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Beast of five teeth: Scientists unearth skunk that walked among dinosaurs

A part of the creature’s fossilized jawbone with five teeth attached were discovered close to the famous Torres del Paine national park.
Image: An artist impression of Orretherium tzen
An artist impression of a new species of mammal, baptized with the name Orretherium tzen and which inhabited Patagonia during the Upper Cretaceous, according to a study published April 7, 2021 in the journal Scientific Reports of the Nature line.Mauricio Alvarez / Chilean Antarctic Institute via Reuters

A fossil of a skunk-like mammal that lived during the age of dinosaurs has been discovered in Chilean Patagonia, adding further proof to recent evidence that mammals roamed that part of South America a lot earlier than previously thought.

A part of the creature’s fossilized jawbone with five teeth attached were discovered close to the famous Torres del Paine national park.

Christened Orretherium tzen, meaning ‘Beast of Five Teeth’ in an amalgam of Greek and a local indigenous language, the animal is thought to have lived between 72 and 74 million years ago during the Upper Cretaceous period, at the end of the Mesozoic era, and been a herbivore.

Image: Paleontologists at work in the Valley of Las Chinas, in the Chilean Patagonia
Paleontologists at work in the Valley of Las Chinas, in the Chilean Patagonia, Chile on Feb. 24, 2020.Felipe Trueba / Chilean Antarctic Institute via Reuters

Prior to its discovery, and the teeth of the Magallanodon baikashkenke, a rodent-like creature, in the same area last year, only mammals living between 38 and 46 million years ago had been found in the southernmost tip of the Americas, the team that discovered it said.

The finds are critical to completing the evolutionary puzzle of the Gondwanatheria, a group of long-extinct early mammals that co-existed with dinosaurs, said Sergio Soto, a University of Chile paleontologist.

“This and other discoveries that we are going to make known in the future are revealing that there is enormous potential in terms of paleontology in the southern tip of Chile,” said Soto.

“We are finding things that we did not expect to find and that are going to help us answer a lot of questions that we had for a long time about dinosaurs, mammals and other groups.”

The discovery was published in the journal Scientific Reports by experts from the University of Chile working with researchers from Argentina’s Natural History and La Plata museums and the Chilean Antarctic Institute.

The scientists think Orretherium tzen cohabited with Magallanodon baikashkenke, which was thought to have been an evolutionary step between a platypus or marsupial, and dinosaurs such as the long-necked titanosaur.