Around 5.1 million years ago, fascinating and now extinct animals like sabre-toothed cats, wolverines and short-necked giraffe roamed the west coast of South Africa. The fossils of these species came to light after metres of concealing sand was removed during phosphate mining more than half a century ago. This took place in an area known as Langebaanweg, a region which lies on Africa’s south west coast, 150km north of Cape Town.