Illustration of six historical monotreme species whose fossilised stays have been discovered at Lightning Ridge, Australia
Illustration by Peter Shouten
From inside an previous secure within the Australian Museum in Sydney, palaeontologist Tim Flannery rigorously removes a shoe-box-sized container and locations it on a desk. Inside are extra containers and containers, like a Russian doll.
As soon as the contents are totally revealed and unfold out, there are 9 tiny fragments of fossilised jawbones. If Flannery and his colleagues are proper, earlier than us is a glimpse right into a misplaced world – a beforehand unknown chapter of mammal…
Article amended on 28 Might 2024
A press release in regards to the Australian Museum’s buy of the Steropodon fossil was corrected.
