# Eagle involvement in accumulation of the Taung child fauna > Who killed the Taung child? The first ape-man fossil ever found, a toddler about 3 to 4 years old, was long thought to belong to a cave of bone-smashing hunters. By comparing feeding damage on the fossils with bones from beneath modern eagle nests, Berger and Clarke argued that the killer was a large eagle. Summary by Kersey Lawrence, Original Wisdom. Updated 5 November 2026. Page: https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/1995-berger-clarke-eagle-involvement-accumulation-taung/ ## Citation and access - **Authors:** L.R. Berger, R.J. Clarke - **Year published:** 1995 - **Journal or source:** Journal of Human Evolution 29(3): 275–299 - **Full citation:** Berger, L.R., and Clarke, R.J. 1995. Eagle involvement in accumulation of the Taung child fauna. Journal of Human Evolution 29(3): 275–299. - **DOI:** https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1995.1060 - **Access status:** Publisher link only - **Where to find it:** https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1995.1060 ## Tags - **Species:** Mammals > Australopithecus africanus; Birds > Crowned eagle; Birds > Martial eagle; Birds > Verreaux’s eagle - **Region:** Africa > South Africa - **Tracking:** Bones; Feeding signs; Tracking; Tracks and signs identification - **Behaviour and ecology:** Behaviour; Bone accumulation; Feeding; Nesting; Predation; Scavenging - **Methods and technology:** Body-size comparison; Bone damage analysis; Minimum number of individuals (MNI) - **Data type:** Existing data; New field data; Review - **Observer qualification:** Not reported - **Discipline:** Behaviour and ecology; Palaeoanthropology; Taphonomy - **Year published:** 1995 ## Detailed keywords - **Species:** Studied: crowned eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus), black eagle, also called Verreaux’s eagle (Aquila verreauxii), and martial eagle (Polemaetus bellicosus), as possible collectors of bones; the Taung child (Australopithecus africanus), a 3 to 4 year old infant. Fossil fauna at Taung, mostly small animals: hyraxes (Procavia antiqua, P. transvaalensis), small extinct baboons and monkeys (Papio izodi, Parapapio broomi, P. antiquus, Cercopithecoides williamsi), spring hare (Pedetes gracilis), giant sand moles (Gypsorhychus), many rodents, shrews, elephant shrews, a bat, tortoises (Chelonia), a terrapin (Pelomedusa), birds and large eggshells, and crab parts. Larger animals are known only from isolated fragments: leopard (Panthera cf. pardus), small antelopes, a pig (Notochoerus), a buffalo (Syncerus) and nyala (Tragelaphus cf. angasi). Prey and remains from eagle nests: vervet monkey, samango monkey, colobus monkeys, mangabeys, blue monkeys, young chacma baboons, rock and yellow-spotted hyraxes, bushbuck, duikers, grysbok, steenbok, klipspringer, hares, cane rat, civet, genets, mongooses, monitor lizards, game birds, warthog, aardwolf, tortoises. Compared bone collectors: brown hyena (Hyaena brunnea), spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), leopard (Panthera pardus), Cape porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis), Cape eagle owl (Bubo capensis), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos, for tortoise dropping). Scavenged by black eagles: an adult blesbok ram (Damaliscus dorcas). - **Location and habitat:** Fossil site: Buxton Limeworks near Taung, South Africa (the Dart and Hrdlička pinnacles), caverns in tufa, not dolomite. Modern nest collections: beneath a crowned eagle nest at Nature’s Valley, Cape (collection of G. Avery); beneath a black eagle nest at Gladysvale, John Nash Nature Reserve; crowned eagle nests from published lists at the Levubu River (Kruger National Park), Soutpansberg, Mariepskop, Sabie and Barberton. Comparison sites: Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Makapansgat, Kromdraai and Gladysvale fossil sites; hyena lairs at Tweeputkoppies, Kalahari, Kasperdraai and Urikaruus; leopard lairs at Portsmut, Hakos, Quartzburg and John Nash Nature Reserve; leopard lairs in the Mount Suswa Caves, Kenya. - **Topics:** taphonomy, early hominin fossils, raptor predation on primates and on human children, bone accumulation by predators, bone damage patterns (talon punctures, depressed fractures, removed skull bases, v-shaped beak nicks), comparison of raptor, leopard, hyena and porcupine bone collections, prey body size, nest sites, tortoise dropping, scavenging of carnivore kills, history of the “killer ape” hypothesis. - **Statistics or models:** None. Descriptive comparisons: species grouped by adult body weight (small 0.01–2 kg, medium 2–20 kg, large over 20 kg) and shown as percentages for each site; minimum number of individuals and bone counts. - **Data type:** New observations: the authors examined Taung fossils, the Nature’s Valley crowned eagle nest collection, and bones collected beneath the Gladysvale black eagle nest; they also report a 1992 observation of black eagles feeding on a blesbok carcass. Existing data: published prey lists from eagle nests, hyena lairs and leopard lairs, and Taung faunal lists. Review: the paper also reviews earlier ideas and the published eagle behaviour literature. ## Synopsis ### 1. What they did The Taung child, found in 1924 at a lime quarry near Taung, South Africa, was the first ape-man fossil ever discovered. The bones found with it are unusual: almost all are of small animals, and many skulls are damaged. Early scientists, including Raymond Dart, believed the ape-men themselves had hunted these animals and smashed their skulls. Later researchers suggested a leopard, other carnivores or water had brought the bones together. Berger and Clarke tested a different idea: that a large eagle collected the Taung bones, including the child. They reviewed the history of the Taung fauna and the hunting and feeding habits of three large African eagles: the crowned, martial and black eagles. They compared the Taung bones with bone collections from beneath modern eagle nests, and with published lists from hyena and leopard lairs. Then they looked for eagle feeding damage on the fossil skulls. ### 2. What they found Size of the animals - The Taung fauna is dominated by small species of