{"id":85629,"date":"2023-06-01T16:37:35","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T20:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/?post_type=news&p=85629"},"modified":"2023-07-11T12:35:27","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T16:35:27","slug":"south-african-fossils-reveal-ancient-beasts-epic-journey-to-oblivion","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/news\/south-african-fossils-reveal-ancient-beasts-epic-journey-to-oblivion\/","title":{"rendered":"South African fossils reveal ancient beast’s epic journey to oblivion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Inostrancevia<\/a>Permian saber-toothed protomammal Inostrancevia africana<\/em> is confronted by the much smaller gorgonopsian, Cyonosaurus<\/em>, over the apex predator’s dicynodont prey. Illustration: Matt Celeskey. Click to enlarge.<\/span><\/p>\n

By Will Dunham, Reuters<\/em><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) – It was a dire moment for life on Earth. Runaway global warming triggered by calamitous volcanism in Siberia inflicted the worst mass extinction on record – dooming perhaps 90% of species – roughly 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period.<\/p>\n

Unlike the asteroid 66 million years ago that ravaged the dinosaurs, this extinction event unfolded over a protracted time span, with species perishing one by one as conditions worsened. Scientists said on Monday fossils unearthed in South Africa provide a peek into this drama, telling the tale of an apex predator that over multiple generations migrated halfway around the world in a desperate, and ultimately failed, bid to survive.<\/p>\n

This beast, a tiger-sized, saber-toothed mammal forerunner called Inostrancevia, had been known only from fossils excavated in Russia’s northwestern corner bordering the Arctic Sea until new remains were discovered at a farm in central South Africa.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the full story on Reuters<\/a><\/h3>\n

NC Museum of Natural Sciences Research Curator for Paleontology, Dr. Christian Kammerer, was the lead author of the study in the journal Current Biology<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Our findings underscore the complexity of faunal turnover around mass extinctions, something which really only becomes clear when you are dealing with such a rich and finely-resolved record as that of the Karoo [Basin],” Kammerer said.<\/p>\n

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