Palaeontologists have discovered what could be the first sabre-toothed animal in history, which lived on Earth before the time of dinosaurs.
In a study published in Nature Communications, a team of researchers describes a previously unknown prehistoric creature.
This creature would have looked somewhat like a dog, but with clear differences in its appearance.
Study co-author Ken Angielczyk, with the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, said in a press release, said in a statement, "If you saw this animal walking down the street, it would look a little bit like a medium-sized dog, maybe about the size of a husky, but it wouldn't be quite right. It didn't have any fur, and it wouldn't have had dog-like ears.”
The creature, which lived much earlier than the first mammals and dinosaurs is described based on a fossil that was found on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
Notably, the creature had very long, blade-like canine teeth which suggest that the animal was a dominant predator in its era.
The fossil is about 280-270 million years old. This makes it likely the oldest known species of gorgonopsians, a group of extinct animals related to mammals that lived during the Permian period, which occurred around 299-252 million years ago.
"The most interesting thing about the specific specimen that we describe is its age. As we say in the paper, it is pretty certainly the oldest known gorgonopsian," Angielczyk said.
Interestingly, the researchers discovered a large number of bone remains from the gorgonopsian species while conducting their investigations on the island.
Study first author Rafel Matamales, curator of the Museu Balear de Ciències Naturals, said in the press release, "We have found everything from fragments of skull, vertebrae, and ribs to a very well-preserved femur. In fact, when we started this excavation, we never thought we would find so many remains of an animal of this type in Mallorca.”
Although, researchers found the fossil, the specimen was not well-preserved enough for them to identify whether it belongs to an existing gorgonopsian species or a new one.
