Joel Kontinen
Scientists can't even figure out how this odd creature walked.
The oldest complete mammal fossil in the Southern Hemisphere looks like its from its from outer space.
"The new fossil, reported in the journal Nature, is the oldest (and only) nearly complete skeleton from an extinct group of mammals known as Gondwanatherians. This mysterious bunch lived alongside the dinosaurs on the southern supercontinent of Gondwana. They're known from a smattering of teeth and bone fragments, a single skull and the new, remarkable skeleton of an animal whose discoverers have dubbed the "crazy beast."
The fossil is from northwestern Madagascar and dates back 66 million years, to the end of the Cretaceous period. Madagascar was already an island at the time, having drifted away from Africa by 88 million years ago, and the animals that lived there were completely bizarre, said David Krause, the senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, who led the new research."
Evolution can be wonderful. It can lead to all causes of wonders, some of which take away the millions of years.
Source:
Pappas, Stephanie. 2020. Ancient 'crazy beast' from Madagascar had mismatched body and teeth from 'outer space' Live Science 29 April.
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