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(article updated at 12:54 pm)
A team of scientists discovered a “strange new mammal” that lived 66 million years ago in Madagascar. The discovery, announced in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, was only possible based on an analysis of the most complete skeleton of a Mesozoic mammal ever discovered in the southern hemisphere, referring to the supercontinent Gondwana.
The cat-sized mammal lived among the last dinosaurs, says the BBC. It is a discovery that challenges assumptions previously made in the theory of evolution: At this point in evolutionary history, mammals were generally very small, the size of mice.
Get even more details on this exciting find here: https://t.co/6jBDEJfJ5Y
Image: Realistic reconstruction of Adalatherium hui from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. © Denver Museum of Nature and Science / Andrey Atuchin. pic.twitter.com/TE2GW8mY5J
– Carnegie Museum of Natural History (@CarnegieMNH) April 29, 2020
The Adalatherium huiAs he was baptized, he would weigh about 3 kilos and would be 52 centimeters tall. The researchers believe that this animal was not yet an adult, which means that it would not have reached its maximum size. The animal had a lot of nerves around its muzzle, something that is often seen in animals that dig.
It should be noted that the term “Adalatherium” translated into the Malagasy languages, which is spoken by virtually the entire population of Madagascar, and Greek refers to “crazy animal”.
“Knowing what we know about the skeletal anatomy of all living and extinct mammals, it is difficult to imagine that a mammal like Adalatherium has evolved.” His discovery calls into question many rules, admitted David Krause of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in the United States, who led the research.
For Reuters, Simone Hoffmann, a paleontologist at the New York Institute of Technology and co-author of the study, also said the team of researchers suspected that part of the animal’s “strangeness” was due to isolated evolution on an island. He also said that discovering how this animal moved and fed is one of the most fascinating parts of the project.
The skeleton was originally discovered in 1999. At the time, scientists were unaware that they had found a mammal, as they thought they only had the fossil of an ancient reptile. The Washington Post explains that the Adalatherium it was preserved under this reptile. A closer look at the rock at New York University revealed the skeleton of the Adalatherium.
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