Overview
- A new peer-reviewed study in Quaternary Research details fossils recovered by snorkeling an active stream in Bender’s Cave in Comal County.
- Finds include a giant tortoise, a pampathere (a large armadillo relative), a giant ground sloth, mastodons, camels, and saber-tooth cats not previously documented in Central Texas.
- Researchers John Moretti and John Young made six trips between March 2023 and November 2024, surveying 21 zones and collecting polished, rust-colored bones by hand.
- The team reports that the bones likely washed in together through sinkholes during floods, yet scarce datable material prevents precise age tests.
- Statistical comparisons align the cave’s fauna with known last-interglacial sites near Dallas and the Gulf Coast, signaling a potential first warm-interval record for Central Texas that outside experts call surprising.