An international team of palaeontologists from the UK, US and France have discovered a key trait that gave early mammals an advantage in the evolutionary race. The study has been published in the scientific journal magazine Nature.
Experts examined fossils of Krusatodon kirtlingtonensis, a tiny creature resembling a modern mouse that lived 166 million years ago during the Jurassic period.
According to the researchers, a study of the animal’s remains showed that it was slow-growing and had a long lifespan. Crusatodon kirtlingtonensis could live for seven years or more, while modern mice have a lifespan of only three years.
Scientists noted that it is not yet clear at what point in history the development of the first mammals began to accelerate, but the change certainly occurred.
Paleontologists believe that the shortened juvenile period and rapid maturity ultimately allowed mammals to spread across the planet and occupy most ecological niches.
Earlier scientists I learnedIn mammals with complex brains, males and females are nearly the same size.
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Source: Gazeta
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