioneered plans to transition to renewable energy – what went wrong<p>South Africa’s experience <a href="https://www.wwf.org.za/?41686/Just-Energy-Transition-Partnership-offers-should-come-as-grants-not-loans">in piloting</a> a new type of climate finance vehicle can inform debates about how to fund a just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. </p>
<p>Two years ago at COP26, South Africa piloted the first Just Energy Transition Partnership, where rich countries help developing countries move faster towards renewable energy. A year later, the South African government unveiled <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/content/south-africa%27s-just-energy-transition-investment-plan-jet-ip-2023-2027">its Just Energy Transition Investment Plan</a>. This set out how it intended to build on and use the partnership funds.</p>
<p>The plan <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/content/south-africa%27s-just-energy-transition-investment-plan-jet-ip-2023-2027">detailed</a> a R1.5 trillion (US$80 billion) investment into a transition to renewable energy, green hydrogen and new energy vehicles. South Africa’s cabinet approved the investment plan in November 2023. But there has been resistance to the plan both from civil society and from coal, oil and gas lobbies.</p>
<p>To help deepen public understanding, I <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056244.2023.2278953">recently published a critique</a> of South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Partnership. The critique draws on my experience as the elected general secretary of the <a href="https://climatejusticecoalition.org/">South African Climate Justice Coalition</a>, a group of over 60 trade union, grassroots, community-based and non-profit organisations working together for transformative climate justice.</p>
<p>I argue that while the partnership could help South Africa shift to cleaner energy systems, its model of funding has drawbacks. First, it seems to favour the interests of foreign capital. Second, it is not going fast enough.</p>
<h2>An unjust starting point</h2>
<p>Many of the faults of South Africa’s unjust energy transition are down to <a href="https://jacobin.com/2022/08/south-africa-eskom-privatization-energy-renewables">decisions made by the South African government</a> before the plan was adopted. For decades, the government did not invest enough in a just transition to renewable energy. It also neglected the existing fossil fuel energy system and worked to privatise energy.</p>
<p>On top of this already unjust reality, my briefing raises concerns that the funders behind the Just Energy Transition Partnership may shape it to serve their interests. For example, its blended finance model might use public funds to subsidise the private sector to the benefit of international corporations.</p>
<p>Civil society groups, such as <a href="https://www.tuedglobal.org/bulletins/global-south-unions-organise-against-green-structural-adjustment-launch-a-platform-for-a-public-pathway-alternative">Trade Unions for Energy Democracy</a>, and <a href="https://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/green-structural-adjustment-in-the-world-banks-resilient-city(58af9cab-8d1d-49d3-89f1-e8dffd9e5380).html">academics</a> Patrick Bigger and Sophie Webber have warned against what they term “green structural adjustment”. That’s where climate finance is used to compel the economies of the global south to serve the interests of private companies who profit from the green transition.</p>
<h2>An unequal transition</h2>
<p>South Africa is <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-cant-crack-the-inequality-curse-why-and-what-can-be-done-213132">among the world’s most unequal</a> countries, with 10% of the population owning 80% of the wealth. To invest in renewable energy requires access to land and capital, both of which are still concentrated in the hands of the minority. </p>
<p>So, if the energy transition is driven mostly by market forces and left to private companies and individuals, it will likely concentrate the benefits in the hands of the few. This is a significant worry, as new energy generation is now being driven <a href="https://www-dailymaverick-co-za.webpkgcache.com/doc/-/s/www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-12-12-dark-dumb-and-dangerous-inside-south-africas-perfect-electrical-storm/">predominantly</a> by the private sector in South Africa. </p>
<p>Another way in which big international finance interests are benefiting is through weakening localisation policies, which would ensure components and equipment for green energy are produced locally. The United States’ Inflation Reduction Act, for example, was designed to harness major economic benefits by <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/protectionism-back-not-you-know-it-how-us-inflation-reduction-act-reshaping-path-green#:%7E:text=In%20August%202022%2C%20US%20President,which%20will%20flow%20to%20businesses.">driving green industrialisation</a> in America. </p>
<p>Much of the economic benefit of a renewables transition comes from <a href="https://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2022/Sep/IRENA_Renewable_energy_and_jobs_2022.pdf">localisation and green industrialisation</a>. However, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056244.2023.2278953">only 0.1% of the R1.5 trillion investment plan</a> is dedicated directly to localisation. Meanwhile, government procurement policies are <a href="https://www.news24.com/fin24/climate_future/ray-of-hope-for-local-solar-pv-makers-not-so-fast-say-industry-experts-20220802">weakening</a> localisation.</p>
<h2>South Africa is one of the worst polluters</h2>
<p>Another weakness of the plan is its failure to push for a fast enough transition to renewables. South Africa has one of the most polluting energy and industrial sectors in the world, thanks to being <a href="https://www.climate-transparency.org/media/south-africa-country-profile-2021">the most coal-intensive</a> energy producer of all G20 nations.</p>
<p>The transition proposed by the South African government under the investment plan is not fast enough. It is <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/south-africa/">well out of line</a> with South Africa’s fair share of keeping global warming to 1.5°C as agreed under the Paris Climate Agreement, and more in line with disastrous warming of over 2°C and up to 3°C. Coal, oil and gas lobbies in the country also want to further <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org.za/media-statement-who-has-the-power-south-africas-energy-profiteers/">slow down</a> the transition to renewables. </p>
<h2>Resistance from different angles</h2>
<p>In South Africa, it is not just climate activists that are pushing back against elements of the transition partnership and investment plan. <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2023/06/19/south-africa-coal-energy-fossil-fuels-climate-lobby/">Fossil fuel lobbies</a> are also opposing the funding plan as a way of slowing climate action.</p>
<p>Climate justice activists therefore need to be careful that progressive-sounding critiques of the partnership are not co-opted by the fossil fuel lobby to undermine climate action altogether. To counteract polluting lobbies, climate justice movements will need to walk a careful line.</p>
<p>What South Africa’s experience shows, though, is that climate finance can replicate unequal, neocolonial dynamics through green structural adjustment. This is particularly important as the Just Energy Transition Partnership model is being exported to other countries across the world. </p>
<p>Globally, climate justice activists will need to mobilise to ensure that climate finance is a true fulfilment of climate justice and a payment of the climate debt owed to the global south. As the South African Climate Justice Coalition <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/opinions/columnists/guestcolumn/opinion-alex-lenferna-and-mbali-baduza-climate-justice-in-our-lifetime-or-never-20221111">has demanded</a>, climate finance must deliver meaningful social, economic and ecological justice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Lenferna receives funding from the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. He is an elected leader with the Climate Justice Coalition. </span></em></p>South Africa’s plan to transition to green energy may eventually benefit big private companies more than ordinary citizens.Alex Lenferna, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Nelson Mandela University. General Secretary, Climate Justice Coalition, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2138802023-10-10T14:52:15Z2023-10-10T14:52:15ZEconomic Freedom Fighters became South Africa’s third largest political party in just 10 years. What’s behind its electoral success<p>South Africa is drawing nearer to a <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-za/support-political-parties-two-years-next-national-election">landmark national general election in 2024</a>. Based on recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-anc-dips-below-50-but-opposition-parties-fail-to-pick-up-the-slack-171253">electoral trends</a> and opinion polls, the governing African National Congress <a href="https://www.anc1912.org.za/">(ANC)</a> is expected to drop below 50% of the national vote for the first time since democracy in 1994. </p>
<p>The end of single party dominance is expected to result in the country having its first national coalition government since the ANC came to power. The <a href="https://effonline.org/">Economic Freedom Fighters</a> (EFF), the country’s third largest party, is a <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2023/07/27/polling-study-suggests-eff-outdoing-anc-in-western-cape-voter-support/amp">must watch</a> in that transformation. The party’s electoral support has been growing since 2014, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ramaphosa-saves-the-ancs-bacon-but-this-could-be-its-last-chance-116903">amid declines</a> for both the ANC and the Democratic Alliance (DA), the main opposition.</p>
<p>In that time period, the ANC’s electoral support has fallen from over <a href="https://www.elections.org.za/content/Elections/Results/2014-National-and-Provincial-Elections--National-results/">62%</a> in 2014 to <a href="https://results.elections.org.za/dashboards/npe/app/dashboard.html">57.50%</a> in 2019, and the DA’s from over 22% to 20.7%. The EFF’s share of the vote rose from <a href="https://www.elections.org.za/content/Elections/Results/2014-National-and-Provincial-Elections--National-results/">just over 6%</a> in its first election in 2014 to about 11% <a href="https://results.elections.org.za/dashboards/npe/app/dashboard.html">in 2019</a>. </p>
<p>The EFF also gained more seats in provincial legislatures and municipal councils in 2014 and 2016. Research shows that it’s been <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358680973_The_Youth_Vote_in_the_2021_Local_Government_Elections_in_South_Africa">appealing to mainly young voters</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-votes-in-2024-could-a-coalition-between-major-parties-anc-and-eff-run-the-country-204141">South Africa votes in 2024: could a coalition between major parties ANC and EFF run the country?</a>
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<p>We are political scientists with experience in leftist parties in <a href="https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/gary-prevost/293102/">Latin America </a> and <a href="https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/theoria/68/169/th6816901.xml">South Africa</a>. We did a <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ai/article/view/244258">critical analysis</a> of the EFF through the lens of the party’s communication strategies. We analysed survey and exit polling data as well as the ideology, strategy and tactics of the EFF from a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23808985.1977.11923698">political communication theory perspective</a>. Political communication focuses on how political actors craft and distribute their messages. </p>
<p>Based on the findings, we argue that the EFF has gained its modest but significant standing in South African politics by stealing the ANC’s mantle. It portrays itself as the true custodian of the values the ANC espoused during the anti-apartheid struggle, as stated in the <a href="https://www.anc1912.org.za/the-freedom-charter-2/">Freedom Charter</a>, its blueprint for a free South Africa. The EFF accuses the ANC of having abandoned this agenda. This has enabled black South African voters to shift their support from the ANC to the EFF without changing their political orientation.</p>
<p>This lies behind the EFF’s decision to focus its messaging around land and jobs. These resonate given the country’s history of black <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/land-dispossession-history-1600s-1990s">land dispossession</a> and stubbornly <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/P02112ndQuarter2023.pdf">high unemployment</a>, especially <a href="https://theconversation.com/millions-of-young-south-africans-are-jobless-study-finds-that-giving-them-soft-skills-like-networking-helps-their-prospects-202969">among young people</a>. </p>
<h2>Electoral performance</h2>
<p>The EFF <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/founding-economic-freedom-fighters-eff">was founded</a> as a political party in July 2013 following the expulsion of its leader Julius Malema from the ANC in 2012. Malema had been president of the ANC Youth League before being expelled <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2012-04-24-malema-expelled/">for misconduct</a>. </p>
<p>The EFF went on to garner 1.2 million votes in 2014, and 25 seats in parliament. Come the 2019 national election, it won 44 seats in parliament with just under 1.9 million <a href="https://results.elections.org.za/dashboards/npe/app/dashboard.html">votes</a>. </p>
<p>The strength of the EFF is greatest in the North West province, where it garnered 17.9% of the vote in the 2019 national general elections. This is followed by Gauteng (13.53%) and Limpopo provinces (13.14%).</p>
<p>It is the official opposition in North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, where it got 11.51%. It continues to battle in the Western Cape (4.1%) and Eastern Cape (7.72%). Its share of the vote in KwaZulu-Natal increased from 1.97% in 2014 to 9.96% in 2019.</p>
<p>In the 2021 local elections, the party received <a href="https://results.elections.org.za/dashboards/lge/">10.31%</a>, mainly replicating its 2019 national results.</p>
<h2>Ideology, strategy and tactics</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ai/article/view/244258">analysis</a> sought to understand the drivers of the EFF’s growth and its role in the party system. We analysed the ideology of the party and its strategy and tactics as stated in its <a href="https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Founding-Manifesto.pdf">electoral documents</a>.</p>
<p>Ideologically, the party’s 2013 founding manifesto <a href="https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Founding-Manifesto.pdf">states that</a> it </p>
