Fossil Overturns Ideas of Jurassic Mammals

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/tech/2006/feb/23/022301544.html

The discovery of a furry, beaver-like 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 in a telephone interview.

For over 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, Luo commented.

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[stepnw1f]

1. God Is Testing the Faith of His Followers

or is he?

[CGrantt57]

2. God Is Testing the Faith of His Followers

or is he?

What? Like She's gonna tell??

Pu-leeze....

[MrBenchley]

3. Here's a link with an artist's rendition....

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/02/23/jurassic.beaver.ap/

[Mikimouse]

4. OMG! It's Norbert!

:P

[MrBenchley]

6. Norbert?

[Mikimouse]

8. Sorry about that, Norbert is the older Beaver brother on...

The Angry Beavers cartoon show. I make a point to watch the show every morning. It is hilarious.

[MrBenchley]

10. Ah....(the sigh of enlightenment)

[benburch]

7. Is that this guy's name?

http://www.screensavershot.com.nyud.net:8090/tvmovie2/iceage.jpg

[Mikimouse]

9. See my response to MrBenchley...n/t

[benburch]

11. I just fount out; His name is "Scrat". nt

[tocqueville]

5. old news, but beavers always been around....

this dicovery was done last year, but the Las Vegas Sun obviously missed it. And the fact that some of the mammals were bigger is interesting but doesn't have to change the theories of evolution. Today's mammals dominate the planet but coexist with big reptiles. The threat to all is mostly incarnated in a simian faced bipede living among brush...

[frogmarch]

12. Yes, it's a remarkable find

and yes, most Mesozoic mammals were probably smaller than Castorocauda lutrasimilis, but it's been known for some time now that not all Mesozoic mammals were shrew-sized, so, as the article states, the find is important because of the high quality preservation and the fact that the fossil showed features that indicated how the animal lived, and that at least some Mesozoic mammals were specialized.

Repenomamus robustus, another Mesozoic mammal, was as large as a Virginia opossum, and a skeleton of this species was found with remains of a young dinosaur in its stomach cavity. Scientists estimate that a fully grown Repenomamus robustus weighed around 30 pounds. Another species, Repenomamus gigantus had a skull fifty per cent larger than that of Repenomamus robustus, and a body one meter longer.

For anyone interested, here's a link to an article about the R. robustus skeleton found with a young dino in its belly area. There's also a photo of it.

http://www.amnh.org/science/papers/mesozoic_mammal.php

[Orsino]

13. "Ancient Beaver"

It's a sign, man.