Scientists finally explain the strange staircases on hillsides
Researchers from CU Boulder have used computer simulations to prove that grazing animals like cows are responsible for the regular, staircase-like patterns known as terracettes on hillsides. The study suggests that animals create these patterns by balancing energy expenditure against the reward of finding fresh grass.
Why it matters
This discovery resolves a long-standing geological mystery, demonstrating how animal behavior can actively shape natural landscapes.
Steep grassy hillsides in many parts of the world are striped with narrow, level steps, known as terracettes. They have puzzled observers for well over a century.
Each step has a flat tread and a sloped riser, stacked in long bands that trace the contour of the hill.
From a distance the effect looks almost engineered, which is a big part of why it has been so hard to pin down.
They turn up in all sorts of places, from dry grasslands to alpine meadows . Wherever the ground is steep and grazed, the steps tend to appear.
For a long time the leading explanation blamed gravity. Soil, the argument went, creeps slowly downhill and buckles into steps across long stretches of time.
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