Ancient mammal resembled a 20-pound groundhog, say scientists
Source: Christian Science Monitor and agencies
Ancient mammal resembled a 20-pound groundhog, say scientists
By Reuters, Associated Press NOVEMBER 6, 2014
A skull of an enormous ancient mammal could force us to rethink the evolutionary history of mammals, our own taxonomic order.
In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature, scientists report that they have discovered remains of a mammal that lived some 66 million years ago on what is today Madagascar. At about 20 pounds, it vastly outweighed nearly all other mammals of its era.
"It was a monster," David Krause of Stony Brook University in New York, who led the research team told the Associated Press. "It looks like a big groundhog."
Krause and colleagues named the creature Vintana sertichi. "Vintana" means "luck" in Malagasy, and was chosen because of the way the skull unexpectedly appeared as the scientists were doing a CT scan of a large sandstone block to look for fish fossils. "We were astounded to see a mammal skull staring back at us on the screen," Dr. Krause told Reuters.
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Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/1106/Ancient-mammal-resembled-a-20-pound-groundhog-say-scientists
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