Romala Govender, Curator Cenozoic Palaeontology, Iziko Museums of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa

 

Along the west coast of South Africa marine palaeoenvironments changed from the late Miocene to the early Pliocene. There were embayed areas, lagoonal, estuarine and rivers. The Benguela Upwelling System was well-established and supported a rich seal and cetacean fauna. The phocid (true) seal, Homiphoca, was analysed using landmark morphometrics which showed that there were three or more seals living off the coast 5Ma. The seals’ home range extended into the Northern Cape. They were capable of switching between feeding regimes, possibly affected by season and food availability and there is evidence of breeding colonies in the Langebaanweg area during this time. The cetaceans from the west coast are related to cetaceans from the Mediterranean, North Sea, North Atlantic, North and South eastern Pacific. The presence of young cetaceans suggests that there were potential breeding areas along the coast and which was possibly frequented by cow-calf pairings as well as other young animals. This may be linked to the presence of estuaries and lagoons along the coast.

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