Ancient huntress discovered: Mysterious fossil find on Mallorca!

Ancient huntress discovered: Mysterious fossil find on Mallorca!

Spanish researchers have made a remarkable fossil discovery in Mallorca that has amazed scientists. They discovered remains over 270 million years old of a previously unnamed predator that is closely related to the ancestors of mammals. According to the team reporting on the discovery in the journal Nature Communications, it is the earliest representative of the gorgonopsids. This creature, which was about a meter long and vaguely resembled a medium-sized dog, lived before the time of dinosaurs. It had strikingly vertical legs and long, saber-toothed canines, which may have been important in its hunting strategies. Discoverer and co-author Ken Angielczyk explained that gorgonopsids are not our direct ancestors, but they are related to species that ultimately led to our family tree, such as World reports.

The fossils were found in Banyalbufar in the Tramuntana Mountains and include fragments of skull, vertebrae and ribs, including a well-preserved femur. These bone parts show that the animal could run quickly and therefore hunt more effectively. In particular, the discovery of a ten centimeter long canine tooth could provide information about what prey it was hunting - this includes herbivorous lizards such as the species Tramuntanasaurus tiai, also discovered on Mallorca. The location is unusual because gorgonopsids were previously found mainly in temperate climate zones, such as Russia and southern Africa. However, during the time when Mallorca was part of the supercontinent Pangea, the region was near the equator and had a warm, humid climate, such as Focus reports.