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<p>draws inspiration from the broad Marxist-Leninist tradition and Fanonian schools of thought in their analyses of the state, imperialism, culture and class contradictions in every society. </p>
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<p>It positions itself as “anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist” and opposes what it calls the “neoliberal agenda” of the ANC.</p>
<p>The EFF <a href="https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Founding-Manifesto.pdf">declares</a> that it is a radical and militant economic emancipation movement, rooted in popular grassroots formations and struggles. These include workers’ movements, NGOs, community-based organisations and lobby groups.</p>
<p>In a bid to position itself as a viable radical alternative to the ANC, the EFF has used “grievance exploitation”, radical posturing, <a href="https://fbaum.unc.edu/teaching/articles/J-Communication-2007-1.pdf">agenda setting</a> and <a href="https://fbaum.unc.edu/teaching/articles/J-Communication-2007-1.pdf">framing</a> in its strategic arsenal. <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=12930">Inequality</a>, <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201802/landauditreport13feb2018.pdf">racialised land ownership</a> patterns, persistent <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/03/09/new-world-bank-report-assesses-sources-of-inequality-in-five-countries-in-southern-africa">racism</a>, <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/en-za/south-africas-unemployment-nightmare-burden-its-people">unemployment</a> and other issues are the main grievances the party has exploited. </p>
<p>It has done this through political communication and <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/politics/watch-eff-mps-thrown-out-after-disrupting-ramaphosas-budget-vote-calling-him-a-money-launderer-20220609">theatrics in parliament</a> – including wearing the uniforms of workers, disrupting proceedings and chanting slogans – as well as the issues it has chosen to fight for in “the streets”, social media, the courts and party events. </p>
<p>It has had skirmishes with <a href="https://www.news24.com/citypress/news/clicks-bows-to-effs-demands-after-racist-advert-20200910">allegedly racist companies</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL85mQxvfNI">white farmers</a> and <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/fists-fly-outside-brackenfell-high-school-as-tensions-spike-between-residents-and-eff-protesters-20201109">schools</a>, and many other opponents that help drive its narrative.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-effs-self-styled-militarism-says-about-south-africas-third-largest-party-116463">What the EFF's self-styled militarism says about South Africa's third largest party</a>
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<p>The EFF’s success in the North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo appears to have a lot to do with the party’s rhetoric on the mining sector, which is prominent in these provinces. The party’s strategic political communication portrays it as fighting for oppressed mine workers or host communities in these areas.</p>
<p>Its overtures in <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/politics/marikana-is-our-spiritual-home-says-malema-as-eff-marks-its-10-year-anniversary-at-massacre-site-20230726">Marikana</a>, the site of the 2012 massacre of striking mineworkers by police, attest to this. </p>
<p>Additionally, Limpopo is the home base of the founders of the party, <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/julius-sello-malema">Julius Malema</a> and his deputy <a href="https://www.pa.org.za/person/nyiko-floyd-shivambu/">Floyd Shivambu</a>. Founder constituencies tend to contribute significantly to a party’s success in South Africa. For instance, the <a href="https://www.ifp.org.za/">Inkatha Freedom Party</a> and the <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/EJC-5140815cb">National Freedom Party</a> are strong in KwaZulu Natal, where they were formed and their leaders originate. </p>
<p>Our findings show that EFF supporters among students who had come from the ANC cited <a href="https://www.statecapture.org.za/">corruption</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02589346.2023.2257502">failure to deliver</a> on promises as their reasons for changing. Those who had shifted from the Democratic Alliance were drawn by the appeal of the EFF as a more radical alternative. </p>
<h2>Looking forward</h2>
<p>In our view the party appears to have lost some momentum in terms of its political communication strategy after the fall of former President Jacob Zuma <a href="https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/profiles/president-jacob-zuma-0">in February 2018</a>. It has also made some tactical mistakes. For example, it started calling President Cyril Ramaphosa corrupt and similar to Zuma, without proof.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-voters-are-disillusioned-but-they-havent-found-an-alternative-to-the-anc-171239">South African voters are disillusioned. But they haven't found an alternative to the ANC</a>
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<p>Moreover, South Africa has a number of new parties that will be standing in the <a href="https://www.elections.org.za/pw/elections/whats-new-in-the-2024-elections-electoral-amendment-act">2024 elections</a>. They include <a href="https://www.actionsa.org.za/">ActionSA</a>, <a href="https://bosa.co.za/">Build One South Africa</a> and <a href="https://www.risemzansi.org/">Rise Mzansi</a>. They may present an alternative to the ANC on the good governance front without the radical politics of the EFF or the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-main-opposition-party-caught-in-an-unenviable-political-bind-150296">race politics of the DA</a>. </p>
<p>The elections will show whether the alternatives have a significantly negative impact on the EFF and its ability to present itself as a long term alternative to the ANC.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213880/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ongama Mtimka has received publicly-sponsored PhD research funding through Nelson Mandela University. He is a Lecturer at Nelson Mandela University, the Treasurer of the South African Association of Political Studies, and the executive chair of the South African Political Risk Institute. He writes in his personal capacity. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gary Francis Prevost does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Opinions differ widely about the true character of the EFF and what it really stands for since it gained seats in parliament in 2014.Ongama Mtimka, Lecturer, Nelson Mandela UniversityGary Francis Prevost, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, College of Saint Benedict & Saint John's UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132942023-10-05T15:49:43Z2023-10-05T15:49:43ZFossil snake traces: another world-first find on South Africa’s Cape south coast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550184/original/file-20230926-29-aodxzb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Puff adders leave linear, sometimes slightly undulating traces.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EcoPrint/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Snakes are familiar, distinctive – and often feared – reptiles. And they’ve been around for a long time: body fossils found in the UK, Portugal and the US stretch all the way back to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6996">the late Jurassic period</a>, about 150 million years ago.</p>
<p>Until now, though, there hasn’t been a single description of a surface fossilised snake trace – a mark on a surface that’s become cemented and re-exposed over time – anywhere in the world. </p>
<p>There are probably several reasons for this. One is that the tracks of large quadrupeds (four-legged animals), including dinosaurs, are easier to recognise than those of snakes. Another reason could be that snakes tend to avoid sandy or muddy areas in which their trails could be registered, preferring vegetated terrain. Maybe, as the weight of the snake is distributed over its entire length, the trails are shallow and are not easy to identify. </p>
<p>Or perhaps researchers are not adequately familiar with the types of traces that snakes can create. </p>
<p>We are part of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-job-is-full-of-fossilised-poop-but-theres-nothing-icky-about-ichnology-182906">ichnological team</a> – experts in identifying fossil tracks and traces. In a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940.2023.2250062?src=">recently published article</a> in the journal <em>Ichnos</em>, we described the first snake trace in the fossil record, which we found on South Africa’s Cape south coast. It dates to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Pleistocene-Epoch">Pleistocene epoch</a>, and our studies have shown that it was probably made between 93,000 and 83,000 years ago, almost certainly by a puff adder (<em>Bitis arietans</em>).</p>
<p>As this is a world first, our research team was obliged to create a new ichnogenus and ichnospecies, <em>Anguinichnus linearis</em>, to describe the distinctive pattern in the sand registered by the puff adder. </p>
<h2>A snake and a buffalo</h2>
<p>The puff adder is a not uncommon sight on the Cape south coast today and, with good reason, strikes fear into residents and visitors: its cytotoxic (tissue-destroying) venom can cause the loss of a limb or worse. It habitually suns itself on trails, staying motionless, and then strikes without warning.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ultimate-in-stealth-puff-adders-employ-camouflage-at-every-level-53316">The ultimate in stealth, puff adders employ camouflage at every level</a>
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<p>We found the trace fossil in the <a href="https://www.capenature.co.za/reserves/walker-bay-nature-reserve">Walker Bay Nature Reserve</a> (adjacent to <a href="https://www.grootbos.com/en">Grootbos Private Nature Reserve</a>), just over 100 kilometres south-east of Cape Town. </p>
<p>Intriguingly, a <a href="https://prehistoric-fauna.com/Pelorovis-antiquus">long-horned buffalo</a> – an extinct species – had walked across the same dune surface soon after the snake left its trace. We know this because one of the buffalo’s tracks is superimposed on the puff adder trace, slightly deforming it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large, smooth, light grey rock surface on which the indent of a slithering snake is visible, as are several hoof prints" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551116/original/file-20230929-21-r9kbpi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551116/original/file-20230929-21-r9kbpi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551116/original/file-20230929-21-r9kbpi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551116/original/file-20230929-21-r9kbpi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551116/original/file-20230929-21-r9kbpi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551116/original/file-20230929-21-r9kbpi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551116/original/file-20230929-21-r9kbpi.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The puff adder trail, crossed by a long-horned buffalo trackway. Geological hammer for scale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hayley Cawthra</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The puff adder and long-horned buffalo traces were found on the surface of a loose slab, 3 metres long and 2.6 metres wide, which had become dislodged and fallen down onto the beach from overlying cliffs. The slab is submerged twice a day by high tides. We were fortunate to discover it when its surface was bare, as repeat visits have shown that it is often covered in algae or by a thick layer of beach sand.</p>
<h2>Snakes in motion</h2>
<p>Snakes use four main types of locomotion. Each results in distinctive, recognisable traces. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7-AKPFiIEEw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Here’s how snakes move through the world.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Puff adders are heavy, thick-set snakes with an average adult length of less than a metre. They mostly employ rectilinear motion, leaving a linear, sometimes slightly undulating trace, often with a central drag mark registered by the tail tip. In this form of motion the snake uses its weight and its belly muscles and grips rough areas on the surface with the posterior edges of its scales. It is drawn forwards through the muscular contractions, creating a linear trace. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iWZfIzIayDk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A puff adder in motion, filmed by research team member Mark Dixon.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also found possible trace evidence at other sites on the Cape south coast of sidewinding and undulatory motion, but this was inconclusive. We will be looking for further, more conclusive evidence. </p>
<h2>Filling important gaps</h2>
<p>The newly described puff adder traces help fill a gap in the Pleistocene trace fossil record from the region. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.039">More than 350 vertebrate tracksites</a> have been identified, of mammals, birds and reptiles. Most of these sites were registered on dune surfaces, which have now become <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-8252(01)00054-X">cemented into aeolianites and re-exposed</a>. Our latest find is yet another global first for the Cape south coast. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/first-fossil-trails-of-baby-sea-turtles-found-in-south-africa-122434">First fossil trails of baby sea turtles found in South Africa</a>
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<p>With other vertebrate groups, such as dinosaurs and crocodiles, the trace fossil record has substantially augmented the body fossil record, providing new insights. Hopefully this discovery will act as a spur to identify other snake traces from around the world from older deposits, and thus increase our understanding of the evolution of snakes and help to fill a substantial gap in the global trace fossil record.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213294/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The trace was probably made between 93,000 and 83,000 years ago, almost certainly by a puff adder.Charles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela UniversityHayley Cawthra, Specialist Scientist, Council for GeoscienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2140362023-10-01T09:57:58Z2023-10-01T09:57:58ZSiya Kolisi: the South African rugby star’s story offers valuable lessons in resilience<p>In the world of sports, some stories transcend the boundaries of the game and become symbolic of something greater. <a href="https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/teams/south-africa/player/39774">Siya Kolisi</a>’s journey from an adverse upbringing to becoming captain of a World Cup-winning South African rugby team, the Springboks, is one such story. </p>
