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Some people lose their car keys, some socks in the dryer. But have you ever lost a 22 million year old fossil?
An extinct giant mammal species was identified after its bones were discovered in a drawer of a Kenya museum, decades after being unearthed.
Known as "Simbakubwa kutokaafrika", the "big lion of Africa" was probably at the top of the food chain in Africa, researchers said in a statement. However, it was not "closely related" to any big cat and belonged to an extinct group of mammals called hyaenodonts.
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"By opening a museum drawer, we saw a row of gigantic teeth-eating teeth, clearly belonging to a new species in science," said in a statement the senior author of the study, Matthew Borths .
The results were published in the journal Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
It is likely that the fossils found belong to a "relatively young adult," according to the study's abstract, which adds that Simbakubwa is distinguishable from "Hyainailouros by the exposure of lingually-oriented molar protocols, of slender metastyles and sheared canines ".
Simbakubwa kutokaafrika, a gigantic carnivore known for most of his jaw, part of his skull and part of his skeleton, was a hyaenodonte larger than a polar bear. (Credit: Mauricio Anton)
Teeth were used to estimate the size of the creature, Borths added, noting that the mammal was probably larger than a polar bear (with a body mass approaching 3,000 pounds) and had a larger skull than any other dog. A rhinoceros. For comparison purposes, rhinos can grow up to 10 feet in length.
It is not known what caused the extinction of Simbakubwa, as Hyainailourines (part of the hyaenodont group that has no connection with the hyenas) "was one of the largest mammal carnivores to have never walked on Earth, "Borths said in comments obtained by SWNS.
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Although they have been lost for decades, fossils will probably shed new light on an unknown species, as well as on life on the African continent, before global ecosystems change significantly between 18 and 15 million years ago. years.
"This is an essential fossil, demonstrating the importance of museum collections for understanding the history of evolution," added the co-author of the Study, Nancy Stevens, in her release.
"Simbakubwa is a window on a bygone era," continued Stevens. "When ecosystems moved, a key predator disappeared, announcing Cenozoic wildlife transitions that ultimately led to the evolution of modern African wildlife."
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