Dozens of baby skulls of a strange Jurassic hybrid creature discovered next to their mother

Scientists have unearthed the skulls of 38 babies hidden in the fossilized remains of a fossil of an extinct mammalian precursor – the only fossils of this kind ever discovered.

The team believes that their research, presented recently at the 78th annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, could help explain how mammals have traded hordes of offspring for larger brains over millions of years. years of evolution.

The research was also published earlier this year in the journal Nature. A member of Kayentatherium wellesi The species – herbivores the size of a dog that lived 185 million years ago – have a lot in common with mammals. They can even have hair.

But they differ crucially. More importantly, the fossilized family reveals the ancient animal raised as a reptile. He was producing big eggs with a lot of babies, rather than pupping them.

A few million years later, mammals "have unquestionably big brains, and they indisputably have a small litter size," said Timothy Rowe, a researcher at the University of Texas, in a statement.

Brains and broods use tons of energy. KayentatheriumThe researchers wrote that the small brain and massive clutch of children, suggested mammals, tended to a larger brain size later in their evolutionary course.

A figure representing the 38 Kayentatherium babies found with an adult specimen. Eva Hoffman / University of Texas at Austin

Researchers spotted baby skulls by accident, years after the remains were found in Arizona. About 9 years ago, Sebastian Egberts, then a graduate student, saw an unexplained enamel burst.

"It did not look like a sharp fish tooth or a small, primitive reptile tooth," said Egberts, who teaches anatomy at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. "It looked more like a molar-shaped tooth (molar-like tooth) – and that made me very excited."

Advances in imaging technology have finally revealed babies, who constitute "a very important point in the evolutionary tree," according to Eva Hoffman, who led the research while at the time. she attended the University of Texas as a graduate student. Scientists expect advanced technologies to continue to shed light on the subtleties of evolution.

In other news about fossils, scientists have recently discovered an old flesh – eating fish that lived about 150 million years ago. The creature resembling a piranha trampled other creatures with its sharp teeth.

The researchers also discovered the smallest diplodocus skull ever discovered. The discovery "extremely rare", they said, is an excellent window on the youth of the giants.

A dinosaur speciesLedumahadi mafube-Was also recently named after several years of studies. Known as the giant thunderclap at dawn, this huge cousin of sauropods lived about 200 million years ago.