Giant hyenas and oldest goat found according to a report in BBC News, 31 October 2007. Palaeontologists in Fonelas in the Granada region of southern Spain have found a “vast fossil hoard” containing about 4,000 fossils including 24 species of large mammal, eight species of small mammal, two species of reptile and one species of bird. Some of the animals are large creatures that no longer live in Europe, including giant hyenas, sabre-toothed cats, mammoths, an Asian wolf, lynx, zebras, gazelles and a giraffe resembling the modern day okapi. Among the European animals are wild boars and “the oldest goat ever found and the earliest badger discovered in Europe.”
The bones were remarkably well preserved. Alfonso Arribas, who directed the excavation, said the animals had been scavenged by giant hyenas, discarded and then rapidly buried. The palaeontologists claim the region where the fossils were found was a “crossroads where European animals mixed with species from Africa and Asia.” The fossils are believed to be 1.8 million years old and are being exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Cartagena in Spain.
Editorial Comment: A massive fossil graveyard containing well preserved, but chewed on animal bones from creatures that are now either extinct, smaller, or less widespread, is powerful evidence that the world was once a better place to live with a more even climate.
The fact that the oldest goat and earliest European badger are the same as living goats and badgers is evidence that since the time these rocks were laid down, these animals have reproduced after their kind – just as Genesis said they would. (Ref. giants, degeneration, catastrophe)
Evidence News 9 July 2008