Archaeologists have discovered the fossil of the oldest saber-toothed animal dating back to the time before the dinosaurs’ existence.
This prehistoric saber-toothed animal looked somewhat like a dog and walked the Earth around 270 to 280 million years ago. The fossil is of what is known as a Gorgonopsia. Thanks to this fossil, researchers have learned that the animal had both reptilian and mammalian characteristics. Discovered in Mallorca, Spain, this therapsid, or saber-toothed predator, provides scientists with a unique look into an evolutionary milestone.
Saber-toothed species a cross between mammal and reptile
Mammals emerged in the evolutionary timeline around 200 million years ago, but, prior to them, therapsids existed. This ancient ancestor to the modern-day mammal neither looked like nor functioned like the creatures we know of today.
The Gorgonopsia, for instance, laid eggs like a modern-day reptile instead of growing its children in the womb like a mammal. However, it also had a mammalian-type jaw joint. In a study posted in the journal Nature, researchers likened the creature to a dog, saying that it somewhat resembles man’s best friend despite the obvious differences.
“If you saw this animal walking down the street, it would look a little bit like a medium-sized dog, maybe about the size of a husky, but it wouldn’t be quite right. It didn’t have any fur, and it wouldn’t have had dog-like ears,” said study co-author Ken Angielczyk in a press release.
Scientists say that the Gorgonopsia’s evolutionary middle-ground shows it is likely the closest relative in the therapsid tree to the mammalian family, and that it is closer to the group than any other species branch, including reptiles.
“These are also members of the synapsid lineage, and they are more closely related to modern mammals than to animals like reptiles, birds, or amphibians, but they fall outside of Mammalia proper and don’t have all the features of modern mammals,” said Angielczyk in speaking to Newsweek.
According to the team, the fossil is the oldest known of a Gorgonopsia creature, dating back to around 30 million years before the species was thought to have existed.
“The most interesting thing about the specific specimen that we describe is its age. As we say in the paper, it is pretty certainly the oldest known gorgonopsian,” Angielczyk stated.
The species is also the oldest-known creature to have acquired the saber-toothed trait. Though there are still doubts as to the fossil’s age, research shows this creature is likely the oldest known saber-toothed animal and the most ancient of its kind.
“The age uncertainty makes it a little hard to be completely definitive that it’s the oldest saber-toothed animal found so far because there’s a chance it might be about the same age as the other oldest gorgonopsians found in the fossil record,” Angielczyk said. “However, assuming the evidence suggesting an older age is correct, our specimen would be older than the previously oldest known gorgonopsians.”
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