Carnivore Death Cave: Scientists Found Remains That Belong to Meat-Eating Animals That May Be 10 Million Years Old

Scientists believe that the remains found in a cave, which has become known as the carnivore death cave, resulted from the animals being lured into the cave, where they became trapped millions of years ago, according to the Inquisitr.

Thousands of animals became trapped in the cave, and found no means of escape, with a larger number of the fossils found belonging to carnivores rather than herbivores, giving the cave its name.

The remains were discovered by researchers in the Cerro de los Batallones cave system in Spain. It is more common to find a majority of fossils belonging to herbivores, making this particular site a rarity, where the majority of fossils are carnivorous.

Almost 98 percent of all the fossils found inside the carnivore death cave belong to meat-eating animals, according to a new study. The remains included red pandas, saber-toothed cats and what they scientists call "bear dogs."

Among the remains, scientists also found animals related to modern elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses and horses.

"Only the carnivores were daring enough to enter," M. Soldedad Domingo, the study co-author and a University of Michigan paleontologist, offered as an explanation for the findings. "But they were unable to make their way out."

The cave area was discovered when miners came across it while digging outside of Madrid in 1991. They called in paleontologists after realizing that the cave contained a large number of fossils.

Scientists believe the cave system was formed almost 10 million years ago. They posit that there was an opening, which lured the carnivorous animals inside, where many of them became trapped and died.

The scientists have discovered almost 18,000 fossils, many of which belong to animals that were previously unknown to scientists before the discovery of the cave.

It is still unclear when the cave was filled in. Paleontologists are continuing to investigate the area to learn more about the cave system and the animals that were inside it.