<p>Kolisi made history as the first black captain of the Springboks in a country where, because of <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> and separate development, the professional sport was once an all-white affair. Rugby was firmly associated with white national pride, and now a black man from a humble background has become a national hero, <a href="https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/13652668/siya-kolisi-springboks-transformation-rugby-world-cup">reshaping</a> the sport’s image. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rugby-world-cup-2023-africas-hopes-lie-with-south-africa-and-namibia-for-now-212879">Rugby World Cup 2023: Africa's hopes lie with South Africa and Namibia, for now</a>
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<p>Despite being a democracy since 1994, South Africa continues to struggle to forge a unified and <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-cant-crack-the-inequality-curse-why-and-what-can-be-done-213132">equitable society</a> while acknowledging its diverse cultural heritage. Kolisi’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/may/28/siya-kolisi-south-africa-first-black-captain-engalnd-tests">appointment</a> as captain in 2018 signalled a new chapter of inclusivity, diversity and unity.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vba4-jkAAAAJ&hl=en">industrial psychologist</a>, I have a particular interest in psychobiographical studies. Psychobiographies provide insights into the lives and minds of historically <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-28827-2_5">significant individuals</a> like <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540261.2023.2257330?src=">Kolisi</a>. Understanding their inner and external worlds helps us grasp their motivations and actions – and the broader context of their impact on society. This enriches our knowledge of history and human behaviour. </p>
<p>Kolisi’s story defies the odds and highlights the power of resilience, the ability to bounce back from adversity, trauma or setbacks. It empowers other people to navigate and overcome life’s challenges. With effective coping strategies and support systems, resilience can foster personal growth, adaptability and mental wellbeing. This ultimately shapes people into more resourceful individuals. </p>
<h2>The early years</h2>
<p>Siyamthanda Kolisi was born in 1991 in Zwide, in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Although apartheid had all but ended, social and economic inequalities persisted. Many black people continued living in disadvantaged settlements on the outskirts of cities and towns. They had limited employment opportunities and schools were under-resourced. </p>
<p>From the outset, Kolisi faced many challenges that could have derailed his dreams. He lived in a society plagued with poverty, malnutrition, crime, substance misuse and violence. </p>
<p>According to his <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/rise-the-brand-new-autobiography-siya-kolisi?variant=40698169229346">autobiography</a>, his parents were both teenagers when he was born. As a result, he was raised by his grandmother, who performed ad hoc jobs until she could no longer work. Kolisi had to look after her until her death. Losing his primary caregiver was one of his most significant early challenges. His grandmother died in his arms when he was 12. Kolisi <a href="https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/kolisi-recalls-tough-childhood-autobiography-1/#:%7E:text=But%20I%20still%20felt%20that,%2C%20smoking%20weed%2C%20sniffing%20petrol.">wrote</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The one person who’d loved me unconditionally had gone, and without her, Zwide could seem an even scarier place than before. </p>
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<p>His upbringing reflects the resilience of countless South Africans striving for a better life. In 2002, he joined a local rugby team which provided him with a crucial positive role model in headmaster and coach <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/sport/rugby/2019-11-04-former-head-master-who-discovered-springbok-captain-siya-kolisi-beams-with-pride/">Eric Songwiqi</a>. This new environment offered a structure that was missing in his life after the loss of his grandmother. The support from his coach and the responsibility he felt towards his teammates prompted a transformation in his coping strategies. </p>
<h2>Coping strategies create resilience</h2>
<p>Kolisi’s story serves as a powerful testament to the concept of resilience: how individuals adapt and grow in response to challenges. Sometimes, people engage in socially unacceptable behaviours as coping mechanisms to survive their harsh realities. </p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540261.2023.2257330?src=">early years</a>, Kolisi engaged in substance misuse, violence, aggressiveness and self-destructive behaviour to cope with challenges and form an identity to fit in to his society. Playing rugby, attending school, spirituality and faith also helped him cope.</p>
<p>His journey encompasses socially acceptable and unacceptable behaviours, demonstrating that overcoming adversity is dynamic. Our backgrounds, life experiences and the societies we belong to shape who we are and our lives’ direction. </p>
<p>In a broader context, Kolisi’s story highlights the importance of recognising diverse social and cultural influences on human development. I believe that psychologists need more inclusive and culturally sensitive approaches to understanding human development. </p>
<p>Our lives are like puzzles with many different pieces. Some of these might cause problems or risks, while others help keep us safe and secure. These risky and protective pieces all come together to shape our lives. </p>
<h2>Rugby as a lifeline</h2>
<p>Rugby played an important role in Kolisi’s life, both on and off the field. In a team environment, he <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/rise-the-brand-new-autobiography-siya-kolisi?variant=40698169229346">found solace</a> and a nurturing environment that provided security, a sense of belonging. A refuge from his chaotic life at home and in society.</p>
<p>From this, we can see that our social and cultural context significantly shapes our lives. And while context can be a source of harmony and discord in human development, it’s possible to get past adversity with resilience and determination. </p>
<p>One of the key takeaways from my <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540261.2023.2257330?src=">study</a> of Kolisi is the importance of viewing marginalised individuals holistically. Individuals are not defined solely by their circumstances. By understanding the multifaceted aspects of their lives, we can help them on their journey towards success and fulfilment.</p>
<h2>Beyond rugby</h2>
<p>Kolisi’s resilience and success is not limited to rugby. He’s used his platform to make a positive impact in his community and beyond. Through the <a href="https://kolisifoundation.org">Kolisi Foundation</a> he has provided opportunities and support to improve the lives of disadvantaged communities. </p>
<hr>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-happens-when-you-put-african-philosophies-at-the-centre-of-learning-95465">What happens when you put African philosophies at the centre of learning</a>
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<p>This includes providing safe spaces through sport and education, addressing gender-based violence and contributing to food security. His commitment to giving back reflects his belief in the <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/the-meaning-of-ubuntu-43307">ubuntu</a> philosophy of humanity towards others. The journey from adversity to triumph is not complete until others are uplifted.</p>
<h2>Resilience matters</h2>
<p>Kolisi’s story is not just about overcoming adversity but finding purpose and meaning in that adversity. </p>
<p>He reminds us that no matter where we come from, we have the potential to rise above adversity, challenge the status quo and shape a brighter future. </p>
<p>Resilience is the driving force that enables people to persevere, grow, and ultimately shape their futures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tinashe Timothy Harry does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A psychologist analyses the rugby star’s life to extract lessons.Tinashe Timothy Harry, Senior Lecturer in Industrial and Organisational Psychology, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132692023-09-14T11:59:04Z2023-09-14T11:59:04ZPollen in pee: fossilised urine from a small African mammal helps us understand past environments<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547771/original/file-20230912-27-za8r9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The lessons pollen can teach us are not to be sneezed at.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elisa Manzati</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you are allergic to pollen, you are likely to curse the existence of these microscopic particles. You’re not alone: <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4829390/#:%7E:text=Allergies%20on%20the%20Rise,people%20worldwide%20affected%20by%20asthma">up to 30%</a> of the world’s population suffers from hay fever, which is often driven by pollen allergies. Shifting global climates are likely to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4829390/">push that figure even higher</a>.</p>
<p>However, pollen represents one of the most powerful tools to uncover the nature of past environmental change. </p>
<p>I am the head of the <a href="https://drlynnequick.com/nelson-mandela-palaeolab/">Palaeoecology Laboratory</a> at <a href="https://www.mandela.ac.za/">Nelson Mandela University</a> in South Africa. My research focuses on unravelling the secrets of ancient environments and ecosystems by examining fossil pollen grains. These tiny time capsules hold a wealth of information about the earth’s past. They help scientists to reconstruct ecosystems, track climate change and understand the evolution of plant life.</p>
<p>But it can be difficult to source pollen deposits in arid regions. That’s because such deposits are often found in large lakes, which are in short supply in southern Africa. That’s where an unlikely scientific ally enters the picture: the fossilised urine of a small mammal, the <a href="https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/hyrax">rock hyrax</a> (South Africans call them “dassies”). </p>
<h2>Looking back</h2>
<p>Pollen grains are incredibly durable because they are made of an organic substance (called sporopollenin) that is very resistant to decay. Pollen is released into the air, often in large quantities, and can settle on surfaces like lakes, and become preserved in sediment deposits over thousands, or even millions, of years.</p>
<p>In the lab, we examine the pollen found in these deposits using a microscope. By identifying the different types of pollen grains found within the different layers (representing different time slices) we can reconstruct the area’s vegetation history. Plants grow under specific climatic conditions: for instance, desert plants can grow under low rainfall conditions whereas forest plants need high amounts of rainfall. So we can make inferences about the climate at the time that the pollen was incorporated into the deposit.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A rather chubby small rodent with dark brown fur and protruding front teeth regards the photographer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547484/original/file-20230911-23-arxq3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547484/original/file-20230911-23-arxq3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547484/original/file-20230911-23-arxq3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547484/original/file-20230911-23-arxq3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547484/original/file-20230911-23-arxq3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547484/original/file-20230911-23-arxq3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547484/original/file-20230911-23-arxq3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The fossilised urine of rock hyraxes helps in the study of pollen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kiev Victor</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>As I’ve said, southern Africa’s arid climates mean there are very few large lakes in the region. This makes it a challenge to source deposits that adequately preserve pollen within them over long periods of time. That’s where <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379112003319">fossilised dassie urine</a> comes in. </p>
<p>These sticky deposits called “middens” accumulate in rock crevices in mountainous areas over thousands to tens of thousands of years and contain beautifully preserved pollen grains. As they also contain various other types of evidence (such as geochemical data) and can be accurately dated, they represent the most valuable archive of past climate data in southern Africa. The oldest middens we’ve worked with date back 50,000 years.</p>
<h2>Ancient sites</h2>
<p>The research my lab conducts, focusing on harnessing the power of the humble pollen grain and utilising unique archives such as hyrax middens, is strongly multidisciplinary. It draws together elements from botany, geography, geology, climatology and archaeology. </p>
<p>We are currently generating fossil pollen records from several sites within the Cape Fold Belt mountains of South Africa. For example, we have a midden sequence that covers the last 6,000 years from the Baviaanskloof in the Eastern Cape province. The fossil pollen from this sequence shows that there was a dramatic shift in vegetation about 3,300 years ago, driven by a large fire event and increased temperatures. We’re hoping to publish this research soon.</p>
<p>This information provides baselines of variability in natural systems and can help inform current conservation efforts within the Baviaanskloof, which is a biodiversity hotspot. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.africanpaleoscienceslab.org/fieldwork/capp">Another project</a> that we are involved in is centred on the archaeological excavation within South Africa’s southern Cape region at a site called Boomplaas Cave. By using the fossil pollen within hyrax middens found within the vicinity of Boomplaas Cave, we hope to provide the environmental context to the archaeological record which can help to decipher how early humans responded to climate change.</p>
<h2>And looking forward</h2>
<p>We are not only working within the realm of the past: as pollen is one of the main sources of allergies it is important to monitor the types and amounts of pollen currently present in the air we breathe. My lab is part of the <a href="https://pollencount.co.za/">South African Pollen Monitoring network</a> and we generate pollen data for the city of Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape province. </p>
