According to recent research, a skunk-like creature used to reside in Chilean Patagonia millions of years ago, during the time when dinosaurs roamed the planet. The fossilized jawbone of the species, which included five teeth, was found near the well-known Torres del Paine national park. This discovery supports the recent evidence that suggests mammals inhabited that region of South America far earlier than previously believed.
Called Orretherium tzen (meaning ‘Beast of Five Teeth’ in a mix of Greek and an indigenous language from the area), this herbivorous mammal is believed to have existed between 72 and 74 million years ago during the Upper Cretaceous period, at the conclusion of the Mesozoic era.
Only mammals from between 38 and 46 million years ago had been found in the southernmost part of the Americas until its discovery, according to the team that also uncovered the teeth of the rodent-like Magallanodon baikashkenke in the same area last year. According to Sergio Soto, a paleontologist at the University of Chile, the discoveries are essential to solving the evolutionary riddle of the Gondwanatheria, a group of long-extinct early mammals that coexisted with dinosaurs.
We are making unexpected discoveries that will help us find the answers to many long-standing problems we have regarding dinosaurs, mammals, and other groups.” Experts from the University of Chile, in collaboration with researchers from the Chilean Antarctic Institute, the Natural History and La Plata museums in Argentina, published the discovery in the journal Scientific Reports.
Only mammals from between 38 and 46 million years ago had been found in the southernmost part of the Americas until its discovery, according to the team that also uncovered the teeth of the rodent-like Magallanodon baikashkenke in the same area last year.
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