WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:11.919 Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Colin Lauva and I'm Alice Irasari. Spotlight uses 2 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:17.800 a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no 3 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:28.800 matter where in the world they live. In two thousand and eight, doctor 4 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:35.719 Heinrich Frank discovered something strange. He was driving home from his work at the 5 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:42.719 Federal University of Rio Grande do Souls. He noticed a hole in a building 6 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:48.600 area he drove by. He was a geologist, a person who studies the 7 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:56.280 earth and its minerals and structures. The tunnel interested him. It looked different 8 00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:03.920 from other tunnels in the area, so several days later he went to investigate 9 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:11.200 inside. The tunnel was different from anything he had seen before. Most caves 10 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:15.920 form when water flows underground. They do not go in a straight line, 11 00:01:15.239 --> 00:01:21.480 but this tunnel did. It went back into the hill for fifteen meters, 12 00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:26.920 and strangest of all, there were marks on the walls. They looked like 13 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:34.400 claw marks made by a huge animal. When Frank left the cave, he 14 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:40.480 did not know what he had found. Soon he understood that he had discovered 15 00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:49.000 his first paleo burrow. These ancient tunnels were made by prehistoric animals over ten 16 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:59.799 thousand years ago. Today's spotlight is on paleo burrows. We know about most 17 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:05.000 ancient animals through their fossils. The study of former life on the earth as 18 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:10.560 preserved in fossils is called paleontology. Usually fossils are the bones of an ancient 19 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:16.800 animal. These bones have turned to stone over time. Sometimes scientists are able 20 00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:23.520 to find other remains. Rarely, scientists may find animal droppings and even footprints. 21 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:29.560 But these paleo burrows, or ancient burrows, are new in the history 22 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:36.400 of the paleontology. These were an animal's home. A burrow is a hole 23 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:42.599 an animal digs in the ground as a living space or shelter. Through these 24 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:49.240 burrows, scientists can do more than picturing how the animals looked. They can 25 00:02:49.280 --> 00:02:54.000 study how an animal may have lived and worked. They can know more about 26 00:02:54.080 --> 00:03:01.039 the animal's social relationships. Each type of paleoborough would have been dug by a 27 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:07.280 different kind of animal. All of these burrow tunnels are very large. They 28 00:03:07.319 --> 00:03:12.759 are dug out of salad rock. It would take many animals working together a 29 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:21.919 long time to dig a burrow. One paleo burrow found in the Amazon is 30 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:29.199 over one hundred meters long and two meters high. Mina's Jureis is a state 31 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:36.479 in Brazil. There, scientists have found a paleo burrow with six tunnels forty 32 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:42.680 meters long. This burrow has a large cave in the middle. The cave 33 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:50.599 is four meters tall and ten meters across. Scientists think many animals digging for 34 00:03:50.840 --> 00:04:00.759 many generations made it so what creatures might dig a tan year after year for 35 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:06.400 their burrow. There are two possibilities, and both creatures may be responsible for 36 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:13.800 different kinds of paleo burrows. The first possibility is the lstodon. The Lstodon 37 00:04:14.039 --> 00:04:18.160 was a huge ground sloth. These sloths were different from the slow moving tree 38 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:24.399 climbers we know today. Picture a sloth that looks like a hamster, but 39 00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:29.519 with the size of an elephant. The leestodon was two meters tall and four 40 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:33.480 and a half meters long. It had huge, powerful claws on its hands 41 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:40.160 that it used for digging plants. The Lstodon probably dug the taller, wider 42 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:47.759 burrows. Another possible animal is the ancient armadillo. Like today's armadillos, they 43 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:55.240 had protective shells on their backs and heads, but on like today's armadillos, 44 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:02.079 they could grow unbelievably large. The biggest of these armadillos is called the Dodicorus. 