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A cavern in Spain may have lured ancient carnivores to their deaths by offering the promise of food and water, new research suggests.
The new study, published May 1 in the journal PLOS ONE, may explain how the carcasses of several carnivore species, including saber-toothed cats and “bear dogs,” wound up in an underground cavern millions of years ago.
“Only the carnivores were daring enough to enter,” said study co-author M. Soledad Domingo, a paleontologist at the University of Michigan. “But they were unable to make their way out.”
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The researchers reconstructed the history of the cave. Sediments from the surface fell through fissures in the Earth and formed the cave. Young predators were lured in by the promise of food or water, but became trapped. The smell of their rotting carcasses would then attract other predators. Over time, the cave was filled in by flooding, until it became hidden from view.
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