The West Coast Fossil Park is a fossil park near Langebaanweg, Western Cape, South Africa, approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) north of Cape Town.[1] The fossil sites of Langebaanweg have exceptionally well-preserved remains of fossil fauna that date to circa 5.2 million years ago.[2] In this period, sea levels were higher and many now extinct animals lived in the riverine forests, wooded savanna and along the sea coast near the present day Langebaanweg site. Phosphate mining operations at Langebaanweg uncovered these rich fossil deposits. The fossils include bones of over 200 different animal species. This represents possibly the greatest diversity of five-million-year-old fossils found anywhere in the world.[3] The fossil park was formed after mining operations ceased in 1993.[4] The park is partnered with the Iziko South African Museum.
In 1996, the former National Monuments Council declared the site a national monument.[5] With the introduction of the National Heritage Resources Act in 2000, it became a provincial heritage site and in March 2012 the provincial heritage resources authority, Heritage Western Cape significantly expanded the area that is protected.[6]
^"West Coast Fossil Park website". Iziko Museums of Cape Town. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
^Hendey, Q. B. (1982). Langebaanweg: A Record of Past Life. Cape Town: South African Museum. p. 72. ISBN 0868130176.
^Haarhoff, Pippa (2007). "The West Coast Fossil Park: Incorporating the Langebaanweg Palaeontological Site". DST Magazine. 5. Pretoria: Department of Science & Technology: 20–21. Archived from the original on 2012-02-14.
^"About the West Coast Fossil Park". Iziko Museums of Cape Town. Archived from the original on 2008-04-25. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
^Government Notice 17457, 4 October 1996
^Provincial Notice 69/2012,Province of the Western Cape Provincial Gazette Extraordinary, No. 606, Cape Town: 23 March 2012
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as well as a mousebird and a diving petrel. The WestCoastFossilPark includes displays of fossils found in a former phosphate mine. Brett Hendey, formally...
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classified in, for C. bauri, C. willistoni, and C. longicollis. An amateur fossil collector working for Cope, David Baldwin, had found the first remains of...
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mustelids (Mammalia, Carnivora, Mustelidae) from Langebaanweg fossil site (WestCoastFossilPark, South Africa, early Pliocene)". PeerJ. 8: e9221. doi:10...
1994 for its extensive fossil record when the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List, along with Riversleigh. The park preserves 6 km2 of remnant...
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mustelids (Mammalia, Carnivora, Mustelidae) from Langebaanweg fossil site (WestCoastFossilPark, South Africa, early Pliocene)". PeerJ. 8: e9221. doi:10...
national monument in 1944, and named Harrison's Park. The park is on the busy Main Reef Road, immediately west of Nasrec Road. In 1887 Cecil John Rhodes registered...
"V. Researches on the structure, organization, and classification of the fossil reptilia.—III. On parts of the skeleton of a mammal from Triassic rocks...
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The Jean and Ric Edelman FossilPark, located in Mantua Township, New Jersey, consists of a 66-million-year-old 6-inch (150 mm) bone bed set into a 65-acre...
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contains no fossils. The Peninsula formation can be traced from 300 km north of Cape Town (i.e. about 50 km north of Vanrhynsdorp on the WestCoast), southwards...
recovered from UEF deposits in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. Euskelosaurus fossils are more common in the LEF while Massospondylus are only found...
amniote-type fossil embryos of Mesosaurus in an advanced stage of development (i.e. fetuses) have been discovered in Uruguay and Brazil. These fossils are the...
but were discovered living off the coast of South Africa in 1938. The coelacanth was long considered a "living fossil" because scientists thought it was...
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Boskop Man Homo naledi Panthera shawi Vulpes skinneri Other Cradle of Humankind Planolites Scylacorhinus WestCoastFossilPark Waterloo Farm lagerstätte...
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River basin and managed by the National Park Service, the park is known for its well-preserved layers of fossil plants and mammals that lived in the region...
vertebrates, accounting for as many as 95% of the total individuals in some fossil beds. Researchers have offered various hypotheses for why Lystrosaurus survived...
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