[extropy-chat] New find re-writes the history of mammals

[kevinfreels.com]

Jurassic "Beaver" Found; Rewrites History of Mammals
Nicholas Bakalar
for National Geographic News

February 23, 2006
It looks a lot like a beaver-hairy body, flat tail, limbs and webbed feet
adapted for swimming-but it lived 164 million years ago.

A well-preserved fossil mammal discovered in northeastern China (map) has
pushed the history of aquatic mammals back a hundred million years, a new
study says.


It is the oldest swimming mammal ever found and the oldest known animal
preserved with fur, the researchers say in their report, which will be
published in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science.
"The origin of fur predates the origin of modern mammals," said study
co-author Zhe-Xi Luo, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Carnegie
Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/02/0223_060223_beaver.html

Of course, now we have to wait for the next movie "Jurassic Park 4: Jurassic
Beaver"