PREHISTORIC KINGDOM ANIMAL LIST FULL

Xiaotingia lived 155 million years ago, while the proto bird lived 150 million years ago. Xiaotingia is in the group that evolved into birds. “It is a dinosaur with feathers that is very advanced, but which is clearly a dinosaur,” Hurum said. Xiaotingia was not a bird, but a dinosaur with many bird features, and it was older than the primitive bird. This fossil could expand our understanding of how birds evolved. The animal looked like an intermediary between a reptile and a bird.īut it would be a long time before something was found that resembled a primitive bird - and that was even older. The first fossil was found just two years after Darwin published ‘On the Origin of Species’ and was used as evidence to support the theory of evolution.

PREHISTORIC KINGDOM ANIMAL LIST FULL

It had wings and full plumage, and it had claws on its front legs. This proto bird had teeth and a long, bony tail like a reptile.

It looked like a dinosaur, but also like a bird. The primitive bird-like dinosaur Archaeopteryx was found in Germany as early as 1861. (Illustration and photo: Nobu Tamura, CC BY-SA 3.0, and Ghedoghedo, CC BY-SA 3.0) 2011: Bird-like dinosaur shows evolution Maiacetus was a whale on its way from land to water. This shows that when these were about to give birth, they went up on land,” he said. “It would have been born the way land animals give birth. The animal had a large foetus in its belly, which was lying with its head against the mother's hip. “What's funny about it is that it's a four-legged creature that can obviously still walk on land, but is a whale,” he said. “It is as if you have mated an otter and a crocodile,” Hurum said. This is evident in the fossil of the species Maiacetus, which means whale mother. She was about the same age as Ida and lived 47 million years ago. 2009: A whale with four legsĪnother discovery from 2009 that Hurum highlights is a pregnant whale. It had been 150 years since he published the book ‘The Origin of Species’ and 200 years after he was born,” Hurum said. We named her Darwinius after Charles Darwin. The scientific name for the species is Darwinius masillae. The problem can only be resolved if several good, equally old fossils are found. The researchers have essentially agreed to disagree, he said. “We who described Ida in 2009 believe that she is mostly on the monkey side, while there are other researchers who believe that she is mostly on the lemur side.” “Then the question is, which of these two branches is Ida on? She doesn't really fit either,” Hurum said. Agreed to disagreeĪccording to DNA studies, monkeys and lemurs separated quite a long time before Ida, Hurum said. The debate is about whether Ida belongs to the lemur branch or the monkey branch (and thus the human branch). The fossil and the dissemination of the research was much debated. It can thus represent a connecting link in our development history. The fossil has features that make the researchers believe it belongs at the bottom of the branch that gave rise to humans and great apes. Ida became world famous when the research article on the fossil was released. Ida was, and still is, the oldest and best-preserved primate fossil found in the world. Jørn Hurum led the research group that described the fossil. Ida was then purchased by the Natural History Museum in Oslo. The fossil was found during a private expedition in Messel in Germany in 1982, and kept secret for 24 years. (Illustration: Sularko / CC BY-SA 3.0) 2009: Ida “This means that these fish must have come very close to each other and must have had sex,” Hurum said. Unlike today’s fish, the male did not spray milt over eggs that were deposited in the water. The finding also shows that the fish must have practiced internal fertilization. It changes our understanding of what came first.” “The fact that fish now lay thousands of eggs is something they since have specialized in. “They even have a preserved umbilical cord,” Hurum said. They gave birth to a few live young that were large. That was completely unexpected,” Hurum said. “It shows that the early fish with jaws gave birth to live young. It lived in the late Devonian, somewhat before Tiktaalik. Materpiscis attenboroughi is the oldest pregnant animal found. The fossil showed that giving birth to live young - as opposed to being hatched from egges - is not a modern invention. Most fish lay eggs today, but the discovery of an ancient pregnant fish surprised palaeontologists. (Illustration: Dotted Yeti / Shutterstock / NTB) 2008: A pregnant fish Tiktaalik had developed bones in its fins and could walk in shallow water.

Prehistoric kingdom animal list