Fossilized Teeth Help Scientists Unlock The Secrets Of Mammals Paleontology

They made the discovery by studying the dental (tooth) equivalent of tree rings – growth lines and evidence preserved in fossilized teeth – which they used to reconstruct the daily life of one of our first cousins: Pantolambda bathmodon, a stocky dog-like creature with a pig, which he pulled about 62 million years ago – shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs. In doing so he revealed that Pantolamda mothers were pregnant for about seven months, before giving birth to a single, well-developed baby with a mouthful of teeth, who nursed for only 1-2 months before becoming fully independent. “I have spent most of my career studying dinosaurs, but this work on mammal development is the most exciting study I have ever been involved in, as I am amazed that we have been able to identify chemical fingerprints of birth and weaning in teeth that are so large,” he said. Professor Stephen Brusatte at the University of Edinburgh, who participated in the research. Placental mammals represent the majority of mammal species alive today, from humans to minke whales and giant whales. They give birth to relatively mature young, which have done much of their development inside their mother, nourished through a placenta. Although mammals were around during the time of the dinosaurs, it wasn’t until they became extinct that mammals really began to diversify and grow. One idea is that their ability to give birth to large, well-developed babies previously nourished by placentas was key to their success. This style of growth and reproduction is also what allows human babies to be born with such large brains. However, exactly when this way of life appeared was a mystery. Because the bones of early mammals were small and fragile, fossil remains, such as hip bones, that could be used to glean knowledge about how species reproduced are often missing. Better preserved are the teeth, the size and shape of which paleontologists have long studied to learn about the lifestyle of extinct mammals. The new technique builds on this tradition. It involves cutting fossils into ultra-thin sections to examine growth lines and evaporating them to understand their chemistry at different stages of development. “It allows us to look at almost any fossil mammal and reconstruct things like its gestation period, how much it nursed, when it reached maturity and how long it lived – things that we really couldn’t do in fossil mammals before now,” Dr Gregory Funston told the University of Edinburgh, who led the research. In the case of Pantolamda, Funston was surprised to discover how advanced this feature seemed to be at this point in mammalian evolution. “One of the closest analogues in terms of its development is things like giraffes, which are born right on the plains and have to move within seconds or they’ll be hunted,” he said. “We would expect that these types of life histories would have emerged slowly and then become increasingly specialized over time, but what we see is that Pantolamda, just 4 million years after extinction, is already experimenting with this fully history of the new way of life.’ Funston hopes the study could open a new frontier in research into fossil mammals and how they evolved. “This method opens up the most detailed window we could hope for into the daily lives of extinct mammals,” he said.

title: “Fossilized Teeth Help Scientists Unlock The Secrets Of Mammals Paleontology Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-31” author: “Thelma Cass”

They made the discovery by studying the dental (tooth) equivalent of tree rings – growth lines and evidence preserved in fossilized teeth – which they used to reconstruct the daily life of one of our first cousins: Pantolambda bathmodon, a stocky dog-like creature with a pig, which he pulled about 62 million years ago – shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs. In doing so he revealed that Pantolamda mothers were pregnant for about seven months, before giving birth to a single, well-developed baby with a mouthful of teeth, who nursed for only 1-2 months before becoming fully independent. “I have spent most of my career studying dinosaurs, but this work on mammal development is the most exciting study I have ever been involved in, as I am amazed that we have been able to identify chemical fingerprints of birth and weaning in teeth that are so large,” he said. Professor Stephen Brusatte at the University of Edinburgh, who participated in the research. Placental mammals represent the majority of mammal species alive today, from humans to minke whales and giant whales. They give birth to relatively mature young, which have done much of their development inside their mother, nourished through a placenta. Although mammals were around during the time of the dinosaurs, it wasn’t until they became extinct that mammals really began to diversify and grow. One idea is that their ability to give birth to large, well-developed babies previously nourished by placentas was key to their success. This style of growth and reproduction is also what allows human babies to be born with such large brains. However, exactly when this way of life appeared was a mystery. Because the bones of early mammals were small and fragile, fossil remains, such as hip bones, that could be used to glean knowledge about how species reproduced are often missing. Better preserved are the teeth, the size and shape of which paleontologists have long studied to learn about the lifestyle of extinct mammals. The new technique builds on this tradition. It involves cutting fossils into ultra-thin sections to examine growth lines and evaporating them to understand their chemistry at different stages of development. “It allows us to look at almost any fossil mammal and reconstruct things like its gestation period, how much it nursed, when it reached maturity and how long it lived – things that we really couldn’t do in fossil mammals before now,” Dr Gregory Funston told the University of Edinburgh, who led the research. In the case of Pantolamda, Funston was surprised to discover how advanced this feature seemed to be at this point in mammalian evolution. “One of the closest analogues in terms of its development is things like giraffes, which are born right on the plains and have to move within seconds or they’ll be hunted,” he said. “We would expect that these types of life histories would have emerged slowly and then become increasingly specialized over time, but what we see is that Pantolamda, just 4 million years after extinction, is already experimenting with this fully history of the new way of life.’ Funston hopes the study could open a new frontier in research into fossil mammals and how they evolved. “This method opens up the most detailed window we could hope for into the daily lives of extinct mammals,” he said.

