About 30 million years ago, parts of Egypt were covered in lush forests. Inside these trees, a large -sized meat -sized animal arrangement has met Hyaenodonta. These APEX predators flourished after the dinosaurs became extinct, but they will eventually meet their sudden end.
Now, a team of scientists who combed the desert in the current Fayum, has discovered Egypt a completely new type of Hyaenodonta with the very strong jaw muscles. New types –BastteDon Syrtos– Described in a February 17 study was published in Vertebrate Magazine Magazine.
Discover a skull
Hyaenodonts like BastTodon It has evolved long before modern cats, dogs, control, and other meat mammals. They boasted about the sharp teeth that resemble the chased African ecosystems and ecosystems that are looking for the main, mares of the river, early elephants, and Hyraxes that resemble beaned in forests southwest of modern Cairo. Now a desert, a team of sighted scholars dug through a 30 million -year -old rock layers Fayum depression For more evidence of the development of mammals in Africa.
The “The Fayum is one of the most important fossil areas in Africa,” Matt Porters, a co -author and fossil coordinator at the Duke Limore Center Museum for Natural History at Duke University, He said in a statement. “Without it, we only knew about the origins of African ecosystems and the development of African mammals such as elephants, monkeys, and hynodonts.”
These historical rocks pick up the transition from Eoine era is warm to OligCENE EPOCH CDThey were also holding an exciting discovery.
“Just as we were about to conclude our work, one of the team members discovered something great-a group of large teeth that come out of the ground.” Cairo He said in a statement. “His enthusiastic screams collected the team together, which represents the beginning of an extraordinary discovery: an almost a complete skull of the old Apex Carnivore issue, a dream in any world of vertebral fossils.”
the Sharp teeth It indicates that it has a very strong bite. The sample was named after the cat Old Egyptian gods. Bastite symbolizes protection, pleasure and good health.
Credit: Professor Hisham Salam.
A new look at an old discovery
In addition, the new species of the team also allowed the reassessment of a group of Hyaenodonts the size of the lion that was Discover for the first time in Fayum more than 120 years ago. This sample belongs to a new sex named Sekhmetops Honor Sekhmet. Sekhmet is the goddess of lion’s anger and war in ancient Egyptian myths.
In 1904, Sekhmetops It was initially placed inside a European group of Hyaenodonts. However, the new fossil of the skull indicates that the volume of the leopard BastTodon The lion dam Sekhmetops Both belong to a group of Hyaenodonts that have already originated in Africa. In addition, the goddess was often associated with sekhmet, so these two animals are linked to a symbol and scientifically in the same order.
According to the teamand BastTodon and Sekhmetops Later in Africa, it has spread in several waves, eventually reaching Asia, Europe, India and even North America. almost 18 million years agoSome relatives of these Hyaenodonts were among the largest meat mammals on the floor.
[ Related: This tiny, 8-foot long whale swam off Egypt’s coast 41 million years ago. ]
The times they change
Khattian changes in Climate and tectonic changes in Africa during the era The continent opened the relatives of cats, dogs and modern phones. Once environments and prey began to change, the most specialized HYANODonts has shrunk and meat in diversity. Hyaenodonts ultimately became extinct About 25 million years ago.
“discovery BastTodon It is a great achievement in understanding the diversity and development of Hyaenodonts and its global distribution. “We are keen to continue our research to reveal the complex relationships between these ancient predators and their environments over time and through continents.”
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