The remains of an unknown mammal have been discovered by Russian scientists. The mammal was found out to be ancient taxa of the middle Jurassic.
Phys reported the recent discovery upon an expedition of Russian scientists from Tomsk State University and St. Petersburg State University to the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The scientists discovered the remains of the previously unknown mammal which they later found out as the Baidabatyr.
According to Science News Line, the unknown mammal is a Baidabatyr that is one of the ancient taxa or group of multituberculates that was known to belong to the Middle Jurassic era. The name of the Baidabatyr was derived from the structures of its teeth.
Amazingly, the unknown mammal was found out to be present in the Jurassic period which survived the mass extinction of species or the ice age at the end of the Cretaceous. The species in the group of multituberculates where the unknown mammal belongs became extinct in the Paleogene, so when their lifeline of existence will be computed, their group has existed for about 150 million years.
TSU paleontologist Stepan Ivantsov said that the discovery on the unknown mammal was so important for Western Siberia. "We found only one tooth and immediately realized that the characteristics of the structure are a species of an unknown mammal to science."
Ivantsov clarified that the unknown mammal (Baidabatyr) had died about 20 million years. Additionally, based on the structures of the tooth, it is a herbivorous animal which probably a seed eater. It is because the tooth size is just a couple of millimeters similar to a hamster or a bit larger.
The name of the unknown mammal, Baidabatyr comes from two words, "bidarka" which means kayak, which pertains to the locality where the mammal was found for it can only be reached by kayak. While the other word is "batyr" which means hero derived from the Turkish language.
