165-Million-Year-Old Chinese Fossil Rewrites the Early Mammal Story
Scientists studying a 165-million-year-old fossil from China have identified an unusual combination of a broad swimming tail and bony throat structures, suggesting that key mammal traits emerged far earlier than previously believed. The find is sharpening understanding of how early mammals adapted to water, and how those adaptations may have influenced later evolutionary pathways tied to feeding, breathing and ultimately mammalian biology.
