Fossil clarifies theory on Jurassic mammals
Randolph E. Schmid
Associated Press
Houston Chronicle
_____________
Washington (US):
The discovery of a furry, beaverlike animal that lived at the time of dinosaurs has overturned more than a century of scientific thinking about Jurassic mammals.
The find shows that the ecological role of mammals in the time of dinosaurs was far greater than previously thought, said Zhe-Xi Luo, curator of vertebrate paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.
The animal is the earliest swimming mammal to have been found and was the most primitive mammal to be preserved with fur, which is important to helping keep a constant body temperature, Luo said.
For more than a century, the stereotype of mammals living in that era has been of tiny, shrew-like creatures scurrying about in the underbrush trying to avoid the giant creatures that dominated the planet, he said.
Now, a research team that included Luo has found that 164 million years ago, the newly discovered mammal with a flat, scaly tail like that of a beaver, vertebra like an otter and teeth like a seal was swimming in lakes and eating fish.The team, led by Qiang Ji of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences in Beijing, discovered the remains in the Inner Mongolia region of China. They reported their findings in today's issue of the journal Science.
Randolph E. Schmid
Associated Press
Houston Chronicle
_____________
Washington (US):
The discovery of a furry, beaverlike animal that lived at the time of dinosaurs has overturned more than a century of scientific thinking about Jurassic mammals.
The find shows that the ecological role of mammals in the time of dinosaurs was far greater than previously thought, said Zhe-Xi Luo, curator of vertebrate paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.
The animal is the earliest swimming mammal to have been found and was the most primitive mammal to be preserved with fur, which is important to helping keep a constant body temperature, Luo said.
For more than a century, the stereotype of mammals living in that era has been of tiny, shrew-like creatures scurrying about in the underbrush trying to avoid the giant creatures that dominated the planet, he said.
Now, a research team that included Luo has found that 164 million years ago, the newly discovered mammal with a flat, scaly tail like that of a beaver, vertebra like an otter and teeth like a seal was swimming in lakes and eating fish.The team, led by Qiang Ji of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences in Beijing, discovered the remains in the Inner Mongolia region of China. They reported their findings in today's issue of the journal Science.
