A Leopard's Ancient Kill

This skull-cap, of an Australopithecus robustus child, reveals two holes at the back of the skull which match well with the lower canines of a leopard, and it seems likely that this particular individual fell victim to a large cat. The fragmentary fossil skullcap displayed here shows clear evidence of having been bitten, probably by a leopard. The specimen was found in the 1.5-1.6 million year old cave breccia at Swartkrans, in the Transvaal, southern Africa. This deposit has yielded a large number of hominid and other fossil mammal bones, many showing signs of carnivore damage.