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Post by Carlos on Jul 23, 2006 22:24:27 GMT
Evidence of a late extinction of the Northern Giant Long-horned Buffalo ( Pelorovis antiquus) at the end of the so called cultural "bovine period", some 4000 - 5000 years BP, in todays Sahara Desert: ennedi.free.fr/bubale.htm(translated from french) ..Another traditional trait is the presence of Bubalus antiquus, giant long-horned buffalo, wild bovid of spectacular appearance now dissapeared. This bovid had a spectacular horn set (a skull, found in an archelogical site shows a horn-span of 3.60 m) that quite undertandably gave an impression upon the engravers. First called Bubalus (where the name of this period comes) later Pelorovis antiquus, it could certainly be an ancestor of the present day African Buffalo, so that some authors propose the new name Syncerus caffer antiquus. For a long time, it has been considered that the Giant Long-horned Buffalo disappeared very soon, making its fossils an indicator of the oldest period. But recent findings (specially at Lybia, in the Aramat sector) of rock paintings of giant long-horned buffaloes in the styles of the final bovine period (Iheren-tahilahi style) allow the supposition that the wild giant long-horned buffalo has lived untill much more recent times, certainly up to the end of the Neolithic, and that it continued to be hunted by the peoples of the pastoral periods. |
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Post by another specialist on Jul 24, 2006 8:23:19 GMT
 Site 9 - Extinct Buffalo Site Klipkraal 9 consists of a scatter of small boulders widely dispersed around a very large central dolerite boulder on the flat western plateau north-east of Site 8 at an elevation of 1 060 m contour. There are almost no tools and few grinding patches, but there is a roughly circular house foundation and western-style crockery. There are 20 or more engraved rocks including ostrich, eland and a well executed pecked outline human figure. One rock has an incised equid that has only stripes on the head and hindquarters. It may represent the extinct quagga. One exceptional engraving at Klipkraal is of a 99 cm long large bovine that may represent the extinct Giant Buffalo, Pelorovis antiquus. First recorded by noted Northern Cape archaeologist Dr. Gerhard Fock in the 1960s, the Giant buffalo became extinct at some point between 2 000 – 12 000 years ago and this is a rare representation of an extinct animal in Bushman rock art. The grooved lines used to make the outline of this animal are most unusual. Below the buffalo is a similar kudu-like animal. There is also a more recent ostrich and two rubbed patches, a few geometrics and a partially legible sentence in Dutch. www.beaufortwestsa.co.za/Rockart.htm |
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Post by another specialist on Jul 24, 2006 8:24:56 GMT
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Post by another specialist on Jul 24, 2006 8:31:42 GMT
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Post by another specialist on Jul 24, 2006 8:38:28 GMT
 Unique rock engraving of extinct giant buffalo Pelorovis antiquus that died out 6000 years ago Nelspoort, central South Africa: Recent rock art research by Sven Ouzman and Gabriel Tlhapi of the National Museum's Rock Art Department has followed up a 1960s report of a Bushman rock engraving thought to represent an extinct animal. Located near Nelspoort, 65 km north-east of Beaufort West in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, is a vast engraved locale with hundreds of Bushman. KhoeKhoe and White settler engravings, gong rocks and associated cultural material. Among the many engravings is an enigmatic 99 cm long animal whose engraved lines have weathered over the millennia to a colour as black as the surrounding dolerite rock. First re-located by Dr. Gerhard Fock of the McGregor Museum in the 1960s and thought to represent an extinct animal known as Megalotragus, the current research project has more securely identified this singular Bushman rock engraving as a depiction of Pelorovis antiquus - a giant buffalo that weighed up to 2 000 kg and which had a 3 m hornspan. Pelorovis' physical remains are known from a number of localities, most notably Florisbad Research Station, 45 km north of Bloemfontein. The engraving's unusual and distinctive physical features make it a good bet that this is a rare Bushman depiction of an animal that became extinct some 6 000 years ago. This makes the engraving one of the few dated engravings in Southern Africa and one of the oldest being between 6 000 - 40 000 years old, though engraved slabs have been recovered from 10 000 year-old archaeological layers from Wonderwerk Cave near Kuruman. Other examples of extinct animals in Bushman rock art include the Bluebuck (Hippotragus leucophaeus), the Cape lion (Panthera leo melanochaitus) and the Quagga (Equus quagga). But the engraving is of interest not just to the research world, but also to the Street Children of Beaufort West. Rounded up by the town's city fathers (and they are all fathers) to prevent them `irritating' the tourists passing through the town, the two dozen street children have been placed in the care of Mr. Lawrence Rathenham of Restvale Primary School at Nelspoort. As part of their skills development programme, they are undergoing training as rock art custodians and guides. The unique Pelorovis engraving as well as the immense engraved richness that is Nelspoort has allowed these once feckless youths the opportunity to seek out the deep cultural heritage of their Karoo landscape, imbibe its flavours and with a bit of help from the National Museum's Rock Art Department, learn to know and appreciate the images under their custodianship and share it with visiting school groups and tourists. Though perhaps perceived as being on the periphery, places like Nelspoort are, in fact, at the centre of the ancient and radiant landscape that is Southern Africa - most encultured of all the world's landscapes. www.nasmus.co.za/rockart/news.HTM |
