Paleontologists have described the Megacauda sungei creature as an animal that lived 165 million years ago in the Inner Mongolia region of China and belonged to the mammal class.
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An international team of paleontologists has described a previously unknown creature that lived on our planet about 165 million years ago. The creature, Megacauda sungei, is a member of the extinct docodon group, considered ancestors of early mammals. Fossils were found in what is now Inner Mongolia, China. Megacauda sungei led a semi-aquatic lifestyle and appears to have been the largest mammal of the Jurassic period. A study of this new species was published in the journal Nature.
Outwardly, the animal resembled a cross between a beaver, an otter, and a platypus, with its short fur and flat tail. It swam with its forelegs and used its hind limbs for steering.
It weighed at least 2.5 kg, and compared to the tiny Jurassic creatures that weighed only a few grams, it was a giant, and it appears to have been a super predator.
It also showed signs of a soft palate, a structure that aids in both breathing and sucking milk. This palate was previously thought to have appeared much later in ancient mammals.
Thomas Martin, a professor of paleontology at the University of Bonn and co-author of the study, noted that "this is the earliest evidence of an aquatic lifestyle in mammals."
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