12.03.2014

Island-hopping rhinos and the fish that got away

Tübingen and Senckenberg paleobiologists discover fossils revealing complex genesis of species known today

A team of scientists working at the Na Duong open-cast brown coal mine in Vietnam have found the fossils of two previously unknown mammal species which lived about 37 million years ago - a rhinocerous and a relative of the hippo. The newly described mammals appear to correlate with prehistoric species known from fossil sites in Europe.

The scientists also made further discoveries, including the tiny 5cm-long ancestor of the bighead carp - today one of the largest members of the carp family, reaching a length of up to 1.5 meters and a weight of 50 kilograms - as well as three fossilized crocodiles and several new turtles.

Read the full text on these exciting discoveries in the attachments below.

Contact

Prof. Dr. Madeleine Böhme
Department of Geosciences
Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoecology
(currently away on expedition)
<link>madelaine.boehme[at]senckenberg.de

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

Public Relations Department

Dr. Karl Guido Rijkhoek

Director

Antje Karbe

Press Officer

Phone +49 7071 29-76789

Fax +49 7071 29-5566

antje.karbe[at]uni-tuebingen.de

<link http: www.uni-tuebingen.de aktuell>www.uni-tuebingen.de/aktuell

Please send us a copy of your article or report.

Downloads