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Post by sordes on Apr 8, 2007 17:49:44 GMT
I think this is really a bit confusing. There are two different animals which are named Pelorovis. The one was this "Super"cape buffalo with giant horns which were curved upwards. This animal is often shown on cave-and rock art. Here is a very nice example, which was made about 4000 BC: aars.fr/art_style_a_fr.htmlIt is interesting that the surface of the horns was not smooth as in modern cape buffalos, but more rippled like in water buffalos. Two other nice examples: ennedi.free.fr/bubale.htmwww.futura-sciences.com/comprendre/d/dossier232-3.phpBut what is about the other bovine with the large downwards curved horns? This were surely two different animals.I found a picture of a rock painting, showing a hunter and such a beast (and it had an big "bearded" dewlap), but I don´t know how old it was. I wonder how many other members of the african continental megafauna also managed to survive in recent times. Native african rock art is really interesting, because you can discover there many highly spectacular beasts. |
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Post by another specialist on Apr 8, 2007 18:53:22 GMT
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Post by another specialist on Apr 8, 2007 18:56:10 GMT
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Post by another specialist on Apr 8, 2007 18:57:36 GMT
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Post by another specialist on Apr 21, 2007 11:03:38 GMT
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Post by another specialist on Apr 21, 2007 11:04:38 GMT
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Post by sordes on Apr 21, 2007 16:59:17 GMT
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Post by another specialist on Apr 21, 2007 21:27:22 GMT
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Post by sordes on Apr 22, 2007 10:53:44 GMT
I always wondered why some of the carvings show explicitely grooves on the base of the horns, because this is normally not found in cape buffalos but in water buffaloes. As P. antiquus was once named Bubalus antiquus (and so closer to water buffalos) I wondered if the re-naming was probably not correct. But yesterday I found out that a subspecies of the cape buffalo, the Sudan buffalo (Syncerus caffer brachyceros) has also such grooves at the outside of its horns. Perhaps P. antiquus looked more like a monster-version of P.c. brachyceros: www.fauna-safari-club.com/images/2007/Benin2007_1.jpg |
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Post by another specialist on Apr 25, 2007 19:44:50 GMT
At or near the end the Pleistocene, around 12,000 years ago, Africa’s megafauna experienced a final extinction episode which coincided, for reasons we’ll discuss in Part 4, with the catastrophic disappearance of the bulk of the megafauna of both Eurasia and the New World. This final spasm swept away the giant wildebeest Megalotragus, the large zebra Equus capensis, the African musk-ox Makapania, and the small steenbok-like antelope which I referred to as “Antidorcas” bondi. The long-horned buffalo Pelorovis antiquus also disappeared from Southern Africa at this time, but it seems have survived on the savannas of the interglacial Sahara until about five thousand years ago. www.megafauna.com/chapter12.htm |
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Post by sordes on May 10, 2007 12:58:59 GMT
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Post by another specialist on May 10, 2007 18:37:59 GMT
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Post by richardrli on May 14, 2007 2:12:54 GMT
Was this species the largest bovid ever? How did it compare to the gaur, aurochs and the extinct Bison Latifrons?
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Post by another specialist on May 14, 2007 13:03:59 GMT
Was this species the largest bovid ever? How did it compare to the gaur, aurochs and the extinct Bison Latifrons? Pelorovis antiquus - a giant buffalo that weighed up to 2 000 kg and which had a 3m hornspan. Gaur - Males often 1000 - 1500 kg / 2200 - 3300 lb, females 700 - 1000 kg / 1540 - 2200 lb. Weight vary between subspecies. Aurochs - weighed between 800 - 1000 kg / 1,763–2,204 lb. Bison Bison - weigh up to 2,400 lbs and Bison Latifrons weighed even more and had a hornspan the same roughly as Pelorovis antiquus. Bison Latifrons - |
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Post by dantheman9758 on May 15, 2007 2:25:24 GMT
2,000 kg? holy cow, can you site that source? It sounds like that might be too much
I've heard bison latifrons was possibly the largest bovid that ever existed and the weight estimates I've heard were about 3500 lbs for an adult male which is HUGE but that comes out to only about 1550 kg.
2000 kg is 4400 lbs, which I'm a little skeptical of (thats in the size range of a full grown white rhino... the 2nd largest type of living mammal on earth... only behind elephants). if you can site your source that'd be great, it would be even better if you could find how that source obtained or made this estimate.
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