If the world sometimes seems chaotic today, consider this: Our planet’s swamps were once home to gargantuan otters with mighty, shell-cracking jaws. A report on the newly discovered mega-otters was published in The Journal of Systematic Paleontology. Researchers were digging through an ancient lake bed in China’s Yunnan Province when they found a sizable fossilized skull that resembled that of a modern otter. The skull had been flattened beyond repair but was remarkably complete, and still had its jawbone and teeth. The animal lived about 6.2 million years ago.
via Mental Floss
IMAGE CREDIT: ART BY MAURICIO ANTÓN.
