Vale appeals decision to protect paleoburrow in BH – 8/3/2023 – Science

The mining company Vale decided to appeal the decision to protect an area containing a paleoburrow that is at least 10,000 years old in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais.

Known for being a paleontological site (with remains of animals that lived in the past) and speleological (due to the importance of the caves for the region), Paleotoca Caeté had tunnels, excavated halls and marks on the walls compatible with two-toed sloths.

The paleoburrow is located in the Serra do Gandarela region, close to the national park, and is 340 meters high. The cavity is about 40 kilometers from BH, within the property of the mining company Vale. The company itself publicized this and other speleological sites in the region last week.

According to the decision of the judge of the 2nd court of Caeté Grazziela Maria de Queiroz Peixoto, on June 13, the area needs full protection because “there is evidence of the existence of records of extinct megafauna in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero”, thus making it necessary measures “aimed at geoconservation, preventing useful damage and risk to the integrity of the cultural property”.

According to Vale, a licensing study called Projeto Apolo, by the mining company, confirmed the location as shelter, reproduction and food for extinct animals. The presence of nail marks of a two-toed sloth (possibly a giant sloth) was verified, thus guaranteeing the characterization as a paleoburrow.

In the same study, the existence of another 69 cavities was observed. Determining the exact age of the site can help identify which animals eventually used the caves as shelter.

According to the TJMG (Minas Gerais Court of Justice), the mining company filed declaratory embargoes and asked for the suspensive effect of court orders. The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Minas Gerais) said it is preparing a response to Vale’s appeal.

In a note, the company said it had appealed to clarify points of the decision and that the paleoburrow has been preserved and under its care since 2010. “Today, there are about 40 hectares protected around the cavity, more than twice as much as required by law .”

The report asked Iphan (Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage) what protective measures would be for the site in question, but the agency did not respond until the publication of this text.

The Secretary of State for the Environment and Development said that the paleoburrow has been known to the scientific community and the environmental agency for a long time and “that the cavities are protected according to their ‘relevance’ classification, through objective criteria determined by the federal norms of Ibama/Cecav”.

“Thus, those classified as ‘maximum relevance’ are legally protected and cannot be subject to irreversible impacts, such as those arising from undertakings, mining, dams, roads and others,” he said in a note.

“It is important to consider that other forms of environmental protection can also be established, such as RPPNs (private reserves of natural heritage) and the institution of legal reserves. In addition, the protection of assets that constitute archaeological or paleontological heritage also takes place through of the corresponding listing institute, in charge of Iphan.”

In a second contact, TJMG told the report that other questions should be asked to the company’s lawyer, Ricardo Carneiro. By message, Carneiro told Sheet who is only an external lawyer for the company and cannot be legally responsible for the company’s decision.

What were paleoburrows

The paleoburrows are underground shelters that were used by already extinct animals for refuge, reproduction or food. The identification of paleoburrows in a common cave is based on the presence of remains or traces of these animals, such as bones, teeth, nail marks or fossilized poop (coprolites).

Before the last Ice Age, at least 10,000 years ago, almost all of Brazil was home to animals of the so-called American megafauna. They were members of lineages that today include sloths, armadillos and tapirs. Among the megafauna animals, the most famous is the giant sloth (megatherium). In North America, saber-toothed tigers (genus Smilodon) and the mammoth (genus mammuthus).

“I believe that protection could consist of building a fence, leaving an area for visitation and using the area surrounding the paleoburrow”, says paleontologist Cástor Cartelle, professor at the Museum of Natural Sciences at PUC Minas.

According to him, however, it is likely that the Caeté paleoburrow was not excavated by a giant sloth due to its size. “I can’t imagine how an animal up to six meters tall would dig tunnels 30 meters long, it would have to enter ‘in reverse’, and an animal like that can’t go back inside. More likely it was used as a temporary refuge or to sharpen their claws,” he said.

The marks may also indicate the presence of other animals in the region, including members of the Cervidae family (deer).