9-Million-Year-Old Capybara Tooth From Chile Hints at Unexpectedly Wet Conditions in the Ancient Atacama Desert

9-Million-Year-Old Capybara Tooth From Chile Hints at Unexpectedly Wet Conditions in the Ancient Atacama Desert

Learn how a fossilized capybara tooth could point to a drastically different climate in the Atacama Desert almost nine million years ago.

A Fossil Capybara Tooth Suggests the Atacama Desert Was Once Surprisingly Wet

The Atacama Desert in Chile is thought to be the oldest non-polar desert in the world.

Capybaras in the desert? Fossil casts doubt on Atacama as world's oldest continuously dry region

Scientists were stunned when they discovered a fossilized tooth from a capybara that lived in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile almost 9 million years ago.

9-million-year-old capybara tooth found in driest desert

"Finding a capybara tooth in a marine deposit in what today is one of the driest regions on Earth is just freakish," said lead author Priscilla Martinez

Prehistoric Capybara Fossils casts open doubt on Atacama as world's oldest continuously dry region

An Unexpected Animal Lived In The Atacama Desert 9 Million Years Ago, Suggesting Earth's Oldest Continuous Dry Region Wasn't Always So Dry

The same creature is now living its best life in the Amazon.