The discovery of fossil ancestors of mammals turns out to have an old age. In fact, the ancestors of these mammals are much older than the dinosaurs.
Mammals are a group of animals that still exist today. However, have you ever been curious about the ancestors of this one animal?
Some time ago, experts have just found a new fossil of the ancestor of mammals. Surprisingly, they estimated this fossil to be 256 million years old.
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Discovery of Mammal Ancestor Fossils in France
Mammals are a group of animals that reproduce by giving birth and have mammary glands. This animal has undergone a very long evolution.
Recently, experts have found fossils of mammals in France. The fossil has a fairly strange appearance and is slightly different from today’s mammals.
From these fossils, it seems that the ancestors of mammals had the appearance of a fat lizard with a very small head. It doesn’t stop there, this animal also has a length of up to 4 meters and has a semi-aquatic lifestyle like a hippopotamus.
It can be seen from the bone structure of Lalieudorhynchus gandi or L. Gandi. The bones are supple and flexible.
Researchers then dubbed the animal that has the genus and species of this mammal with the name Lalieudorhynchus gandi.
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First Discovered in 2001
Launching from the Live Science page, the first fossil discovery of the ancestor of these mammals occurred in 2001 in Lodeve, southern France.
Jorg Schneider, who is a professor in the department of Paleontology and Stratigraphy at the University of Freiberg, Germany, and a doctoral candidate named Frank Korner, are behind the wait.
They then wrote about the findings in the journal Palaeo Vertebrata, October 2021 issue. After that, the journal was finally published online last July.
Requires Analysis of Up to 20 Years
There are several body parts identified in the fossil ancestor of this mammal. The two experts found two large ribs that were 60 inches each on the first visit.
On his second visit, Korner managed to find additional bone parts from the mysterious animal, namely a shoulder bone measuring 50 cm and a thigh bone measuring 35 cm.
Analysis of the fossil took 20 years because it was in hard rock and preparation took many years.
Most likely this animal lived in the Game period which began 299 million years ago and ended at least 252 million years with the advent of the Triassic period.
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The animal belongs to the Caseid group which is a group of reptile fossils and has mammalian characteristics so that experts consider it the ancestor of mammals.
Until now there have been about 20 species of Caseid identified through fossils. Most of the fossils found in the ancestors of these mammals are in the United States, Russia, and more recently, much of southern Europe. (R10/HR-Online)
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