Bisonalveus browni
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Exinct (fossil)
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| Bisonalveus browni (Gazin, 1956) |
Bisonalveus browni is an extinct mammal believed to be related to the modern pangolin.
It was discovered in 1956 in Alberta, Canada. It is known primarily from fossil jaws dating back 60 million years ago, during the Palaeocene epoch. This ancient mammal was probably something like our modern shrews.
Unlike most mammals, its teeth have grooves for delivering a venomous bite. Today very few mammals are venomous. The male platypus has a hollow foot spur attached to a venom sac. The only other venomous mammals are four species of shrew and the two species of solenodon which have venomous saliva, and the slow loris which has poison glands on its arms.
In Bisonalveus, the teeth that would contain venom do not correspond with the lower jaw, rendering these teeth as deadly fangs, like in many species of poisonous snakes. Possibly like the modern solenodon, Bisonalveus bit its victims to inject its toxic saliva and buries the remains in a cache for later consumption. It is still uncertain why venom did not dominate in the mammalian world. Possibly in a world where killing quickly is incredibly effective and poison takes time to kill, predatory mammals used faster means of killing than poison.
[edit] References
- Fox RC, Scott CS (2005). "First evidence of a venom delivery apparatus in extinct mammals". Nature 435 (7045): 1091-3. PMID 15973406
[edit] External links
- Extinct Mammal Had Venomous Bite, Fossils Suggest. National Geographic. Retrieved on January 16, 2006.
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