Illustration of six historic monotreme species whose fossilised stays have been discovered at Lightning Ridge, Australia
Illustration by Peter Shouten
From inside an outdated secure within the Australian Museum in Sydney, palaeontologist Tim Flannery fastidiously removes a shoe-box-sized container and locations it on a desk. Inside are extra packing 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 Could 2024
An announcement in regards to the Australian Museum’s buy of the Steropodon fossil was corrected.
