page_title: Vulpes skinneri
section_title: Discovery
hierarchical_section_title: Vulpes skinneri / Discovery
caption_attribution_description: English: Matthew Berger moments after the discovery of the clavicle of Australopithecus sediba at the Malapa site, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa. Photo by Lee R. Berger
context_page_description: Vulpes skinneri is a species of extinct fox in the genus Vulpes of the early Pleistocene, identified based on fossil remains dated to about 2 million years ago. The species is known from a single partial skeleton discovered in the Malapa Fossil Site at the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa and is associated with the fossil hominin remains of Australopithecus sediba. The fossils have been dated to between 1.977 and 1.980 million years ago. Hartstone-Rose and colleagues described the remains as a newly discovered species of fox, which they named skinneri after the African mammalogist John Skinner. It dated from the early Pleistocene, and was identified based on fossil remains dated to about 2 million years ago.
context_section_description: The type specimen of V. skinneri was discovered during preparation of fossil bearing blocks from Malapa.  The find was announced to the public on January 16, 2013.
  Also found at the Malapa archeological site were a variety of animal fossils, including saber-toothed cats, mongooses, and antelopes. Berger and geologist Paul Dirks speculated that the animals might have fallen into a deep, 100–150-foot (30–46 m) "death-trap", perhaps lured by the scent of water. The bodies may have then been swept into a pool of water rich with lime, and with sand at the bottom, making it possible for the remains to become fossilized.
caption: Matthew Berger displays the fossil he found on the Malapa Nature Reserve
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