Vintana Sertichi, a Giant for a Mesozoic Mammal

Lord of the Spinosaurs

MemberCompsognathusNovember 06, 20141681 Views6 Replies

Recently in Madagascar they have discovered a new Mesozoic mammal, but this is not the ordinary shrew-like ones you are used to. Vintana Sertichi, a mammal belonging to a group known as the Gondwanatherians, was about the size of a beaver. It was from the Maastrichtian stage (the same time T. Rex terrorized Western North America), which means it probably met Majungasaurus. The Paleontologists that found it were orginally looking for fish fossils, they found a mammal skull in a rock, the rock was in a fossil bed that had a lot of fish fossils. This suggests a possible aquatic lifestyle. A modern-day animal similar to Vintana Sertichi in size, look, and possibly lifestyle is the South American Capybara.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/11/141105-mammal-evolution-vintana-fossil-science/

There is no such thing as a pure predator. A meat-eater is eit

Something Real
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November 06, 2014

LORD OF THE SPINOSAURS - How very neat! I'm extremly curious as to how this animal - being relatively sizeable for a mammal in its time - managed to compete against its larger saurian neighbors. Hmm, the implications are quite compelling! Thank you so much for sharing this with us! :)

Lord of the Spinosaurs
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November 07, 2014

I do know that there was a small theropod named Masiakasaurus that lived in Madagascar during the same time as Vintana Sertichi, and Masiakasaurus might have been aquatic too. I also just found another possibly large mammal, it lived about 115 mya in Angola, theough they have only found tracks of it though. But judging by the tracks it was about the size of a raccoon.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141105084826.htm

There is no such thing as a pure predator. A meat-eater is eit