Milton Public Library

A new prehistory, Episode 3

eng

videorecording

NRC

A new prehistory

electronic resource

52

For a long time, paleontologists believed that mammals had won the battle of evolution by default, expanding unheeded after the demise of the dinosaurs. But discoveries in China at the beginning of the 21st century prove that our ancestors prepared their weapons long before that. But exactly when did mammals first appear? For the last decade, the debate has raged between geneticists and paleontologists. Until the end of the 20th century, ancient mammals were known only through fragments of teeth but Jurassic deposits in Liaoning, China finally delivered remarkably well-preserved complete fossils: Eomaia scansoria (2002), the ancestor of placental mammals, Repenomamus giganticus (2005) the size of a dog, and Volaticotherium antiquus (2006), a kind of flying squirrel. By using innovative technology such as 3D scanners scientists are able to trace the origins of their evolutionary advantages: lactation, hair, teeth, and hearing. But despite these discoveries, the scientific community continued to argue over the family tree of our Mesozoic ancestors. For ten years, the debate raged between two opposing teams in the pages of the scientific publication, Nature. To understand our origins one crucial question remained unanswered: when did the now-dominant placental mammals separate from marsupials? Then in 2011, Juramaia sinensis meaning "Jurassic Mother from China" was discovered. This fossil pushed our family tree back another 35 million years, proving that our ancestors were around almost 160 million years ago..

adult

live action

Dawn of mammals