Fossil bridges gap in mammal evolution

[Shyriath]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/12/11/marsupial.fossil.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The fossil of a tiny creature found in Northeast China is helping scientists determine when mammals split into different groups: those with babies that develop inside their mothers and those that raise their offspring in pouches.

.....

The newly found ancient animal, named Sinodelphys szalayi, is the earliest known marsupial, meaning an animal with a pouch. It was chipmunk-sized, about 6 inches long and weighed about an ounce, according to Zhe-Xi Luo of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.

Its skeleton was found in 2000 in a region where researchers had previously found Eomaia, a fossil believed to be among the earliest known placental mammals, of about the same age. The discovery is reported in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

The finding of the two fossils indicates an approximate date for the split between the placental and pouch mammals, Luo said in a telephone interview.

Hey, look, it's great-great-great(add a hundred million or so 'greats' in there) granduncle S. Szalayi (Sal for short)!

[Liberal Veteran]

1. Oh come now! Everyone knows Satan put those bones in the ground...

...to fuck with the scientists!

:eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes:

[lyonn]

2. no, no, got here by asteroids

Got that on good authority.

[treepig]

3. i tend to agree with l.v. on this one

but that leads to the whole new issue - just where did satan get the bones from himself?