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fossilshk (Lung)
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[廣告]:

委內瑞拉出土似劍齒虎化石 (中/英圖)

Saber-Toothed Cat Unearthed in Venezuela

Venezuela has found the first fossils of an extinct scimitar cat -- of the saber-toothed cat genus -- in South America, during oil prospecting activities southeast of Caracas, paleontologists announced.

"It's South America's most important discovery in 60 years," Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Investigation paleontologist Ascanio Rincon said on Monday.

He said fossils of six scimitar cats, or Homotherium, were found along with those of panthers, wolves, camels, condors, ducks and horses, all from about 1.8 million years ago, by a Petroleos de Venezuela team looking for oil in Monagas state in 2006.

The most important find, he said, was the complete skull of a scimitar cat, an animal never before found in South America.

"For us it's a milestone and opens a window to the past."

The scimitar cat, a smaller version of the saber-toothed tiger with a hyena-like appearance and smaller, crenelated teeth, was believed to have only inhabited Africa, Eurasia and North America between five million and 10,000 years ago.

Rincon estimated the scimitar cat became extinct in South America about 500,000 years ago.

He said the finding proved the scimitar cat shared the same habitat with the saber-toothed tiger in South America. Saber-toothed tiger fossils have been found in both North and South America.

Rincon said the fossil find would expand his research into the lifestyle of the extinct big cats.
(Aug. 12, 2008 discovery)

2008-8-13 10:02 AM

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[廣告]:

委內瑞拉首都加拉加斯東南部出土了一批早已滅絕的似劍齒虎的化石，類似的發現在南美洲尚屬首次。

這些化石在２００６年的一次石油勘探過程中被發現，出土化石包括６具似劍齒虎化石，其中一塊完整的頭骨化石最為珍貴。化石的年代可追溯到１８０萬年以前，委內瑞拉古生物學家阿斯卡尼奧·林孔將其稱為“南美洲６０年來最重要的發現”。

似劍齒虎的外貌酷似鬣狗，長有鈍鋸齒狀的牙齒，通常被認為在５００萬年前至１萬年前生活在非洲、歐亞大陸以及北美洲。林孔說，此次發現證明似劍齒虎也曾生活在南美洲。他估計，似劍齒虎在約５０萬年前從南美洲滅絕。

2008-8-13 10:05 AM