Thaindian News

Toronto, Dec 7 (IANS) An ancient predator with serrated teeth, streamlined body and a ravenous appetite for meat outlived a major extinction at a time when the distant relatives of mammals ruled the earth, says a study.

Researchers Sean Modesto and Robert Reisz from the Universities of Cape Breton and Toronto Mississauga, provide evidence that a group of ancient, agile predators called varanopids survived for more than 35 million years and co-existed with more advanced animals.

Modesto and the team performed a detailed examination of the partial skull and jaw of the youngest known primitive mammal-like animal which they believe lived over 260 million years ago in the Permian Period, the journal Naturwissenschaften-The Science of Nature reported.

The fossils are from rocks forming the Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone of the Beaufort Group in South Africa, according to a university statement.

“These animals were the most agile predators of their time, sleek-looking when compared to their contemporaries,” said Reisz.

“They seem to have survived a major change in the terrestrial fauna that occurred during the Middle Permian, a poorly understood extinction event in the history of life on land,” he added.

According to Modesto, “these ancient animals really looked like modern goannas or monitor lizards, but are actually more closely related to mammals.”