"The Gats River Fossil Site, in the riverbed at Nieu Bethesda, where rocks of the late Permian Dicynodont Assemblage Zone of the Karoo Supergroup are well exposed, has yielded numerous important fossils, in particular fossils of mammal-like reptiles(therapsids). These fossils represent an evolutionary stage when reptilian and mammalian lineages split, giving rise to the ancestors of mammals, and the remote ancestors of humankind. Fossil taxa that have been collected from the site include Youngina capenis, Dicynodon leoniceps, Oudenodon baini, Cynosaurus kitching, lctidosuchops intermedius, Theriognathus, and Procynosuchus delaharpeae.
This site already serves as an educational experience for locals, the growing number of visitors to the town as well as geology and palaeontology students that include this site in their field trips due to its potential of easily finding new significant fossils and understanding palaeoenvironmental features."