<p>This initiative focuses on analysing pollen captured in the air across several different parts of South Africa and ensuring that this information is publicly available. This project is particularly important as, <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/EJC21714">due to climate change</a>, pollen seasons are lengthening and <a href="https://www.immunology.theclinics.com/article/S0889-8561(20)30061-8/fulltext">allergenic pollen is increasing</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213269/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lynne Quick receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa: African Origins Platform and
GENUS: DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences
</span></em></p>Pollen can become preserved in sediment deposits over thousands, or even millions, of years.Lynne Quick, Senior Research Fellow, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2127122023-09-10T10:13:38Z2023-09-10T10:13:38ZAncient shoes: tracks on a South African beach offer oldest evidence yet of human footwear<p>When and where did our ancestors first fashion footwear? We cannot look to physical evidence of shoes for the answer, as the perishable materials from which they were made would no longer be evident. <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-job-is-full-of-fossilised-poop-but-theres-nothing-icky-about-ichnology-182906">Ichnology</a>, the study of fossil tracks and traces, can help to answer this unresolved question through a search for clear evidence of footprints made by humans who were shod – that is, wearing some kind of foot covering. </p>
<p>But this is no simple endeavour, as our research team from the Cape south coast ichnology project in South Africa recently reported. Over the past 15 years <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.039">we have identified</a> more than 350 vertebrate tracksites along the Cape coast. These include a number of tracks made by humans who were clearly walking or jogging barefoot, as evidenced by toe impressions. But we also noticed similar trackways, seemingly well preserved, that contained no toe impressions. Realising, too, that very little research has been done about when humans first fashioned footwear, we decided to investigate further.</p>
<p>To do so, we studied relevant research from various parts of the world, using our knowledge about milestones in human technological development such as when and where our ancestors had the technology to create <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2001.0515">bone tools</a> which could have been used for sewing. </p>
<p>We also considered the areas where ancient hominin tracks have been reported. This revealed that there are two prime places on the planet to look for footprint evidence of early shod hominins: western Europe and the Cape coast of South Africa. We followed up with a little crafting of our own to create the types of footwear that might have been worn. Most of the tracksites we have found are between about 70,000 years and 150,000 years in age, so that is the time period we focused on.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10420940.2023.2249585?src=">Our findings</a>, recently published in the journal <em>Ichnos</em>, suggest that there are at least three tracksites on the Cape south coast that might have been made by shod humans (a fourth site unfortunately rapidly deteriorated in quality and slumped into the sea). The global record of sites attributed to shod trackmakers is sparse. Until now, only four sites older than 30,000 years have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02127-z">postulated</a>, all from western Europe, including a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1901789116">Neanderthal site</a>.</p>
<p>Though the evidence is not conclusive, we are excited about our discoveries. They support the notion of southern Africa being one region where human cognitive and practical ability developed a very long time ago.</p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p>We considered the published studies on possible shod-human tracks from western Europe, and searched the Cape coast for similar sites. Today, the ancient dune surfaces our ancestors walked along are cemented and preserved as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-8252(01)00054-X">aeolianites</a>. We have previously reported on the <a href="https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8156">tracks of our barefoot <em>Homo sapiens</em> ancestors</a> along this coastline and now focused on three sites which appeared to be of hominin origin and were crisply outlined, but contained no evidence of toe impressions.</p>
<p>Next, we drew on our knowledge of sandals used by the indigenous San people on the sands of the Kalahari desert to give us ideas about what ancient footwear might have looked like. After studying museum specimens, depictions of footwear in the San rock art record and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.281.5373.72">the oldest</a> surviving <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0010984">examples</a> of footwear, it was time to do a little cobbling. </p>
<p>We crafted various types of footwear and used them to create trackways on the beaches and dunes of the Cape south coast; then we analysed them. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/graffiti-threatens-precious-evidence-of-ancient-life-on-south-africas-coast-157777">Graffiti threatens precious evidence of ancient life on South Africa's coast</a>
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<p>From these experiments it became clear that an open, hard sole design, with tracks made on moist, moderately soft but nonetheless cohesive sand, best fitted the findings at the three fossil tracksites. </p>
<h2>Preservation and clarity</h2>
<p>Usually, to identify hominin tracks, the presence and alignment of toe impressions is a crucial factor. Clearly such features are unlikely to be present in the tracks of ancestral humans using footwear. We needed to ensure that the findings suggesting shod hominins were genuine rather than being due to poor preservation, or erosion, or that the tracks had simply been made in soft sand by barefoot humans. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/worlds-oldest-homo-sapiens-footprint-identified-on-south-africas-cape-south-coast-205310">World's oldest _Homo sapiens_ footprint identified on South Africa's Cape south coast</a>
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<p>Crisp track margins therefore became an essential feature at our three sites. Tracks had to have an approximate hominin footprint outline. Strap attachment points, if they left marks in the tracks, formed a welcome bonus.</p>
<p>None of the three sites has been dated at this point, although nearby dated sites suggest that they range in age from around 70,000 years to more than 130,000 years old.</p>
<p>While our evidence is suggestive, we do not consider it conclusive as yet. We’re searching for further sites which ideally, in addition to displaying good preservation, would contain long trackways to allow for detailed analysis.</p>
<h2>Why make footwear?</h2>
<p>One obvious question stemming from this research is why our ancestors would have elected to create footwear, whereas up until that point they had survived barefoot. </p>
<p>Perhaps once they had developed the means to create complex clothing through bone tools, footwear might have been a logical addition. Anyone who has tried to forage on the Cape coast today knows how sharp some of the rocks are and how easy it is to suffer a laceration if not wearing shoes. In the Middle Stone Age, about 130,000 years ago, an infected laceration might well have been a death sentence.</p>
<p>Protection from extremes of heat and cold might also have been incentives, and the use of footwear might initially have been occasional or intermittent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212712/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Helm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trackway findings support the notion of southern Africa being one region where human cognitive and practical ability developed a very long time ago.Charles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122112023-09-07T13:30:48Z2023-09-07T13:30:48ZSouth Africa’s great white sharks are changing locations – they need to be monitored for beach safety and conservation<p>South Africa is renowned for having one of the world’s biggest populations of great white sharks (<em>Carcharodon carcharias</em>). Substantial <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/great-white-sharks-have-suddenly-disappeared-one-their-favorite-hangouts">declines</a> have been observed, however, in places where the sharks normally gather on the coast of the Western Cape province. Sharks congregate at these locations to feed, interact socially, or rest. </p>
<p>In Cape Town, skilled “<a href="https://sharkspotters.org.za/safety/shark-sightings/#:%7E:text=Shark%20Sightings%20to%20Date%20Since%20the%20program%20began,over%202%2C020%20shark%20sightings%20on%20Shark%20Spotters%20beaches.">shark spotters</a>” documented a peak of over 300 great white shark sightings across eight beaches in 2011, but have recorded no sightings since 2019. These declines have sparked concerns about the overall conservation status of the species. </p>
<p>Conserving great white sharks is vital because they have a pivotal role in marine ecosystems. As top predators, they help maintain the health and balance of marine food webs. Their presence influences the behaviour of other marine animals, affecting the entire ecosystem’s structure and stability. </p>
<p>Marine biologists like us needed to know whether the decline in shark numbers in the Western Cape indicated changes in the whole South African population or whether the sharks had moved to a different location.</p>
<p>To investigate this problem, we undertook an extensive <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23008622">study</a> using data collected by scientists, tour operators and shore anglers. We examined the trends over time in abundance and shifts in distribution across the sharks’ South African range. </p>
<p>Our investigation revealed significant differences in the abundance at primary gathering sites. There were declines at some locations; others showed increases or stability. Overall, there appears to be a stable trend. This suggests that white shark numbers have remained constant since they were given protection in 1991.</p>
<p>Looking at the potential change in the distribution of sharks between locations, we discovered a shift in human-shark interactions from the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape. More research is required to be sure whether the sharks that vanished from the Western Cape are the same sharks documented along the Eastern Cape.</p>
<p>The stable population of white sharks is reassuring, but the distribution shift introduces its own challenges, such as the risk posed by fisheries, and the need for beach management. So there is a need for better monitoring of where the sharks are.</p>
<h2>Factors influencing shark movements</h2>
<p>We recorded the biggest changes between 2015 and 2020. For example, at Seal Island, False Bay (Western Cape), shark sightings declined from 2.5 sightings per hour in 2005 to 0.6 in 2017. Shifting eastward to Algoa Bay, in 2013, shore anglers caught only six individual sharks. By 2019, this figure had risen to 59. </p>
<p>The changes at each site are complex, however. Understanding the patterns remains challenging. </p>
<p>These predators can live for more than 70 years. Each life stage comes with <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.811985/full?fbclid=IwAR3JnefKDynkDfRp0ffs2p6l9T1oRXdBJcVeIOLnd6FAV3BlcnSfzgQk8ig&utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=page">distinct behaviours</a>: juveniles, especially males, tend to stay close to the coastline, while sub-adults and adults, particularly females, venture offshore.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0068554">Environmental factors</a> like water temperature, lunar phase, season and food availability further influence their movement patterns. </p>
<p>Changes in the climate and ocean over extended periods might also come into <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-09-27-quest-for-elusive-white-shark-decades-ago-raises-questions-about-the-species-today/">play</a>. </p>
<p>As adaptable predators, they target a wide range of prey and thrive in a broad range of temperatures, with a preference for 14–24°C. Their migratory nature allows them to seek optimal conditions when faced with unfavourable environments.</p>
<h2>Predation of sharks by killer whales</h2>
<p>The movement complexity deepens with the involvement of <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2531">specialist killer whales with a taste for shark livers</a>. Recently, these apex predators have been observed preying on white, sevengill and bronze whaler sharks. </p>
<p>Cases were first documented in 2015 along the South African coast, coinciding with significant behavioural shifts in white sharks within Gansbaai and False Bay. </p>
<p>Although a direct cause-and-effect link is not firmly established, observations and tracking data support the notion of a distinct <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simon-Elwen/publication/361638937_Fear_at_the_top_killer_whale_predation_drives_white_shark_absence_at_South_Africa's_largest_aggregation_site/links/62d4f7aba6abd57c6aeea4ed/Fear-at-the-top-killer-whale-predation-drives-white-shark-absence-at-South-Africas-largest-aggregation-site.pdf">flight response</a> among white sharks following confirmed predation incidents. </p>
<p>More recently, it was clear that in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10078210/">Mossel Bay</a>, when a killer whale pod killed at least three white sharks, the remaining sharks were prompted to leave the area. </p>
<h2>Survival and conservation of sharks</h2>
<p>The risk landscape for white sharks is complex. A <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.811985/full?fbclid=IwAR3JnefKDynkDfRp0ffs2p6l9T1oRXdBJcVeIOLnd6FAV3BlcnSfzgQk8ig&utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=page">study</a> published in 2022 showed a notable overlap of white sharks with longline and gillnet fisheries, extending across 25% of South Africa’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The sharks spent 15% of their time exposed to these fisheries. </p>
<p>The highest white shark catches were reported in KwaZulu-Natal, averaging around 32 per year. This emphasised the need to combine shark movement with reliable catch records to assess risks to shark populations.</p>
<p>As shark movement patterns shift eastward, the potential change in risk must be considered. Increased overlap between white sharks, shark nets, drumlines (baited hooks) and gillnets might increase the likelihood of captures.</p>
<h2>Beach safety and management adaptation</h2>
<p>Although shark bites remain a <a href="https://sharkspotters.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Curtis-et-al.-Responding-to-the-risk-of-white-shark-attack-sm.pdf">low risk</a>, changing shark movements could also influence beach safety. The presence of sharks can influence human activities, particularly in popular swimming and water sports areas. Adjusting existing shark management strategies might be necessary as distributions change. </p>
<p>Increased signage, temporary beach closures, or improved education about shark behaviour might be needed. </p>
