Fossil Skeleton of Strange, Ancient Digging Mammal Clears Up 30-Year-Old Evolutionary Debate

Photo: Chinese Pangolin Skeleton on Display at The Museum of Osteology. Credit:Sklmsta SOURCE Creative Commons (Public Domain)

from Science Daily

EXCERPTS

“ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2012) — Shortly after dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops went extinct 65 million years ago, Earth’s ancient landscapes were filled with unusual mammals only distantly related to those alive today.

“The remarkable new skeleton comes from rocks in Mongolia that were deposited 57 million years ago during a period known as the Paleocene Epoch. . . .”

“The authors of the new study made detailed comparisons among the bones ofErnanodon and those of modern mammals and concluded thatErnanodon was highly specialized for digging. It may have dug for food, for shelter, or both. . . .” Read Complete Report

Go a LITTLE DEEPER: The second part of report, “Digging Dinosaurs’.

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