by Jocelyn Mackie | Guardian
An international team of paleontologists discovered a new ancestor linked to horses and rhinoceros, by fleshing out fossils collected in India. After assembling the fossils and fleshing out the animal, the team concluded that it was a common ancestor of all perissodactyls, or odd-toed ungulates.
Researchers found the fossils during a dig through an open-pit coal mine located in the Indian state of Gujarat, which is northeast of Mumbai. Researchers found 200 bones that included parts of feet, teeth, and vertebrae. They concluded that the animal was a Cambaytherium thewissi.
After fleshing out the skeleton, the artist’s rendition revealed a tapir-like animal with the same odd toes as primitive rhinos and horses. It was classified as an early perissodoctyl, which is the same order as tapirs, horses, hippopotamus, and rhinos. Scientists always knew these animals were classified together and shared common ancestors and characteristics, but this discovery strengthens the evidence.
