Jurassic Beaver

[Otto]

No, not a porn parody title, a newly-discovered fossil that pushes back mammalian evolution by about 100 million years.

The discovery of a furry, beaver-like animal that lived at the time of dinosaurs has overturned more than a century of scientific thinking about Jurassic mammals.

The find shows that the ecological role of mammals in the time of dinosaurs was far greater than previously thought, said Zhe-Xi Luo, curator of vertebrate paleontology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.

For over a century, the stereotype of mammals living in [the dinosaur] era has been of tiny, shrew-like creatures scurrying about in the underbrush trying to avoid the giant creatures that dominated the planet, Luo commented.

Now, a research team that included Luo has found that 164 million years ago, the newly discovered mammal with a flat, scaly tail like a beaver, vertebra like an otter and teeth like a seal was swimming in lakes and eating fish.

[Lionne]

It’s a *good * porn parody title, though!

[JustAnotherGeek]

Otto, cool link & link. At least it’s not a dorkfish, right?

LunaV, I prefer Jurrasic Pork!

wait, that better not be a real porno title…

[carnivorousplant]

Cool.

[The_Chao_Goes_Mu]

Whoa, at first I thought this thread was about one of my exes.

[NurseCarmen]

I thought it was about ‘The Golden Girls’.

[Winston_Smith]

Based on this…

with a flat, scaly tail like a beaver, vertebra like an otter and teeth like a seal

…it sounds more like a platypus than a beaver.

[Winston_Smith]

@Winston Smith

Based on this…

…it sounds more like a platypus than a beaver.

Or not. What the hell do I know about platypusses.

[Spatial_Rift_47]

How about another porn title: Platypussy.

[Fern_Forest]

@NewScientist

the creature was nearly half a metre long and weighed about half a kilogram.

How can a creature that big weigh so little? My little cat weighs more then 8 times that.

[Lionne]

@Winston Smith

Or not. What the hell do I know about platypusses.

Platypusi?

[Lionne]

@Spatial Rift 47

How about another porn title: Platypussy.

JurAssic Platypussy!

[photopat]

From the article I read it wasn’t closely related to the Platypus, but simply evolved to fill a similar niche. It looked cute though and need I add “Jurassic Beaver” is an excellent band name?