Mammals took to the skies around to million years earlier than thought until now, according to scientists analyzing the remains of a smalt squirrel-sized creature that glided in forests in the Mesozoic era in what is now inner Mongolia.
The specimen found in Dauhugou in Inner Mongolia's ningcheng country has been dated to be at least 125 million years old. This suggest it may here taken flight at the same time as-and possibly even earlier that-the first birds.
The creature has been named volaticotherium antiquus,a composite of Latin and Greek that means "ancient flying beast".
Its fussilised bones suggest a small squirrel-sized mammal quite unlike any other species from the Mesozoic, an era that stretched from 251 to 65 million years ago and cretaceous periods. It had sharp teeth,long,skinny limbs and fur covered flap of skin,called a patagium, that probably gave it gliding flight.
The manner of flight is rather like what the flying squirrels do today: that can glide from tree to tree by stretching out a furry cape.
Put together, this suggests it lived in trees and probably fed on insects at nights. It may have been a good glider, but it was unlikely to have had the ability to twist and turn to catch prey in flight, as bats can.
Previously, the earliest known flying mammal was a bat from the early Eocene era, about 51 million years ago.
The scientific paper appears on Thursday in the British Scientific journal Nature. The lead author is Jin Meny of the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
(The Hindu 14/12/06)
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