<p>In Cape Town, for example, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185335">shark spotters</a> have adjusted their efforts on specific beaches. Following two <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/great-white-sharks-gather-site-fatal-attack-1749172">fatal shark incidents</a> in 2022, their programme expanded to <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=+plettenberg+bay+shark+spotters&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&lq=0&pq=+plettenberg+bay+shark+spotte&sc=7-29&sk=&cvid=FB5D782CE8BF476793D155E8B9C6B408&ghsh=0&ghacc=0&ghpl=">Plettenberg Bay</a>. Anecdotal evidence highlights additional Eastern Cape locations where surfers and divers encounter more white sharks than before.</p>
<h2>Enhanced monitoring and long-term programmes</h2>
<p>Further research is required to understand the factors behind the movements of sharks and their impact on distribution over space and time. Our study underscores the importance of standardising data collection methods to generate reliable abundance statistics across their entire range. Other countries suffer from the same problem.</p>
<p>Additionally, we propose establishing long-term monitoring programmes along the Eastern Cape and continuing work to reduce the number of shark deaths.</p>
<p><em>Sarah Waries, a master’s student and CEO of Shark Spotters in Cape Town, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Kock works for South African National Parks. She is affiliated with the Top Predator Scientific Working Group of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and Shark Spotters. She received funding from the Save Our Seas Foundation for shark research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Towner, Heather Bowlby, Matt Dicken, and Toby Rogers do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Africa’s white shark population is not in decline but migrating to survive.Alison Kock, Marine Biologist, South African National Parks (SANParks); Honorary Research Associate, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), South African Institute for Aquatic BiodiversityAlison Towner, Marine biologist, Rhodes UniversityHeather Bowlby, Research Lead, Fisheries and Oceans CanadaMatt Dicken, Adjunct Professor of Marine Biology, Nelson Mandela UniversityToby Rogers, PhD Candidate, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2096092023-09-03T07:45:37Z2023-09-03T07:45:37ZAfrica’s vast underground water resources are under pressure from climate change - how to manage them<p>All countries have a variety of water resources – some are on the surface, like rivers, and some are beneath the ground. This groundwater provides <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/infographic/2023/06/13/groundwater-the-hidden-wealth-of-nations">almost 50%</a> of all global domestic use and <a href="https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099145503202323072/p178601171e7ffac1ea0714b5e187c0122449517b07d">43%</a> of all the water used for agriculture.</p>
<p>Groundwater is stored in aquifers, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They can be accessed in several ways, but mostly by drilling wells. Not all groundwater is useful to us – it depends on whether it’s fresh or mixed with salt and on how deep it is, as this will affect how easy it is to tap into. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/africas-aquifers-hold-more-than-20-times-the-water-stored-in-the-continents-lakes-but-they-arent-the-answer-to-water-scarcity-201704">Africa’s aquifers hold more than 20 times the water stored in the continent's lakes, but they aren’t the answer to water scarcity</a>
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<p>In Africa, groundwater is very important. It supports <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/infographic/2023/06/13/groundwater-the-hidden-wealth-of-nations">almost 100%</a> of household and agricultural activities in rural areas. And, because it’s underground it’s protected from evaporation, a crucial resource in a warming climate.</p>
<p>These facts and figures are in a recent World Bank <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/water/publication/the-hidden-wealth-of-nations-groundwater-in-times-of-climate-change">report</a> which unpacks issues facing groundwater in times of climate change. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=m6uqRGMAAAAJ&hl=th">groundwater scientist</a> focusing on its sustainable use, I’ve picked out some of the key issues when it comes to managing groundwater from the report. It’s vital that African countries address these as pressure <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/state-of-climate-africa-highlights-water-stress-and-hazards">increases</a> on the continent’s water resources, through growing populations, development and changing weather patterns. </p>
<h2>Key issues</h2>
<p><strong>Ownership of groundwater</strong></p>
<p>Figuring out ownership of groundwater is important for the management of this finite resource. Without a clear understanding of ownership, conflict can happen.</p>
<p>In some countries groundwater is owned by the landowner, in others by the government. Generally, it’s being poorly managed <a href="https://publications.iwmi.org/pdf/H048386.pdf">across the continent</a>. In many cases, boreholes used to extract groundwater <a href="https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/1094769/Perceptions_of_trends_in_the_development_of_private_boreholes_for_household_water_consumption.pdf">aren’t</a> even being registered. </p>
<p>South Africa has used laws and policies to <a href="http://ward2forum.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NWAguide.pdf">transfer</a> the ownership of resources to the government. But this has led to issues around red tape and licensing permits, which determine how water is allocated.</p>
<p>The success of permit systems depends on a thorough understanding of the resources, property owners’ compliance with granted user rights, and the enforcement of this regulation. This is particularly problematic in the developing world, according to the World Bank report. </p>
<p>A possible solution is decentralised management, as seen by the <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/harvesting-water-and-harnessing-cooperation-qanat-systems-middle-east-and-asia">Qanat system</a> in the Middle East. The system consists of a network of underground canals that transport water from aquifers in highlands to the surface at lower levels using gravity. It is normally managed by the community and financed collectively. These historical pieces of infrastructure have been abandoned in recent times, but could solve many of the water shortage issues in the semi-arid to arid areas of Africa.</p>
<p><strong>Recharging aquifers</strong></p>
<p>Groundwater in aquifers is finite, but it <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/7/1846">can be recharged</a> with surface water or treated wastewater. The process also sometimes helps in the removal of harmful chemicals because the aquifer’s material can act like a very large filter. </p>
<p>The World Bank report highlights <a href="https://www.americangeosciences.org/geoscience-currents/managed-aquifer-recharge#:%7E:text=Managed%20aquifer%20recharge%20(MAR)%2C,water%20supplies%20may%20be%20low.">managed aquifer recharge</a> as a technique which can be used to recharge aquifers. Water is either injected through a well or seeps into the ground through infiltration ponds, man-made or natural depressions in the ground which allows water to soak into the earth.</p>
<p>Countries in <a href="https://gw-project.org/books/managed-aquifer-recharge-southern-africa/">southern Africa</a> have practised this for the past 40 years. </p>
<p>Aquifers can also be recharged <a href="https://unepdhi.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/05/WEB_UNEP-DHI_NBS-PRIMER-2018-2.pdf">naturally</a> when rainwater infiltrates deep into the ground. This can be encouraged through afforestation, agricultural terraces and the prevention of land clearing. These practices allow permeable surfaces to dominate the landscape, stabilise the soil through plant growth, and slow the flow of water.</p>
<p><strong>Monitoring aquifers</strong></p>
<p>Monitoring aquifers is vital to know how much water is left in them. Unfortunately many African countries have poor monitoring networks and infrastructure in place. The number of monitoring points in certain countries is <a href="https://www.un-igrac.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/Kukuric%20and%20van%20Vliet%2C%202008.pdf">also dwindling</a>, owing to financial constraints. </p>
<p>Satellite data can be used for monitoring. One example is the <a href="https://grace.jpl.nasa.gov/data/data-analysis-tool/">GRACE (Gravity, Recovery and Climate Experiment)</a> twin satellites which have provided insights into subsurface water storage over the past 20 years. This means that the changes in aquifer volumes can be monitored, but only at a very large scale. It’s necessary to know what’s happening on the ground. Localised monitoring networks are needed, with data loggers at multiple wells.</p>
<p><strong>Effective policies</strong></p>
<p>Policies and incentives play a major role in the use of groundwater. They influence the cost of energy and abstraction and the overall accounting of groundwater resources and environmental impact. </p>
<p>In an African context, good policies are missing in places. There are, however, some community practices which help to protect the resource, like the Qanat system. These types of systems should be encouraged and replicated. </p>
<p><strong>Groundwater dependent ecosystems</strong></p>
<p>Groundwater dependent ecosystems, such as wetlands, play a <a href="https://www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/fs_7_livelihoods_en_v5_2.pdf">critical role</a> for many livelihoods in Africa and need to be more effectively managed. These ecosystems use groundwater to support plant and animal life and ecosystem services, such as fresh water and clean air, throughout the year. </p>
<p>But they’re exposed to major risks because they’re often close to semi-arid and arid areas. This is particularly true in the Sahel region. Groundwater dependent ecosystems are often close to border crossings and transport routes. Human activities, such as over-pumping, could adversely affect how they function and lead to a loss of biodiversity. </p>
<p>The conservation of these water bodies is of the utmost importance for the preservation of water resources and livelihoods. Policies which protect them – like the <a href="https://www.ramsar.org/">Ramsar convention</a> – must be properly enforced. Governments could should also consider creating protected areas around some of these ecosystems. </p>
<h2>Managing resources</h2>
<p>It’s imperative that governments better monitor our water resources. Coupled with good practical solutions, such as managing pump rates, this will sustain groundwater resources for many years to come. </p>
<p>The monitoring network on our continent is unfortunately limited or non-existent in certain countries. In some, like South Africa, the network is slowly diminishing. This is unfortunate as the ability to measure allows better management of groundwater resources.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gaathier Mahed does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Better monitoring of groundwater is important for sustainable management.Gaathier Mahed, Senior lecturer, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2111562023-08-14T15:06:14Z2023-08-14T15:06:14ZFossil footprint discoveries and what they tell us<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541937/original/file-20230809-26-9gcmy3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Footprints on a sandy surface don’t usually last long: they’re washed away by water, wiped out by wind or covered over by new tracks. At certain sites in southern Africa, though, some traces of animals have lasted for many thousands or even millions of years – fleeting moments preserved in sand that turned to rock. </p>
<p>They tell scientists about the creatures that lived in ancient times, how they behaved and what their environment was like. Studying fossil footprints also adds to what the body fossil record reveals.</p>
<p>In these articles from our archive, scientists share some of their exciting fossil footprint finds.</p>
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<h2>Zebra crossing – with a difference</h2>
<p>Charles Helm studies the fossilised tracks, trails, burrows and excavations made by animals. He’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-discovery-fossilised-giant-zebra-tracks-found-in-south-africa-201687?notice=Article+has+been+updated">discovered</a> how, tens of thousands of years ago, a huge horse species roamed along South Africa’s Cape south coast. </p>
<p>These findings also revealed that these Giant Cape Zebras must have been a fairly regular sight on the landscape. An insight that body fossil records don’t provide.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-discovery-fossilised-giant-zebra-tracks-found-in-south-africa-201687">New discovery: fossilised giant zebra tracks found in South Africa</a>
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<h2>Oldest human footprints</h2>
<p>Armed with specialist skills and world-class technology, Charles Helm also teamed up with geographer Andrew Carr to <a href="https://theconversation.com/worlds-oldest-homo-sapiens-footprint-identified-on-south-africas-cape-south-coast-205310?notice=Article+has+been+updated.">investigate</a> tracks along South Africa’s coast. That’s how they identified something truly remarkable: a footprint left by one of our human ancestors 153,000 years ago. So far, it’s the oldest footprint in the world attributed to our species, <em>Homo sapiens</em>
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<p>They explained how the finding also confirms that the Cape south coast was an area in which early modern humans survived, evolved and thrived, before spreading out of Africa to other continents.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/worlds-oldest-homo-sapiens-footprint-identified-on-south-africas-cape-south-coast-205310">World's oldest _Homo sapiens_ footprint identified on South Africa's Cape south coast</a>
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<h2>Dinosaur behaviour insights</h2>
<p>Today, dinosaur fossils can be found in many parts of the world. South Africa and Lesotho’s main Karoo Basin, for example, contains many dinosaur fossils and dinosaur markings, like footprints.</p>
<p>Miengah Abrahams <a href="https://theconversation.com/footprints-take-science-a-step-closer-to-understanding-southern-africas-dinosaurs-185480?notice=Article+has+been+updated.">explains</a> that fossil footprints are a treasure chest of information. They can reveal what organism made the tracks, offer clues to their behaviour and even provide evidence about the conditions in which they lived. She outlines what’s been learnt from dinosaur tracks in the Karoo Basin. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/footprints-take-science-a-step-closer-to-understanding-southern-africas-dinosaurs-185480">Footprints take science a step closer to understanding southern Africa's dinosaurs</a>
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<h2>An unexpected discovery</h2>