45 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:08.319 The Doughdicarus was a meter and a half tall and three and a half 46 00:05:08.519 --> 00:05:14.959 meters long. It may have weighed fifteen hundred kilograms. It also had a 47 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:19.319 large spiked club on the end of its tail. It was the size of 48 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:27.279 a small car. Scientists believe these animals built the shorter burrows, but they 49 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:32.560 may have made longer, more complex ones. Also. One great mystery about 50 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:39.720 paleo burros is where these are found. Giant ground slots and ancient armadillos lived 51 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:45.680 throughout North and South America, but scientists have only found paleo burrows in South 52 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:49.959 America. Most are in Brazil, in the states of Santa Catarina and Rio 53 00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:56.839 Grande do Sous. These findings may be because most scientists studying paleo boros live 54 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:02.040 in Brazil, but these scientists also search in other places. But Brazil seems 55 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:08.480 to have the most of these prehistoric burroughs. We just do not know why. 56 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:17.560 Greg MacDonald is a scientist who studies ancient ground sloths. He is from 57 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:26.959 North America. He spoke to discover magazine about North America's lack of paleo burroughs. 58 00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:30.639 The fact that we do not have them here could be that we have 59 00:06:30.680 --> 00:06:35.040 not found them, or it may be that we had them up here, 60 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:40.959 but we did not have the right kind of soil that let them survive for 61 00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:49.040 a long time. Another mysterious thing about paleo burrows is the size. Huge 62 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:55.800 animals made these tunnels, but most scientists believe the tunnel's sides is greater than 63 00:06:55.879 --> 00:07:01.519 necessary. Scientists use the example of the giant arms. The giant armadillo is 64 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:06.399 the largest kind of armadillo alive today. They can grow up to a meter 65 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:14.120 long. Large ones can weigh almost fifty kilograms. Like ancient armadillos, today's 66 00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:20.519 giant armadillos make tunnels. These modern tunnels are usually forty centimeters around. Modern 67 00:07:20.600 --> 00:07:26.759 armadillo tunnels can be about four and a half meters long, but paleo burrows 68 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:30.480 have been found more than one hundred meters long. Of course, ancient animals 69 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:35.839 that dug these tunnels were bigger than a modern armadillo, but these paleo burrows 70 00:07:35.879 --> 00:07:43.680 are larger than a single ancient armadillo or sloth would need. Why were many 71 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:49.439 of these paleo burrows so large. The creatures that built paleo burrows may have 72 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:57.519 had very complex behaviours. They may have worked together to create huge structures. 73 00:07:58.079 --> 00:08:03.720 They may have used these boro to shelter from the cold, or they may 74 00:08:03.720 --> 00:08:11.319 have hidden there from other animals. Scientists today are imagining the lives of these 75 00:08:11.560 --> 00:08:20.040 ancient animals. Regrettably, paleo boroughs are in danger. The study of these 76 00:08:20.120 --> 00:08:24.839 ancient tunnels is new, the money for research is limited, few scientists have 77 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:31.319 the chance to study them. Paleo boroughs are also in danger from modern technology. 78 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:35.720 Often people find these during building projects. By the time they know they 79 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:41.759 are digging into a paleo borough, parts are already destroyed. People build highways 80 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:46.720 and houses on these ancient boroughs, making it difficult to study what is below. 81 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:58.919 Still, scientists hope more people will soon understand how important paleo burroughs are. 82 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:05.320 Are trying to raise understanding. One day we may be able to learn 83 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:13.720 more about the unbelievable creatures that built these burrows. Do you remember doctor Heinrich 84 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:18.600 Frank From the beginning of the program. Since his first discovery, he has 85 00:09:18.679 --> 00:09:22.960 become an expert in paleo boroughs. He and his team have found almost two 86 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:30.279 thousand of paleo boroughs and he supports the idea of studying these mysterious structures. 87 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:37.559 He spoke to the world about why these are so important. You can remake 88 00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:41.639 the home of a prehistoric animal. This research does not exist in any kind 89 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:46.639 of ancient animal studies. You have the dinosaurs, you have their bones, 90 00:09:48.279 --> 00:09:52.559 but you do not know where they lived. But we find the homes of 91 00:09:52.679 --> 00:10:01.440 ancient animals. Our group is working in a new area. Do you like 92 00:10:01.639 --> 00:10:09.039 ancient animals? What is your favorite dinosaur or ancient mammal? Why? We 93 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:13.039 want to hear your thoughts. You can leave a comment on our website or 94 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:20.559 email us at Radio at Radio English dot net. You can also comment on 95 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:30.039 Facebook at Facebook dot com slash Spotlight Radio. The writer of this program was 96 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:35.679 Dan Christman. The producer was Michio Osaki. The voices you heard were from 97 00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:41.440 the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program 98 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:46.360 and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again and read it 99 00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:54.000 on the internet at www dot Spotlight English dot com. This program is called 100 00:10:54.360 --> 00:11:00.559 Brazil's Most Mysterious Tunnels. We hope you can join us again for the next 101 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:05.080 Spotlight program. Goodbye, M.