Three extinct mammals found in Wyoming were part of the post-dinosaur revolution

Paleontologists have found a bed of ancient mammal bones in the middle of the dry, brush-covered landscape of southern Wyoming. Three of these fossil finds belong to hitherto unknown species and all the animals in the place paint a different picture of the evolution of mammals following the extinction of the dinosaurs after the devastating asteroid strike 66 million years ago.

Local mammals date back to early Puercan, basically the few hundred thousand years that followed the asteroid’s collision with Earth. The three new species are Miniconus jeanninae, Conacodon Hettingeri, i Beornus honeyi; all were partly named after the paleontologists who unearthed them, although the latter was also named after Beorn, a character from The Hobbit which can shapechange to a bear. B. honeyi it is the largest of the three new species, as it is the size of a cat. The species were differentiated by their jaws and teeth.

“Previous studies of American mammal fauna from the early ~ 320,000 years after mass extinction had found small mammals of mouse-mouse size fairly widespread in molar morphology. This led to the understanding that mammals were still recovering and not recovering. they diversified rapidly after the act of mass extinction, “Madelaine Atteberry, a paleontologist at the University of Colorado, said in an email. Atteberry is the lead author of one new study describing fossils, published in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology.

“However, the oldest Paleocene fauna in the Great Division Basin in Wyoming, where our new mammal species come from, is a different story,” Atteberry added. “It has more diversity than we would have predicted for this time period, which suggests that we cannot generalize the recovery of mammals after the extinction of dinosaurs.”

The fossil site was excavated by Jim Honey, Jeannine Honey and Malcolm McKenna between 2001 and 2011, after it was mapped by Robert Hettinger of the U.S. Geological Poll, whose name is attached to the recently described Conacodon Hettingeri. Now flooded dry sandstone, the region was a floodplain in the time of these ancient mammals and was covered with intertwined rivers and streams. During the decade of site work, paleontologists found more than 420 mammal fossils. It is still uncertain how so many fossils ended up in one place, although one of the team’s theories is that parts of the river would dislodge sediments, trapping animals (living and dead) that eventually fossilized.

The three new discoveries are the condilarts, a type of ancient mammal whose offspring ended up producing modern ungulates: animals such as camels, hippos, horses and rhinos. Atteberry said in a statement that the diversity of these new species shows how mammals took the extinction of dinosaurs calmly, taking advantage of the absence of larger animals by developing new food sources and expanding into new environments.

More species from fossil sites are likely to be described; paleontologists have not yet had time to sort out the hundreds of bones that were collected there. We are waiting for a couple bigger ancient mammals, com it seems that our first relatives wasted no time in getting older and bolder once cared for their dinosaur lords.

Plus, these mole-like creatures lived under the feet of dinosaurs