Come and meet the Beasts of the Cradle
Come along and see this fascinating showcase at the Cradle of Humankind Visitor Centre, Maropeng.
Predators always have been in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site – from huge sabre-toothed cats and giant hyenas, to the smallest carnivores and snakes.
Predators, whether primary hunting carnivores or scavengers, also have played an important part in the ecology of the region.
Until the end of November, Maropeng is housing the Beasts of the Cradle exhibition where you can learn all about these fossil animals that may have hunted, and even killed, our ancient relatives.
They would have interacted freely with our ancient relatives, often seeing them as nothing more than prey to be hunted, like any other animal. Interactions with such fearsome beasts, and surviving in their presence may even have been a driving force in the evolution of survival strategies in our lineage.
Even today predators such as leopards, brown hyenas, caracal, jackals and many other carnivores roam freely in the areas protected by the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. Despite this protection, the region is threatened highly by human incursion and development and many species are under threat.
There has been debate as to how dominant ancient hominins would have been on the environment. With such fearsome predators as the giant hyena, Pachycrocuta, or the enormous sabre-toothed cat, Homotherium, not to mention the presence of more familiar predators such as lions and leopards, the ancient world early hominins had to survive in an environment that could not have been an easy one. How did they survive such a fearsome and potentially deadly world?
This exhibition looks at just this, how our ancient relatives lived among these beasts and why some of them don’t exist today. Come along and see this fascinating showcase at the Cradle of Humankind Visitor Centre, Maropeng.
Visitors will receive 25 per cent off tickets purchased at the Maropeng Visitor Centre.
For more information visit the website https://www.maropeng.co.za/ or call 014 577 9000.
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