Latest news with #mammal
New York Times
19 hours ago
- Science
- New York Times
Fossil Shows a Sharp-Toothed Mammal That Thrived Among Dinosaurs
Around 145 million years ago, the beach in what is today Dorset, England, was covered in a freshwater lagoon. It was teeming with dinosaurs, pterosaurs, crocodiles and turtles. Making its way among all these beasts was a small puff of fur with excruciatingly sharp teeth. Scientists last month described the prehistoric mammal in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. They named it Novaculadon mirabilis, from novacula, the Latin word for razor. 'The premolars form quite a sharp cutting edge,' said Steven Sweetman, a paleontologist at the University of Portsmouth in England and an author of the paper. The species was probably omnivorous, with teeth designed for processing vegetation but also possibly meat. Novaculadon, about the size of a mouse, came from an order of mammals called multituberculates. They are named for the round 'tubercles,' or outgrowths on their teeth. They were among the most successful groups of ancient mammals yet discovered, living alongside dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era. Though unrelated to mice and rats, they most likely filled a similar role as an easy food source for larger predators while also dispersing seeds and controlling insects, all the while avoiding the weighty footfalls of roaming sauropods. The Novaculadon specimen was discovered in a rock on the Dorset beach. Its full jawbone was found with the majority of its teeth intact, including a robust incisor and premolars, though it lacked the molars. Scientists used X-ray computed tomography to digitally isolate the teeth without the risk of damaging the delicate fossil. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
BBC News
15-07-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Student discovers new species of mammal which lived alongside the dinosaurs
A student from the University of Portsmouth has discovered a new species of mammal which lived 145 million years Weston, who studies animal and plant fossils, made the incredible discovery while searching at Durlston Bay near Swanage in Dorset. He came across a fossilised lower jaw belonging to a completely new species of multituberculate, which is an extinct group of small mammals known for their distinct new finding provides more information about the early mammals that existed alongside the dinosaurs. The jaw, which is 16.5 millimetres in length, has a long pointed incisor tooth at the front, followed by a gap and then four razor-sharp teeth called premolars. Although the jaw looks very similar to a rabbit's, the pointed incisors and unique premolars link it to the multituberculate discovery is the first jaw of this kind found at Swanage since the Victorian times, with its unique size and shape confirming it as an entirely new species."I instantly had my suspicions of what the jaw was when I found it at the beach, but couldn't have imagined where the discovery would take me," Ben Weston said in a statement. The new found fossil did present some challenges, with pieces of rock covering up some of the vital details. Special scanning was used to reveal what was inside the rock, producing remarkable results. The scans were then processed digitally so the individual teeth could be examined one by one as part of more detailed studies. These digital files were used to create copies of the teeth which had been magnified ten times, allowing safe study of the fossil without risk of damage. The new species has been named Novaculadon mirabilis."Novacula" describes the mammal's razor-like back teeth and "mirabilis" refers to the miraculous preservation of the Portsmouth student Hamzah Imran created an artistic reconstruction showing the animal as a small, furry creature with spots and stripes on its fossil evidence suggests Novaculadon mirabilis was omnivorous, which means it ate both plants and animals. They fed on small creatures like worms and the creature survived the event that killed the dinosaurs, they eventually became extinct around 33 million years ago.
ABC News
16-06-2025
- Science
- ABC News
Mammal mania and marsupial mayhem — the weird, wild world of zoology
Kris Helgen has helped name and discover around 100 species of mammal, travelling to many fascinating places to find them. He's traversed volcanic caters in Papua New Guinea, savanna grasslands of Kenya, and ventured deep into the forests of the Andes. Kris also spends much of his time in the dark depths of natural history museums, stumbling upon the forgotten pelts and unnamed specimens languishing in filing cabinets. For the past five years he has been the chief scientist at the Australian Museum Research Institute, and is flipping the narrative entirely on where we think mammals came from. Further Information First broadcast in February 2023. Kris recently left our shores for Hawaii, where he has been appointed the President and CEO at Hawaii's Bishop Museum. You can find more information about the research Professor Helgen conducted while in Australia at the Australian Museum website. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.