<p>In this <a href="https://theconversation.com/dinosaur-tracksite-in-lesotho-how-a-wrong-turn-led-to-an-exciting-find-208963?notice=Article+has+been+updated">article</a>, Miengah Abrahams tells the story of how she unexpectedly came across some new dinosaur footprints in Lesotho. For a geologist studying dinosaur tracksites this wasn’t a massive surprise, but it was the first time a dinosaur from the ornithischian group – a four-footed, plant-eating, “bird-hipped” community – had been documented in the Roma Valley, an area rich in fossil footprints.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dinosaur-tracksite-in-lesotho-how-a-wrong-turn-led-to-an-exciting-find-208963">Dinosaur tracksite in Lesotho: how a wrong turn led to an exciting find</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211156/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Some footprints last thousands or even millions of years, preserved in sand that turned to rock.Natasha Joseph, Commissioning EditorMoina Spooner, Assistant EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2104162023-08-07T13:59:55Z2023-08-07T13:59:55ZUmlungu: the colourful history of a word used to describe white people in South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540800/original/file-20230802-23936-6zixs7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wreck of the British ship Charlotte in Algoa Bay, South Africa, 1854. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In South Africa “umlungu” is a word that’s commonly used to refer to white people. It comes from isiXhosa, the language of the country’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Xhosa">Xhosa people</a>. It’s always been a mystery how the word originated or what it actually means because no human beings were referred to as umlungu before the arrival of white people in the country by ship. There was, however, a word “ubulungu” which meant “that deposited out by the sea” or sea scum.</p>
<p>While it may have been considered impolite in the past, <a href="https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2016-11-21-experts-say-umlungu-is-not-negative-in-meaning/">today</a> umlungu is a polite word. Many white South Africans don’t mind calling themselves umlungu – there are even T-shirt ranges bearing the word. And it’s now also commonly used to refer to black people – meaning “my employer” or “a wealthy person”. So how did umlungu come to change its meaning?</p>
<p>As a linguist who teaches and studies isiXhosa, I recently published a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/16073614.2022.2153709">study</a> that considers the word from a sociolinguistic perspective. Sociolinguistics can be <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Introducing_Language_and_Society.html?id=gA4jAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">defined</a> as the link between language and society. I chose to frame my study through this theory because a language is not independent of the people who speak it. Individuals shape words to reflect the changing context of their society. </p>
<p>The word umlungu has taken on multiple meanings as a result of historical events, showing how language evolves through social interactions. </p>
<h2>Colonial times</h2>
<p>According to one <a href="https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2023.2188233">study</a>, the term umlungu arose from an incident in which shipwrecked white people were deposited from the sea. The sea’s tendency is to toss anything out that is dirty in order to clean itself. The shipwrecked white people were given the name “abelungu/umlungu”, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2023.2188233">means</a> “filth that is rejected by the ocean and deposited on the shore”. Some of those shipwrecked remained and the clan name Abelungu <a href="http://vital.seals.ac.za:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:28312?site_name=GlobalView">was used</a> to record their children.</p>
<p>The words umlungu and abelungu (plural) are used by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nguni">Nguni</a> people across South Africa. The Nguni are a large cluster of Bantu-speaking ethnic groups in southern Africa who have played an important role in the country’s history and culture. The Nguni ethnic groupings include the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi and Ndebele. These subgroups share linguistic and cultural similarities while adhering to their own traditions and practices. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/20032">Zulu historians</a>, white people arriving in South Africa were called “abelumbi” (magicians). This is because <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/shaka-zulu">Shaka Zulu</a>, the powerful leader of the Zulu Kingdom, witnessed a white person killing a man without touching him (with a gun). He stated that only a witch could kill a person without any physical contact. As a result, he called them abelumbi, which was later altered to abelungu (philanthropists) as time passed.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/shaka-zulu-is-back-in-pop-culture-how-the-famous-king-has-been-portrayed-over-the-decades-207417">Shaka Zulu is back in pop culture – how the famous king has been portrayed over the decades</a>
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<p>Various events throughout the colonial era forced black people into poverty, particularly after the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/nongqawuse">Nongqawuse</a> episode. Nongqawuse was a Xhosa prophetess who, in 1856, had a vision that if the Xhosa people killed all their cattle and destroyed their crops, the spirits would drive the British colonisers out of South Africa and bring about a new era of prosperity. Many Xhosa people then <a href="https://www.siyabona.com/eastern-cape-xhosa-cattle-killing.html">slaughtered</a> their own cattle and destroyed their own crops. Some people died because of hunger.</p>
<h2>Apartheid</h2>
<p>This poverty was exacerbated under <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> – an organised system of white minority rule in South Africa that imposed racial segregation and discrimination from 1948 until the early 1990s. </p>
<p>An umlungu was an esteemed member of society during the apartheid era because of the power and authority that they possessed. It’s my view that because of the apartheid system, black people were psychologically influenced to perceive everything linked with a white person as better and of a higher standard. </p>
<p>Due to the reality of colonisation and apartheid, most black South Africans were forced to work for white people and so an umlungu came to be defined as a white boss or employer. With time, this came to include all bosses or employers – even black people came to refer to a black boss as umlungu.</p>
<h2>Today</h2>
<p>I argue that the views of black people toward white people had a significant impact on the word changing and gaining numerous positive meanings. The concept that anything finer, richer and whiter in colour is umlungu has given rise to new positive connotations for the term. The word umlungu today can refer to an employer, a black person of a certain ethnicity with a lighter skin colour, someone of higher standing, a wealthy person – or simply a white person. </p>
<p>A black person who owns and runs a farm like a white person using a labour tenancy arrangement, for example, is <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/people-and-whites">referred to</a> as an umlungu. University students may be <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/ubuntu-abantu-abelungu">referred to</a> as abelungu since they represent class mobility and luxury. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/zulu-vs-xhosa-how-colonialism-used-language-to-divide-south-africas-two-biggest-ethnic-groups-204969">Zulu vs Xhosa: how colonialism used language to divide South Africa's two biggest ethnic groups</a>
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<p>Xhosa people have further adapted the term, with some naming their children Nobelungu (the one who is of white people), Umlungwana (young white person) or Mlungukazi (white woman).</p>
<p>Social class and status influence the evolution of language. Change is also related to the relative safety of a group’s standing in society, with lower-status groups generally imitating higher-status ones. As a result, those identified as abelungu, particularly among the black population, are seen as having ascended the social ladder. </p>
<p>“Umlungu” demonstrates how the meaning of a word can change to reflect a changing society. Language is not static, it is a growing and shifting way of reflecting the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210416/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andiswa Mvanyashe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The word shows that language isn’t static, it evolves to reflect developments in a society.Andiswa Mvanyashe, Senior lecturer in Languages and Literature, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2086772023-07-19T14:09:18Z2023-07-19T14:09:18ZDrawing in the sand at the beach? Our ancestors did the same 140,000 years ago<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537477/original/file-20230714-23-e17pa4.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This ammoglyph consists of a circular groove, a central depression and two possible knee impressions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charles Helm</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The urge to draw images in sand, or create sand sculptures, seems to be irresistible, as a walk on many a modern beach or dune surface will show. Sand is a vast canvas – and may have been used as one for far longer than people realise.</p>
<p>When people think of ancient palaeoart, cave paintings (pictographs), rock engravings (petroglyphs), images on trees (dendroglyphs) or arrangements of rocks in patterns (geoglyphs) might come to mind. Until recently it was only possible to speculate that the oldest art might have been in sand. </p>
<p>We are, respectively, a vertebrate ichnologist who studies the fossil tracks and traces of vertebrates, and a physical geographer, interested in the functioning and long-term evolution of coastal landscapes. </p>
<p>We’re part of a team that has spent the past 15 years studying vertebrate tracksites on South Africa’s Cape south coast that date back to the Pleistocene epoch, between 70,000 and 400,000 years ago. During the course of that research we’ve realised that not only could we identify <a href="https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8156">hominin</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.039">animal tracks</a>; we were able to recognise <a href="http://www.ifrao.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/38-1-Helm-et-al.pdf">patterns</a> that we propose our human ancestors made in the sand: in other words, a new form of palaeoart.</p>
<p>The rocks we mostly find them in are known as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0012-8252(01)00054-X">aeolianites</a>, the cemented versions of ancient dunes that form along the coastline. Such ancient “sand art” had never been described before, so we coined a new term for it: “ammoglyph” (“ammos” being Greek for “sand”). </p>
<p>In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10420940.2023.2204231">a recent article in the journal Ichnos</a> we provided dates for seven hominin ichnosites (a term that includes tracks and other traces) from the Cape south coast. What we interpreted as ammoglyphs were found at four of those sites. The oldest was dated to between 149,000 and 129,000 years ago.</p>
<h2>Method</h2>
<p>A key challenge when studying any palaeo-record – whether trackways, fossils, or other kinds of ancient sediment – is to determine how old the materials are. In the case of the Cape south coast aeolianites, we use a dating method called <a href="https://www.antarcticglaciers.org/glacial-geology/dating-glacial-sediments-2/optically-stimulated-luminescence/">optically stimulated luminescence</a>. </p>
<p>This shows how much time has passed since the grains of sand were last exposed to sunlight, offering an estimate of when the aeolianite sediments were buried as the ancient dune surfaces were forming. Given how the tracks and markings in this study must have been formed – impressions made on wet sand, followed by rapid burial with new blowing sand – it is a good method as we can be reasonably confident that the dating “clock” started at about the same time as the trackways and markings were created.</p>
<p>Of course, we had to be diligent in trying to exclude other causes of the patterns in rock that we encountered, including modern graffiti. We were able to achieve this with greater confidence in some cases than others. Clearly, though, if our ancestors’ tracks could be preserved on these dune and beach surfaces, so could the patterns that they might have made with a stick or a finger. </p>
<h2>Understanding the marks</h2>
<p>Two of the four sites we dated for this paper only contained what we believe to be ammoglyphs – with no associated track evidence of who made them. The other two contained either knee or footprint impressions in association with the ammoglyphs. At one of the latter sites human forefoot impressions were found in association with a number of linear grooves and small round depressions. We were not able to determine whether these represented palaeoart, were some form of “messaging”, or had a utilitarian function such as foraging.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/worlds-oldest-homo-sapiens-footprint-identified-on-south-africas-cape-south-coast-205310">World's oldest _Homo sapiens_ footprint identified on South Africa's Cape south coast</a>
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<p>In terms of age, two of the probable ammoglyph sites stand out. The oldest was dated to between 149,000 and 129,000 years ago.</p>
<p>The findings at this site comprised a series of long, perfectly straight grooves in a triangular pattern that included a bisector of one angle. We jokingly referred to the artist as the “Pleistocene Pythagoras”. This rock was found in a very remote, rugged area, and was destined to be destroyed by high tides and storm surges. We were able to <a href="https://theconversation.com/rock-stars-how-a-group-of-scientists-in-south-africa-rescued-a-rare-500kg-chunk-of-human-history-192508">successfully rescue it</a> by helicopter and have it curated and displayed in the Blombos Museum of Archaeology in Still Bay. </p>
<p>The second site was dated to around 136,000 years ago, give or take about 8,000 years. It comprised almost two thirds of a circular groove, a central depression, and two possible knee impressions. The rock surface was broken at the edges of the circle; in all likelihood the original circle was complete. One property of sand that is absent on other potential palaeoart surfaces is the ease with which a large circle can be inscribed on it, for example through using a forked stick. </p>
