Eomaia, an early placental relative
A shrew-sized climber, buried with its fur, sits near the root of the placental mammal line.
- When
- Known to
- ± 1 million years
- Era
- Cretaceous, Mesozoic
Eomaia scansoria is a small eutherian from the Yixian Formation preserved with a halo of fur and a skeleton complete enough to read its habits: long, curved foot claws suited to climbing, in a world where staying off the ground was a reasonable survival strategy. It is not itself a placental, but it sits close to the branch that leads to them, and it pushed the documented eutherian record back into the Early Cretaceous. Its pelvis is narrow enough that it probably still bore tiny, very immature young.