Ancient mammal ancestors laid eggs, fossil reveals
TL;DR
A 250-million-year-old Lystrosaurus fossil preserves a soft-shelled egg and a tiny embryo, providing the first direct evidence that mammal ancestors laid eggs; synchrotron X-ray imaging revealed an unfused jaw and an embryo that likely died inside the egg, suggesting large yolk-rich eggs and precocial hatchlings aided survival after the End-Permian extinction and reshaped ideas about mammalian origins.
Topics:top-newsscience#egg-laying#end-permian-extinction#lystrosaurus#mammal-ancestors#paleontology#science
- 250-Million-Year-Old Fossil Confirms That Mammal Ancestors Laid Eggs, Solving a Long-Standing Mystery Indian Defence Review
- Scientists ‘thrilled’ to find egg laid by our distant ancestors The Times
- Mammal ancestors laid eggs—and this 250-million-year-old fossil proves it Phys.org
- Proto-mammals laid eggs, paleontologists finally confirm Popular Science
- Paleontologists identify 250-million-year-old fossil egg of mammal ancestor Interesting Engineering
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