title: “Fossilized Teeth Help Scientists Unlock The Secrets Of Mammals Paleontology Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-27” author: “Marjorie Ruiz”

They made the discovery by studying the dental (tooth) equivalent of tree rings – growth lines and evidence preserved in fossilized teeth – which they used to reconstruct the daily life of one of our first cousins: Pantolambda bathmodon, a stocky dog-like creature with a pig, which he pulled about 62 million years ago – shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs. In doing so he revealed that Pantolamda mothers were pregnant for about seven months, before giving birth to a single, well-developed baby with a mouthful of teeth, who nursed for only 1-2 months before becoming fully independent. “I have spent most of my career studying dinosaurs, but this work on mammal development is the most exciting study I have ever been involved in, as I am amazed that we have been able to identify chemical fingerprints of birth and weaning in teeth that are so large,” he said. Professor Stephen Brusatte at the University of Edinburgh, who participated in the research. Placental mammals represent the majority of mammal species alive today, from humans to minke whales and giant whales. They give birth to relatively mature young, which have done much of their development inside their mother, nourished through a placenta. Although mammals were around during the time of the dinosaurs, it wasn’t until they became extinct that mammals really began to diversify and grow. One idea is that their ability to give birth to large, well-developed babies previously nourished by placentas was key to their success. This style of growth and reproduction is also what allows human babies to be born with such large brains. However, exactly when this way of life appeared was a mystery. Because the bones of early mammals were small and fragile, fossil remains, such as hip bones, that could be used to glean knowledge about how species reproduced are often missing. Better preserved are the teeth, the size and shape of which paleontologists have long studied to learn about the lifestyle of extinct mammals. The new technique builds on this tradition. It involves cutting fossils into ultra-thin sections to examine growth lines and evaporating them to understand their chemistry at different stages of development. “It allows us to look at almost any fossil mammal and reconstruct things like its gestation period, how much it nursed, when it reached maturity and how long it lived – things that we really couldn’t do in fossil mammals before now,” Dr Gregory Funston told the University of Edinburgh, who led the research. In the case of Pantolamda, Funston was surprised to discover how advanced this feature seemed to be at this point in mammalian evolution. “One of the closest analogues in terms of its development is things like giraffes, which are born right on the plains and have to move within seconds or they’ll be hunted,” he said. “We would expect that these types of life histories would have emerged slowly and then become increasingly specialized over time, but what we see is that Pantolamda, just 4 million years after extinction, is already experimenting with this fully history of the new way of life.’ Funston hopes the study could open a new frontier in research into fossil mammals and how they evolved. “This method opens up the most detailed window we could hope for into the daily lives of extinct mammals,” he said.

title: “Fossilized Teeth Help Scientists Unlock The Secrets Of Mammals Paleontology Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-01” author: “Jennifer Chambley”

They made the discovery by studying the dental (tooth) equivalent of tree rings – growth lines and evidence preserved in fossilized teeth – which they used to reconstruct the daily life of one of our first cousins: Pantolambda bathmodon, a stocky dog-like creature with a pig, which he pulled about 62 million years ago – shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs. In doing so he revealed that Pantolamda mothers were pregnant for about seven months, before giving birth to a single, well-developed baby with a mouthful of teeth, who nursed for only 1-2 months before becoming fully independent. “I have spent most of my career studying dinosaurs, but this work on mammal development is the most exciting study I have ever been involved in, as I am amazed that we have been able to identify chemical fingerprints of birth and weaning in teeth that are so large,” he said. Professor Stephen Brusatte at the University of Edinburgh, who participated in the research. Placental mammals represent the majority of mammal species alive today, from humans to minke whales and giant whales. They give birth to relatively mature young, which have done much of their development inside their mother, nourished through a placenta. Although mammals were around during the time of the dinosaurs, it wasn’t until they became extinct that mammals really began to diversify and grow. One idea is that their ability to give birth to large, well-developed babies previously nourished by placentas was key to their success. This style of growth and reproduction is also what allows human babies to be born with such large brains. However, exactly when this way of life appeared was a mystery. Because the bones of early mammals were small and fragile, fossil remains, such as hip bones, that could be used to glean knowledge about how species reproduced are often missing. Better preserved are the teeth, the size and shape of which paleontologists have long studied to learn about the lifestyle of extinct mammals. The new technique builds on this tradition. It involves cutting fossils into ultra-thin sections to examine growth lines and evaporating them to understand their chemistry at different stages of development. “It allows us to look at almost any fossil mammal and reconstruct things like its gestation period, how much it nursed, when it reached maturity and how long it lived – things that we really couldn’t do in fossil mammals before now,” Dr Gregory Funston told the University of Edinburgh, who led the research. In the case of Pantolamda, Funston was surprised to discover how advanced this feature seemed to be at this point in mammalian evolution. “One of the closest analogues in terms of its development is things like giraffes, which are born right on the plains and have to move within seconds or they’ll be hunted,” he said. “We would expect that these types of life histories would have emerged slowly and then become increasingly specialized over time, but what we see is that Pantolamda, just 4 million years after extinction, is already experimenting with this fully history of the new way of life.’ Funston hopes the study could open a new frontier in research into fossil mammals and how they evolved. “This method opens up the most detailed window we could hope for into the daily lives of extinct mammals,” he said.