Proto-mammals survived ancient global warming in Antarctica Fossil-probing boffins say they have found evidence that early mammal-like creatures survived a severe episode of global warming 252 million years ago by moving to Antarctica. Most other species then living were wiped out. The new research comes from scientists at the Field Museum in Chicago and the University of Washington. …
" it likely laid eggs, didn't nurse its young and didn't have fur, and it is uncertain whether it was warm blooded,"
erm, that would be a reptile then ?
Oh, and while we're about it, may I be the first to say that I for one welcome our new egg laying, hairless, protomamalian, feline over-lords ?
If they didn't nurse their young, what makes them mammals? (or even proto-mammals?)
Surely the defining aspect of all mammals is the presence of mammary glands, which in non-human species is only ever used for nursing the young.
We, of course, have evolved to produce Paris and her ilk....
The article says, somewhat misleadingly, that they were mammal-like. They were part of a group called mammal-like reptiles, which were ancestral to mammals. They possessed some physiological characteristics not seen in other reptile lineages, and the groups would ultimately diverge into mammals, birds, dinosaurs etc. You certainly wouldn't look at one of these critters and think it resembled a mammal.
Just looked it up myself....
Firstly, they don't have pictures... they have artist impressions of what these creatures "may" have looked like with their skin on (which is rarely preserved in fossils).
Secondly, the artists impressions are very much of a reptilian nature.
Lastly, from a body shape perspective, I can't see much correlation to any living mammals.
Having said that, I can imagine some of them bouncing around and wagging their tails like a dog.
And for the record, I'm not a dog fan, I much prefer cats.
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