Text* taken from Diário de Notícias das Ihlas (Island News Daily), November 10th 2021.

*Translated from Portuguese

A new fossil discovery challenges the idea that the first mammals in the Papagaios Islands – except for visiting seals or dolphins - were humans and the livestock they brought with them. 

Discovered in eastern Verde and dated to five million years ago, the fossil shows a series of footprints made by an animal running in the sand. The footprints are unlike any made by reptiles or birds - the islands’ more common inhabitants - and Dr Bea Pedra, who has been studying the find, believes the footprints to belong to a mammal. 

“The shape of the footprint is mammalian without a doubt,” Dr Pedra told us. “The rounded footpads, like those you might see on a cat or a dog, are distinct from the footprints of other animals living on the islands at the time.”

Dr Pedra goes on to say that the animal’s five toes on each foot suggest that it is a shrew, or close relative, as rodents such as mice, while having similarly sized footprints, only have four toes.

“There are shrews living in West Africa and the Canary Islands. It is possible that some drifted over to the Papagaios on a raft of vegetation. We know that is how the early lizards arrived here, and many animals find their way to distant islands in the same way.”

It was not a carefree life for these ancient shrew pioneers after their boat made landfall as the islands were rife with predators.

Dr Pedra described how the footprints tell a story - if you know how to read it.

“The footprints start of close together, the animal walking slowly, perhaps emerging from cover and checking for predators. They then become further apart, suggesting the animal was speeding up to a normal walking speed.”

It is now that the story takes a dark turn.

“The footprints then gather in one place, the animal is sniffing the ground or eating something. It takes a few more steps and is then dragged away, and the fossil trackway ends.”