Rabbit-Size Elephant Ancestor Found -- Oldest Known

nationalgeographic ^ | June 23, 2009 | Mark Anderson

[JoeProBono]

After the dinosaurs perished, life on Earth didn't take long to bounce back, a new study suggests.

A newfound 60-million-year-old creature called Eritherium azzouzorum—the oldest known elephant ancestor—bolsters the case that whole new orders of mammals were already around less than 6 million years after global catastrophe ended the age of reptiles some 65.5 million years ago.

Paleontologist Emmanuel Gheerbrant discovered the rabbit-size proto-elephant's skull fragments in a basin 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Casablanca, Morocco.

Elephant ancestors, he said, now join the likes of rodents and early primates as some of the first known mammals to walk the Earth during the Paleocene era, 65.5 to 55 million years ago (prehistoric time line).

Much of the story of the newly discovered creature, said Gheerbrant, of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, can be found in its teeth. Two of the creature's lower front teeth jut a fraction of an inch out from its jaw. No other fossils of the time have teeth like this.

"This is some kind of precursor of the tusk of the more modern [elephant]," Gheerbrant said.

Based on the skull fragments, Gheerbrant guessed that the proto-elephant was probably no more than 20 inches (50 centimeters), tip to tail—"something like a very large rabbit," size wise.

[Daffynition]

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[dirtymac]

“it is their dating methodology used to plug the holes in their dating dikes.”

I'm sorry, but when Dykes are dating they certainly are not plugging holes. Kindly rethink your assertion and re-post.

[SunkenCiv]

[singing] bunnies, bunnies, bunnies, bunnies everywhere, there's bunnies on the table and there's bunnies on the chair, bunnies on the sofa and there's bunnies on the floor, and there's some new ones comin' through the door! More?

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Thanks wildbill!

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks wildbill. Is this the elephant from somewhere off SE Asia (one of the big islands)? Shoot, I just remembered seeing that while (ahem) surfing at work. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[colorado tanker]

Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it.

[BJClinton]

Was it pink?

[TASMANIANRED]

Now that is a cute baby.

[SunkenCiv]

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -- Philip K. Dick

Of course, there's a punchline to that famous quote by the only sci-fi writer IMHO worth reading.

[null and void]

Will it fit in my crock-pot?

W-w-w-why do you ask?

[fanfan]

6 Million years just isn't all that long.

It depends on ones perspective of time.

[tpanther]

“This is some kind of precursor of the tusk of the more modern [elephant],” Gheerbrant said.”

OR...

“Two of the creature’s lower front teeth jut a fraction of an inch out from its jaw.”

Great leaps of faith and conjecture to assert “precursor to the tusk”.

[metmom]

Much of the story of the newly discovered creature, said Gheerbrant, of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, can be found in its teeth. Two of the creature's lower front teeth jut a fraction of an inch out from its jaw. No other fossils of the time have teeth like this. "This is some kind of precursor of the tusk of the more modern [elephant]," Gheerbrant said.

So if some kid's teeth jut out a fraction of an inch from it's lower jaw, he's a proto some kind of new creature instead of just having buck teeth, or too much pacifier, or whatever?

Dontcha just love how it's always got to be evolution instead of a mild aberration that could have a mechanical cause?

[vamoose]