Echidnas' Aquatic Past Fossil Evidence Overturns Evolutionary Theory

🦔 Echidnas might have evolved from water-dwelling ancestors! New research on a 108-million-year-old fossil challenges the long-held belief that these spiky mammals—and their platypus cousins—descended from land-based monotremes. Here’s the groundbreaking evidence:

🔍 Key Discoveries:

A single humerus bone from Kryoryctes cadburyi, found in Australia’s Dinosaur Cove, reveals internal bone structure resembling semi-aquatic mammals (like platypuses).

CT scans show thick bone walls—an adaptation for diving, not burrowing.

Echidnas may have "returned to land"—a rare evolutionary reversal among mammals.

🌊 Clues Hidden in Modern Echidnas:

Electroreceptive beaks (like platypuses).

Backward-facing hind feet (used for burrowing, but evolved from swimming ancestors?).

Diving reflex & oxygen-storing proteins hint at aquatic origins.

🦴 Why It Matters:

Rewrites the evolutionary story of egg-laying mammals.

Suggests monotremes dominated ancient Australia’s waterways before some adapted to land.

Fossil gaps remain—could opalized fossils in Lightning Ridge solve the mystery?

📜 Published in PNAS | DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2413569122
🔬 Led by: UNSW Sydney, with synchrotron imaging & international collaboration.

#Evolution #Fossils #Echidna #Platypus #Paleontology #Science #Australia #Monotremes #Biology #Prehistoric
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Видео Echidnas' Aquatic Past Fossil Evidence Overturns Evolutionary Theory канала Science News