136 million year old fossils found: 16-06-2008
A fossil has been found in Sasayama, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, containing the jaw bones of three separate 136 million to 140 million year old animals, according to a local museum.
The bones are believed to belong to ancestors of today's mammals and are considered an important discovery as scientists try to piece together the pieces of evolution.
Haruo Saegusa, senior researcher at the museum, said, "It's an important discovery that relates to a period where very little material has been found."
It is the first discovery of intact bones from the Cretaceous period (65 million to 144 million years ago) and the animals are believed to have been over ten centimetres long.
Scientists are speculating that the mammal was either a Tribotherium or a Peramura, both of which are extinct genus, and are well preserved.
Both mammals are believed to have resembled mice and been omnivorous and nocturnal.
The oldest mammal fossil ever discovered dates back 225 million years.