under 2 kg. Every animal over 20 kg is known only from isolated fragments, which could have been carried in already dismembered, as eagles do with large prey. - The other South African ape-man sites (Sterkfontein, Makapansgat, Swartkrans) are dominated by large species, like modern leopard and hyena lairs. - At four South African crowned eagle nest sites, small mammals made up over 40% of species, and over 50% at three of them. That pattern matches Taung. - Of 87 antelope bones from crowned eagle nests, 91% were from young animals. Condition of the skulls - Many Taung skulls are fairly complete, and some, including the Taung child, still have the lower jaw attached. - There are no carnivore tooth marks, no porcupine gnaw marks and no “eaten out” antelope carcasses. - Leopards and hyenas almost always chew skulls, and leopards usually separate the lower jaw. Articulated skulls with jaws are often found beneath eagle nests. Eagle-type damage on the fossils - Several fossil baboon skulls have holes punched through the braincase, depressed flaps of bone about 1 cm wide, removed skull bases, and v-shaped nicks along broken edges. - These match talon and beak damage on modern monkey, baboon and hyrax skulls from beneath eagle nests. - On the Taung child’s skull, fragments of the braincase appear to be pushed into the natural brain cast, a depression like those eagles make. - The damage could not have come from rockfall, because the caverns formed in tufa with no rock falls. Other clues - Tortoise shells without carnivore damage: black and martial eagles take tortoises, and a pair of golden eagles took 84 in 119 days, dropping them from 30–60 m. - Large bird eggshells, described as “the size of a goose egg”, suggest large birds nested nearby. - In over 70 years of searching, including nearly 6 years of intensive excavation, no other hominin has been found at Taung, unlike the other ape-man sites. - The bones are in pristine condition and there are no rounded stream cobbles, which argues against water carrying them far. The eagles - Crowned eagle: wingspan often over 1.9 m. Takes antelope up to 30 kg (bushbuck), and primates are favoured prey. It can lift prey heavier than itself, and dismembers and caches heavy prey. One attacked a 7-year-old child of about 20 kg in Zambia, and part of a child’s skull was found in a nest in Zimbabwe. Usually nests in tall trees (12–30 m), sometimes on cliffs. - Martial eagle: Africa’s largest eagle, wingspan over 2.5 m. Takes monitor lizards, game birds, hares, mongooses and small antelope. Has nested in potholes in cliffs in Angola. - Black eagle: wingspan about 2 m. Hyraxes can make up as much as 98% of its prey, but it also takes vervet monkeys, young baboons, bushbabies, small antelope up to about 15 kg, and tortoises. It nests on rock ledges and in small caves, sometimes for over 30 years. At Gladysvale in 1992, about 50 scientists watched a pair feed on a blesbok ram that had apparently been killed by a leopard, showing how scavenging can add large-animal bones to an eagle collection. - Black eagle feeding: it eats from the head and breaks through the palate to the brain. For large hyraxes, often only the skull, a few vertebrae and the pelvis remain. ### 3. What they concluded - The size of the animals and the damage to the Taung bones fit a large eagle, not any known mammal bone collector. - The authors suggest a large eagle killed and collected the Taung child and much of the fauna. The crowned eagle is a likely candidate: nyala in the fauna suggest a wetter, more wooded past at Taung that could have suited a forest eagle. An extinct eagle species is also possible. - Not every Taung fossil need come from eagles; other agents may have contributed. - The authors expect that no adult ape-man will ever be found in these deposits, and that the collection of the Taung child was most likely a one-off event. - Studying the fossil eggshells might identify the eagle. ### 4. How tracking was or was not used The study rests on reading feeding signs on bones. No tracks or trailing were involved. The authors compared the damage on the fossils with feeding damage on bones from beneath modern eagle nests and with published descriptions of leopard, hyena and porcupine damage. The signs they used: - Eagle signs: holes and depressed fractures in the braincase from talons; skull bases removed to reach the brain; crushed skulls and distorted jaws; v-shaped nicks from the beak along broken edges; skulls left whole with the lower jaw still attached. - Signs ruled out: carnivore tooth scars and punctures, chewed ends of long bones, chewed jaws, “eaten out” antelope carcasses (leopard and hyena); chisel-shaped gnaw marks (porcupine). - Damage from other causes: blasting at the quarry and the chipping of the rock around the fossils by tools during preparation. - Other signs: tortoise shells without carnivore damage; large eggshells; one field observation of eagles scavenging a leopard kill. ### 5. Tracker or observer certification Not reported. The authors are palaeoanthropologists, and no qualification in tracks and signs interpretation is described. The conclusions rest on their reading of bone damage. ### 7. Implications for conservation (from the paper) None stated. The paper is about the fossil record, and it shows how large eagles act as major predators of primates and small antelope, a role similar to that of medium-sized carnivores. ### 8. Implications for tracking (Original Wisdom's observations) _These are Original Wisdom's observations, not the authors'._ Feeding signs on bones can show who the predator was: talon punctures, removed skull bases and beak nicks for eagles, against chewed bone ends and tooth scars for leopards and hyenas, and gnaw marks for porcupines. The paper shows that this kind of sign reading can resolve questions about the deep past. Bone collections beneath raptor nests are also a source of feeding signs for trackers to learn from. ## Cite this summary Lawrence, K. 2026. Summary of: Eagle involvement in accumulation of the Taung child fauna (Berger and Clarke, 1995). Original Wisdom, Tracking Literature. https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/1995-berger-clarke-eagle-involvement-accumulation-taung/