Ancient Bone Analysis Reveals Echidnas' Aquatic Ancestry
- Scientists published a study on April 29, 2025, revealing that a 108-million-year-old humerus found in southeastern Australia belonged to Kryoryctes cadburyi, an ancestral monotreme.
- This finding challenges the previous belief that echidnas evolved from exclusively land-dwelling ancestors, as evidence suggests they descended from semi-aquatic monotremes.
- Researchers analyzed the bone's internal structure and discovered it differed from the light bones of modern echidnas and resembled traits supporting a semi-aquatic lifestyle like the platypus.
- Co-Author Professor Suzanne Hand explained that echidnas likely originated from a semiaquatic ancestor that transitioned to living on land, a shift that is considered highly uncommon.
- The study implies that echidnas adapted to land through bone structure changes, highlighting a rare evolutionary transition from water to land among mammals and encouraging further fossil research.
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74 Articles
Ain't no party like an echidna party!
A Tasmanian short-beaked echidna named Adelaide recently turned 56, and the video footage from her birthday party is bringing me joy! She was presented with a beautiful cake that *looked* to be chocolate with purple frosting—but it was really made out of some of her favorite foods, meal worms and chicken puree dyed with animal-safe food coloring! — Read the rest The post Ain't no party like an echidna party! appeared first on Boing Boing.
A recent study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has revealed amazing clues about the evolution of some of the strangest animals on the planet: the platypus and equidna. This scientific research, focused on the analysis of a unique fossil found in Australia, offers new light on the origins of the most primitive mammals still alive. Ornithorrinco and equidna are considered “evolutionary rarities” Both animal…
The story of two of the strangest animals on the planet has become even stranger thanks to clues revealed by a single fossil specimen that scientists believe represents a long-extinct ancestor. This…
Early Monotremes were Semiaquatic Burrowers, Paleontologists Find
Kryoryctes cadburyi is a prehistoric monotreme mammal that lived in what is now Victoria, Australia during the Early Cretaceous epoch. The post Early Monotremes were Semiaquatic Burrowers, Paleontologists Find appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
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