<p>Our interpretation for the circular ammoglyph is that the central depression represents the spot where one end of a forked stick was anchored by a kneeling human, while the other portion was rotated, yielding a near-perfect circle.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537478/original/file-20230714-18-ykv5sr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man holding a forked stick kneels in the sand on a beach, drawing a circle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537478/original/file-20230714-18-ykv5sr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537478/original/file-20230714-18-ykv5sr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537478/original/file-20230714-18-ykv5sr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537478/original/file-20230714-18-ykv5sr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537478/original/file-20230714-18-ykv5sr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537478/original/file-20230714-18-ykv5sr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537478/original/file-20230714-18-ykv5sr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Author Charles Helm demonstrates how one of the ammoglyphs was probably made.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Linda Helm</span></span>
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<p>As anyone who has tried knows, it’s incredibly hard to draw a perfect circle without a compass. We do not yet know how the perfectly straight lines were inscribed; we speculate that perhaps straight reeds were placed in the sand, but there is no way to know for sure.</p>
<p>We also noted similarities between the shapes of some of the purported ammoglyphs and the shapes of ancient geometric engravings made in caves on this coastline, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-blombos-cave-is-home-to-the-earliest-drawing-by-a-human-103017">Blombos Cave</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-blombos-cave-is-home-to-the-earliest-drawing-by-a-human-103017">South Africa's Blombos cave is home to the earliest drawing by a human</a>
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<h2>An ancient impulse</h2>
<p>Thanks to the dates obtained through our published study, we can conclude that when we encourage our kids and grandkids to play in the sand, and they draw patterns and make sandcastles, they are indulging in a profoundly atavistic activity that extends far into antiquity, as far as at least around 140,000 years. </p>
<p>The creation of art is one of the characteristics that helps to make us human. Knowing that our ancestors so long ago did the same as we do today perhaps helps to add to that sense of “humanness”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208677/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ammoglyphs – ancient ‘sand art’ – are a relatively new find.Charles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela UniversityAndrew Carr, Senior Lecturer, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2087122023-07-05T13:27:06Z2023-07-05T13:27:06ZBusinesses that address social or environmental problems often struggle to survive: 3 things that can help them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535287/original/file-20230703-255984-ejs0dn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Social entrepreneurs play an important role in alleviating poverty. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Social enterprises are organisations that promote social or environmental issues as their core business. They are useful to societies in lots of ways. They can help solve social and economic problems such as poverty and joblessness, among others. They can also help support the work of local, provincial and national government. </p>
<p>Over the last decade a <a href="https://www.socialchangecentral.com/social-enterprise-statistics-from-around-the-world/">growing number of these enterprises</a> have been started in many countries. South Africa has also seen an increase in social enterprises.</p>
<p>But running a social enterprise <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/06/the-challenges-of-being-a-social-enterprise/">isn’t easy</a>. They need to pursue a social motive while also trying to remain sustainable with little funding.</p>
<p>This often means that they need structures, processes and leadership acumen for both their operational success and sustainability.</p>
<h2>Challenges faced by social enterprises</h2>
<p>The performance and operation of social enterprises can be affected by <a href="https://www.bbrief.co.za/content/uploads/2019/03/Gibbs-Social-Enterprises-in-South-Africa-Report.pdf">a lack of resources</a>. Their failure rate is therefore <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/3-reasons-why-social-enterprises-fail-and-what-we-can-learn-from-them/#:%7E:text=Most%20of%20them%20%2878.3%25%29%20were%20never%20supported%20by,lasted%20more%20than%2010%20years%20as%20a%20company">quite high</a>.</p>
<p>So what could help them?</p>
<p>We conducted <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19420676.2023.2212672">a study</a> to try to answer this question. Our focus was on what capabilities needed to be in place for social enterprises to operate effectively. </p>
<p>Our research shows that for social enterprises to enhance their performance, network capability and strategic planning are key. Addressing these challenges can help their owners and managers respond to the challenges such enterprises face. At the core of this is addressing the challenge of funding and sustainability. Social enterprises rely mostly on donor funding. </p>
<h2>Experiences on the ground</h2>
<p>We conducted our study in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It’s one of the poorest regions in the country, with a high unemployment rate and continued social dependence. Industries on which the area’s economy depends are <a href="https://ecsecc.org/newsitem/eastern-cape-economy-declined-by-13-in-2022q4">in decline</a>.</p>
<p>Our research focused on 147 social enterprises in the area. One set of enterprises focused on poverty alleviation efforts. They ran empowerment projects for local communities, especially those in the black residential areas.</p>
<p>The social enterprises in the second group in our sample were dedicated to improving livelihoods of communities through agricultural support mechanisms.</p>
<p>Finally, a third group focused on assisting communities to respond to health challenges such as HIV/AIDS, the COVID-19 pandemic and tuberculosis.</p>
<p>Some of the questions we asked in our survey were about how each social enterprise made strategic decisions; the relationship between the social enterprise and its networks; and the enterprise’s continued value creation amid challenges. We then ran a model to see how these three issues related to performance.</p>
<p>The results showed that three important capabilities were needed to enhance social enterprise performance. </p>
<p>The first was strategic planning. This involves defining the enterprise’s direction in the short and long term, what it seeks to achieve in terms of goals and tactics, and how the enterprise will achieve all this. </p>
<p>Social enterprises need to be deliberate and intentional in setting up strategic planning regimes. They need a clear horizon, targets and mandates. These should then drive their day to day operation.</p>
<p>The second need was for strong networks. Building networks involves continued interaction between the social enterprise and its stakeholders. Networking capabilities allow the social enterprise to remain relevant to other important role players in the community.</p>
<p>Finally, our research points to the need for the social enterprise to keep a focus on its main business, the social aspect <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/SEJ-08-2021-0062/full/html">mandate of value co-creation</a>. This continued quest for the social aspect necessitates continued involvement and relevance of the social enterprise to the community. Our finding on value co-creation – the social enterprise partnering with other stakeholders and community members to achieve its social goal – becomes important here. </p>
<h2>Recommendations</h2>
<p>We recommend that social enterprises be proactive in improving their internal processes and structures. This can be achieved through ongoing efforts to make improvements from the bottom up – meaning that the employees also drive the changes, not just the management. By being deliberate and intentional in their efforts, social enterprises can improve their operations and achieve better results.</p>
<p>We also recommend that financial and non-financial resources such as tangible assets (land, buildings, motor vehicles and equipment) and intangible assets (patents, goodwill and intellectual property) should be channelled to support strategic planning, networking capabilities and value co-creation. This means they should continue to be deliberate in searching for funding to be able to support their core activities. </p>
<p>Concerning non-financial resources, this includes investing in the training of the people running the social enterprise. Such non-financial investment strengthens the social enterprise through internal development of the three capabilities found in our research: emphasis on strategic planning, the building of strong networks and continued quest to create value together by all stakeholders. </p>
<p>The enterprise also needs clear channels for sharing essential information with stakeholders, including communities, towards achieving the social goal of the enterprise. </p>
<p>Formal networking structures should be established to enable the social enterprise to build, maintain and renew strong relationships with stakeholders.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208712/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Willie Tafadzwa Chinyamurindi receives funding from the National Heritage Council and the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Progress Hove-Sibanda receives funding from the NMB Business Chamber</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Motshedisi Mathibe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Social enterprises need to be proactive in improving their internal processes and structures. They also need to share essential information.Willie Tafadzwa Chinyamurindi, Professor, University of Fort HareMotshedisi Mathibe, Senior Lecturer Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of PretoriaProgress Hove-Sibanda, Associate professor of logistics, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2058602023-05-30T11:17:11Z2023-05-30T11:17:11ZHalf of Africa’s white rhino population is in private hands – it’s time for a new conservation approach<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527956/original/file-20230524-18-lohud9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A white rhino in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Enrico Di Minin</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Southern white rhinos are widely known as a <a href="https://rhinos.org/blog/facing-down-a-crisis-how-we-almost-lost-the-white-rhino/">conservation success story</a>. Their population grew from fewer than 100 individuals in the 1920s <a href="https://rhinos.org/blog/facing-down-a-crisis-how-we-almost-lost-the-white-rhino/">to 20,000</a> in 2012, mostly in South Africa. </p>
<p>This success was partially due to the inclusion of the private sector, which started in the 1960s when white rhinos were moved from their last remaining population in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park and placed in other state reserves as well as on private land. In 1991 the <a href="https://lawfulliving.co.za/book/text/agriculture--game-theft.html">Game Theft Act</a> formalised conditions for private rhino ownership and use. Poaching pressure was low at the time, and the demand for rhinos by ecotourists and trophy hunters gave private landowners incentives to grow their rhino populations. </p>
<p>Based on publicly available data, <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.2593">our recent paper</a> shows that, today, private landholders conserve over half of South Africa’s white rhinos. Communities conserve a further 1% of the white rhinos. This trend is not unique to South Africa. More than 75% of Zimbabwe’s and Namibia’s white rhinos are on private lands. Although outside their natural range, in east Africa 72% of Kenya’s white rhino populations are conserved by private landowners.</p>
<p>In South Africa, the increasing contribution of private rhino custodians over the past few decades is partly due to their success and partly due to shrinking rhino populations in <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-02-14-saving-private-rhino-non-government-owners-of-the-animals-succeed-in-stemming-poaching-carnage/">key state parks</a>. Poaching is largely to blame for shrinking populations. A decade ago, the 2-million-hectare Kruger National Park held over half of the world’s 20,000 white rhinos. Today the park has just over 2,000 of the <a href="https://africageographic.com/stories/kruger-rhino-poaching-update-75-population-reduction-in-10-years/">remaining 16,000 white rhinos</a>. Kruger lost 6% of its population to poaching in <a href="https://sajs.co.za/article/view/11300">2020 alone</a>. Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park has suffered <a href="https://mg.co.za/environment/2023-02-08-rhino-poaching-declines-in-kruger-but-poachers-are-on-the-rampage-in-kzn/">similar declines</a>.</p>
<p>Private ranches in South Africa, meanwhile, lost <a href="https://sajs.co.za/article/view/11300">just 0.5%</a> of their rhinos to poaching in 2020. This is likely because smaller private properties are easier to secure and because private ranchers spend more per rhino on security – <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2593#page=4">R28,600 (US$2200)</a> per rhino in 2017, <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/fee.2593#page=4">compared with an estimated R8,600 (US$520)</a> per rhino spent by South African National Parks.</p>
<p>This high spend on security may have reduced poaching risk, but it has also reduced the <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12741">benefits accrued</a> from owning rhinos. Even for rhino owners who are not financially motivated, the growing costs of protecting rhinos from poaching are difficult to sustain. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.2593">paper</a>, we outline potential policy pathways to support rhino conservation beyond state parks. Additional revenue streams are needed to give private and community rhino custodians the incentive. These could include tapping into markets beyond ecotourism and trophy hunting, such as carbon and biodiversity credits. Incentives could also include private sector funding through impact investments, and government funding through tax incentives. New community custodians are likely to require state support, at least initially.</p>
<p>As large grazers, rhinos play <a href="https://africageographic.com/stories/why-are-rhinos-important-for-ecosystems/">an important role</a> in their ecosystem. Their decline is evoking <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320719305099">strong sentimental reactions</a> from people around the world. This raises the question: to what extent should the costs of protecting globally valued rhinos be carried by their local custodians?</p>
<h2>The cost is too high</h2>
