New fossils reveal how mammals became good listeners

WASHINGTON: Modern mammals, including humans, owe their keen sense of hearing to three tiny bones in the middle ear that were absent in their reptile ancestors, but the point at which this transformation occurred has remained unclear.

Senior author Jin Meng of the American Museum of Natural History in New York explained that the study was based on the remains of six individual animals, proto-mammals from the Early Cretaceous they have named"Origolestes lii," who lived alongside dinosaurs and were rodent-like in size and appearance.

Using high resolution CT scans and other imaging techniques, the Chinese-led team were able to describe the well-preserved specimens in detail, including the structures of their auditory bones and cartilage. He added it was a"big step in our ideas and concepts and the material basis on which we can discuss very intricate evolutionary processes."

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