Well, from our very childhood days, in schools as well as in colleges we have been taught that we humans are originated from the species called as apes, but a current discovery of 146 million-year-old new eutherian creature or species imply that homo sapiens ancestry comes has come from the family of rats, based on the new research. The fossil revealed on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset is supposed to be remains of one of the oldest mammals on the earth. The two teeth species are from small family, rat-like creatures that existed 146 million years ago in the shadow of the dinosaurs.
The research was detailed in the academic journal called as “Acta Palaeontologica Polonica” by the scientists and it was on air by November 7, 2017. Grant Smith, an undergraduate apprentice from the University of Portsmouth, who made the innovation, said that the invention is undisputedly the most primitive fossils of mammals fitting in to the line that led to human beings. “These rodents are also in relations to utmost living mammals which consist of: blue whale,” as stated by Smith.
Research lead instigator Steven Sweetman, who is a paleontologist at the University of Portsmouth, located in England, in an announcement stated by him, “Smith got not one but two moderately notable teeth of a kind. The revealed fossils are absolutely the most primitive eutherians known nevertheless in the fossil record. The teeth are extremely developed. As soon as I saw them I came to know straight away, that I was looking at remains of primitive and oldest Cretaceous mammals. ”
The scientists have named the species as Durlstotheriunm newmani and Durlstodon ensomi. The researchers said Durlstotherium was likely about the size of a mouse, while Durlstodon was as big as a juvenile rat. The teeth are highly advanced type which can pierce, cut and crush food. “The discovered teeths are also very worn, which suggests the rodents lived to a good age for their species,” added Sweetman. According to the researchers both the creatures were likely nocturnal. Durlstotherium fed on insects and Durlstodon ate plants. The duo animals lived in Mediterranean type climate.