<p>In 2018 we <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12741">estimated</a> that 28% of private rhino owners in South Africa were disinvesting, while 57% were continuing as usual and 15% were investing in more rhinos. </p>
<p>At that time rhino breeder John Hume was one of the flagship investors. He and some other private rhino owners had been investing in rhinos in the hope that rhino horn trade would be legalised, which would make the cost-benefit ratio of owning rhinos <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12412">considerably more favourable</a>. </p>
<p>But in April 2023, Hume held an online auction to sell the 2,000 white rhinos he owned – representing about 13% of the continental population. <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-05-01-shaky-future-for-2000-rhinos-after-mega-breeders-auction-fails-to-attract-bidders/">He said</a> he could no longer afford his costly rhino breeding operation. The auction failed to attract any bidders. </p>
<p>There are three possible outcomes for Hume’s rhinos. One, a buyer could take over the operation. Two, the animals could be relocated to parks in South Africa or other <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/4185/45813880#geographic-range">countries in sub-Saharan Africa</a>. Or they might be relocated abroad, beyond their historical range (for instance to Asia or Australia).</p>
<p>The first outcome would be the simplest. But it doesn’t solve the problem that rhinos are increasingly expensive to support. </p>
<p>The second option is attractive because it would boost population numbers in parks that have lost their populations. However, the “space” for rhinos in many of these parks likely signals their failure at protecting their rhinos in the first place. Rewilding would require a new strategy for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320721004705">protecting them</a>.</p>
<p>Moving rhinos beyond their historical range has been considered before. A multi-million-dollar <a href="https://theaustralianrhinoproject.org/index.php/about">proposal</a> to move rhinos to Australia (where they do not naturally occur) received support but also <a href="https://theecologist.org/2017/may/02/rhinos-should-be-conserved-africa-not-moved-australia">criticism</a>. Almost 1,000 white rhinos are already in captivity around the world and such projects arguably divert funds and expertise away from conservation efforts in the countries where rhinos naturally occur.</p>
<p>It’s important to consider how to support private rhino custodianship so that we don’t end up with more rhinos for sale that <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-01-16-private-and-communal-lands-conserve-half-of-africas-rhinos-and-call-for-adaptive-policies/">no one wants to buy</a>.</p>
<h2>Innovative solutions, partnerships</h2>
<p>A diversity of models and a <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2021-08-05-saving-private-rhino-we-must-reimagine-the-future-of-species-conservation-in-south-africa/">common vision</a> is needed to conserve thriving populations of rhinos across state, private and community land. </p>
<p>Rhinos should not unjustly burden those who serve as their custodians. Income from ecotourism and trophy hunting is insufficient under current poaching conditions and costs. How can the cost-benefit ratio of conserving rhinos be shifted?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Several rhinos are seen at a distance against the backdrop of grassland and a mountain" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527955/original/file-20230524-7504-w56bss.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527955/original/file-20230524-7504-w56bss.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527955/original/file-20230524-7504-w56bss.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527955/original/file-20230524-7504-w56bss.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527955/original/file-20230524-7504-w56bss.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527955/original/file-20230524-7504-w56bss.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527955/original/file-20230524-7504-w56bss.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">White rhinos on a large private game reserve in South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hayley Clements</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Legalising international horn trade would certainly shift the ratio, but there is <a href="https://africageographic.com/stories/will-legal-international-rhino-horn-trade-save-wild-rhino-populations/">strong pushback</a>. At best horn trade is a medium-term solution since international policy moves slowly.</p>
<p>Additional, nearer-term options include <a href="https://conservationnamibia.com/articles/cnam2020-wildlife-credits.php">rhino credits</a> and <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/03/23/wildlife-conservation-bond-boosts-south-africa-s-efforts-to-protect-black-rhinos-and-support-local-communities">impact bonds</a> – large-scale philanthropy that pays for conservation success. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.oneearth.org/how-restoring-key-wildlife-species-can-be-a-game-changing-climate-solution/">growing evidence</a> that wildlife populations can increase soil carbon – possibly enabling wildlife ranches to tap into carbon credit markets. The government can also recognise and support the role of rhino custodians through <a href="https://www.birdlife.org.za/what-we-do/important-bird-and-biodiversity-areas/what-we-do-ibas/fiscal-benefits-project/">tax incentives</a>. South Africa is a pioneer in biodiversity stewardship tax incentives, though they are currently only available to landowners who formally declare their land as protected. </p>
<p>Time is <a href="https://africageographic.com/stories/the-state-of-africas-rhino/">running out for rhinos</a>: more inclusive, equitable and innovative solutions are needed to support their conservation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205860/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hayley Clements receives funding from a Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Research Grant and Kone Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dave Balfour is a freelance ecologist and a member of the IUCN SSC African Rhino Specialist Group and Chairs the SADC Rhino Management Group. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Enrico Di Minin receives funding from the European Research Council – EU's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (grant agreement 802933).</span></em></p>To what extent should the costs of protecting globally valued rhinos be carried by their local custodians?Hayley Clements, Researcher, Stellenbosch UniversityDave Balfour, Freelance conservation ecologist, Nelson Mandela UniversityEnrico Di Minin, Associate Professor in Conservation Geography, University of HelsinkiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2053102023-05-23T13:57:46Z2023-05-23T13:57:46ZWorld’s oldest ‘Homo sapiens’ footprint identified on South Africa’s Cape south coast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526199/original/file-20230515-12409-7oogjm.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The oldest known footprint of our species, lightly ringed with chalk. It appears long and narrow because the trackmaker dragged their heel.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charles Helm</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Just over two decades ago, as the new millennium began, it seemed that tracks left by our ancient human ancestors dating back more than about 50,000 years were excessively rare. </p>
<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/worlds-oldest-homo-sapiens-footprint-identified-on-south-africas-cape-south-coast-205310&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p>Only four sites had been reported in the whole of Africa at that time. Two were from East Africa: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/278317a0">Laetoli in Tanzania</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/289167a0">Koobi Fora in Kenya</a>; two were from South Africa (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10420940802470482">Nahoon and Langebaan</a>). In fact the Nahoon site, reported in 1966, was the first hominin tracksite ever to be described.</p>
<p>In 2023 the situation is very different. It appears that people were not looking hard enough or were not looking in the right places. Today the African tally for dated hominin ichnosites (a term that includes both tracks and other traces) older than 50,000 years stands at 14. These can conveniently be divided into an East African cluster (five sites) and a South African cluster from the Cape coast (nine sites). There are a further ten sites elsewhere in the world including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088329">the UK</a> and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba8940">Arabian Peninsula</a>.</p>
<p>Given that relatively few skeletal hominin remains have been found on the Cape coast, the traces left by our human ancestors as they moved about ancient landscapes are a useful way to complement and enhance our understanding of ancient hominins in Africa.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10420940.2023.2204231">recently published article</a> in <em>Ichnos</em>, the international journal of trace fossils, we provided the ages of seven newly dated hominin ichnosites that we have identified in the past five years on South Africa’s Cape south coast. These sites now form part of the “South African cluster” of nine sites. </p>
<p>We found that the sites ranged in age; the most recent dates back about 71,000 years. The oldest, which dates back 153,000 years, is one of the more remarkable finds recorded in this study: it is the oldest footprint thus far attributed to our species, <em>Homo sapiens</em>.</p>
<p>The new dates corroborate the archaeological record. Along with other evidence from the area and time period, including the development of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11660">sophisticated stone tools</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.01.005">art</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.09.002">jewellery</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.07.011">harvesting of shellfish</a>, it confirms that the Cape south coast was an area in which early anatomically modern humans survived, evolved and thrived, before spreading out of Africa to other continents.</p>
<h2>Very different sites</h2>
<p>There are significant differences between the East African and South African tracksite clusters. The East African sites are much older: Laetoli, the oldest, is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9956-3_4">3.66 million years old</a> and the youngest is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-21158-7">0.7 million years old</a>. The tracks were not made by <em>Homo sapiens</em>, but by earlier species such as australopithecines, <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em> and <em>Homo erectus</em>. For the most part, the surfaces on which the East African tracks occur have had to be laboriously and meticulously excavated and exposed. </p>
<p>The South African sites on the Cape coast, by contrast, are substantially younger. All have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-22059-5%20https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2020/8156">been attributed</a> to <em>Homo sapiens</em>. And the tracks tend to be fully exposed when they’re discovered, in rocks known as aeolianites, which are the cemented versions of ancient dunes. </p>
<p>Excavation is therefore not usually considered – and because of the sites’ exposure to the elements and the relatively coarse nature of dune sand, they aren’t usually as well preserved as the East African sites. They are also vulnerable to erosion, so we often have to work fast to record and analyse them before they are destroyed by the ocean and the wind.</p>
<p>While this limits the potential for detailed interpretation, we can have the deposits dated. That’s where optically stimulated luminescence comes in.</p>
<h2>An illuminating method</h2>
<p>A key challenge when studying the palaeo-record – trackways, fossils, or any other kind of ancient sediment – is determining how old the materials are. </p>
<p>Without this it is difficult to evaluate the wider significance of a find, or to interpret the climatic changes that create the geological record. In the case of the Cape south coast aeolianites, the dating method of choice is often <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-earth-040610-133425">optically stimulated luminescence</a>.</p>
<p>This method of dating shows how long ago a grain of sand was exposed to sunlight; in other words, how long that section of sediment has been buried. Given how the tracks in this study were formed – impressions made on wet sand, followed by burial with new blowing sand – it is a good method as we can be reasonably confident that the dating “clock” started at about the same time the trackway was created. </p>
<p>The Cape south coast is a great place to apply optically stimulated luminescence. Firstly, the sediments are rich in quartz grains, which produce lots of luminescence. Secondly, the abundant sunshine, wide beaches and ready wind transport of sand to form coastal dunes mean any pre-existing luminescence signals are fully removed prior to the burial event of interest, making for reliable age estimates. This method has underpinned much of the dating of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.032">previous finds</a> <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248410001375?via%3Dihub">in the area</a>. </p>
<p>The overall date range of our findings for the hominin ichnosites - about 153,000 to 71,000 years in age – is consistent with ages in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.10.003">previously reported studies</a> from similar geological deposits in the region. </p>
<p>The 153,000 year old track was found in the Garden Route National Park, west of the coastal town of Knysna on the Cape south coast. The two previously dated South African sites, Nahoon and Langebaan, have yielded ages of about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10420940802470482">124,000 years and 117,000 years respectively</a>.</p>
<h2>Increased understanding</h2>
<p>The work of our research team, based in the African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, is not done. </p>
<p>We suspect that further hominin ichnosites are waiting to be discovered on the Cape south coast and elsewhere on the coast. The search also needs to be extended to older deposits in the region, ranging in age from 400,000 years to more than 2 million years.</p>
<p>A decade from now, we expect the list of ancient hominin ichnosites to be a lot longer than it is at present – and that scientists will be able to learn a great deal more about our ancient ancestors and the landscapes they occupied.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205310/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This was an area in which early anatomically modern humans survived, evolved and thrived, before spreading out of Africa to other continents.Charles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela UniversityAndrew Carr, Senior Lecturer, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.