A team of researchers reported that at least 20 carnivorous mammals lived in southern Germany 11.5 million years ago in a fossil site called Hammerschmiede. Recent excavations have unearthed many fossil animals and plants, including 350 individual mammalian carnivores. The first author of the study, Nikolaos Kargopoulos, said that the most distinct among the specimens discovered was the well-preserved skull of a marten. He said the discovery would help them establish a new genus of large extinct marten.
New Fossils in Hammerschmiede
Professor Madelaine Böhme led the excavation project where they uncovered different fossils of animals living in a semi-aquatic habitat, while some were found to live on trees. The professor said that the species had adapted to the river and surrounding woodland in the area at the time.
The animals recorded at the site belonged to the order Carnivora. The animals were four marten-like species, two relatives of the modern wolverine, four species of otter, three species of skunk, two species from the red panda family, three different genets, four marten-like species, and several species from groups that have no species living today.
One of the smallest predators in the area is a weasel that weighs only one to two kilograms. The species' unique dental characteristics show that they only consumed meat. The species was named Circamustela hartmanni in honor of the Hartmann family.
Wolverines, skunks, and even red pandas were expected in the fossil record of Europe. However, Böhme said it was not expected to be in such a high concentration.
Böhme said that the presence of 20 different species of small carnivorans at the same location indicated that the ecology at the time was healthy and could support all the various forms.
"Based on an analysis of body mass, feeding and the manner in which they moved around, each of the species discovered appears to have assumed a different role in the ecosystem. They used different natural resources and were thus able to avoid competition," Kargopoulos said.
The current Hammerschmiede team consists of Professor Madelaine Böhme from the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen and Nikolaos Kargopoulos and other colleagues from the University of Tübingen, as well as researchers from Zaragoza and Barcelona. Their research has been presented in the PLOS ONE journal.
Previous Hammerschmiede Fossil Discovery
Since the 2019 discovery of Danuvius guggenmosi, the first known ape to walk upright, the location has attracted much attention.
In September 2021, researchers discovered species of the extinct genus Vishnuonyx. It was identified from the 11.4-million-year-old lower jaw found at the Upper Miocene site of Hammerschmiede.
One of the recent discoveries was published in March 2022 on Taylor and Francis Online. The scientists from the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt and the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen unearthed the fossil remains of a prehistoric waterfowl. Yet, this came from an unknown species. It was discovered in the Hammerschmiede clay pit.
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