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But could it do a Haka?

By jlynch on December 21, 2006.

While some may be blogging about large extinct beasties, it's also worth remember the little ones. AP is reporting:

The discovery of fossilized remains of a mouse-like animal that lived at least 16 million years ago is the first hard evidence that New Zealand had its own indigenous land mammals, a researcher said Thursday.

New Zealand paleontologist Trevor Worthy and his team say they discovered two parts of a jaw and a femur (thighbone) -- about the size of a fingernail -- during digs in New Zealand's Central Otago region from 2002 until 2004. Their findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week.

Worthy said the creature probably looked like a "little rat," weighing around 3.5 ounces and measuring about 4 inches with a pointy snout.

Until now, the only fossils discovered in New Zealand were those of flying mammals like bats as well as birds and marine mammals

The PNAS paper is online as a PDF and Afarensis has more here and here.

Tags
evolution
mammals

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