Cypress Hansen/San Diego Natural History Museum
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The fossil, discovered in 2019, belongs to the ancient dog group, Archaeocyon, and is believed to be 24 to 28 million years old.
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Nationalgeographic.co.id—The friendly relationship between dogs and humans has existed for thousands of years. About 14,000 years ago, the first humans crossed the Bering Strait into North America with domesticated dogs used for hunting.
However, before the dogs arrived, there were predatory species such as dogs that hunted in the prairies and forests of America. Reported from Physrare and nearly complete fossils of a long-extinct species discovered by paleontologists in San Diego Natural History Museum.
This fossil belongs to a group of animals called Archaeocyon and have meaning ancient dog. The fossils are in two large chunks of sandstone and mudstone that were excavated in 2019. At that time a construction project was underway in the Otay Ranch area of San Diego.
The fossil remains are still awaiting further identification by researchers. Finding fossils is an advantage for scientists because the fossils in museum collections are incomplete and in limited numbers. The remains of these ancient animals will help the team learn more about the ancient canine mammals that lived tens of millions of years ago.
Archaeocyon fossils date back to the Late Oligocene Age and are believed to be 24 to 28 million years old. The findings provide scientists at the San Diego Natural History Museum with several pieces of the evolutionary puzzle.
Three years ago, Pat Sena of the San Diego Natural History Museum surveyed the project in Otay and noticed what looked like tiny white bone fragments protruding from some of the rock being excavated. He marked the rocks with a black marker and transferred them to the museum, where scientific work was immediately halted for nearly two years due to the pandemic.
On December 2nd, curatorial assistant Amanda Linn began working on the two boulders. Using a small chisel, cutting tool and brush, gradually peel off the layers of stone.
“Every time I found a new bone the picture got clearer and clearer. I would say, ‘Oh look, this is where this piece of bone fits in, this is where the spine extends to the leg, this is where the rest of the ribs are,'” says Linn.
Cypress Hansen/San Diego Natural History Museum
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Amanda Lynn is working on a rock containing an ancient dog fossil.
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Post-doctoral researcher Ashley Poust explains that when fossilized cheekbones and teeth are visible, it is clear that it is a species canid (from canidae) ancient. Poust is one of three international paleontologists to announce the discovery of new predators such as Diegoaelurus, a saber-toothed cat from the Eocene Period.
Ancient cats only had teeth for tearing meat, whereas omnivorous canids had cutting teeth in the front for killing and eating small mammals. Then the flatter teeth like molars at the back of their mouths, are used to crush crops, seeds and berries.
The mixture of teeth and the shape of the skull helps paleontology curators, Tom Deméré, identified the fossil as Archaeocyons. The new fossil is completely intact except for part of its long tail.
William Stout
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Illustration of the Archeocyon at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
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Cypress Hansen/San Diego Natural History Museum
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The fossils of this ancient animal are believed to be 24 to 28 million years old.
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Some of its bones have been mixed up, perhaps as a result of the movement of the earth after the animal died. But the skull, teeth, spine, legs, ankles and toes are complete, providing a wealth of information about the evolutionary changes of the Archaeocyon.
Poust said the length of the fossilized ankle bone connected to the Achilles tendon suggests that Archaeocyons had adapted to chasing their prey over long distances across open grasslands. It is believed that its strong and muscular tail may have been used for balance when running and making sharp turns. There are also indications from his feet that he may be alive or climbing a tree.
Physically, the Archaeocyon was about the size of a current gray fox, with long legs and a small head. The animal walks on its toes and has non-retractable claws. Its more fox-like body shape differed greatly from that of the extinct species known as Hesperocyons, which was smaller, longer, had shorter legs and resembled a modern weasel.
After the Archaeocyon fossil was partially identified in February, Deméré asked Linn to stop working on the fossil, leaving it partially embedded in the rock. He doesn’t want to risk damage to the skull until it can be studied further
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