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The mammal would have lived during the Cretaceous Period and was part of a group of mammals called gondwanatherianos, which are named after the supercontinent Gondwana.
The group’s previous fossils only contained teeth, so the new fossil has helped scientists understand what they looked like.
Mammals in the period were originally thought to be the size of mice to help them survive among dinosaurs, but the fossil has been compared to the size of a cat.
Scientists estimated that it weighed about 3 kg, but had not yet reached its full adult size.
They believe that its large claws and sturdy legs would have allowed it to dig into the ground to avoid predatory creatures and Evans compared it to Australian marsupials.
The study’s lead author, David Krause, said the mammal was “flamboyant.”
The mammal has a strange snout, its teeth were unlike anything they had ever seen before, its spine had more vertebrae than any other Mesozoic, and one of its leg bones was curiously curved.
“Its many uniquely strange features defied explanation in terms of relationships with other mammals. In this sense, it was a ‘crazy beast’,” he told Reuters.
Gondwanathers were first thought to be related to sloths, anteaters, and armadillos, but “now it is known that they were part of a great evolutionary experiment, doing their own thing, an experiment that failed and became extinct in the Eocene, approximately 45 million years ago.” years ago, “Krause said in a press release.
