National Geographic News, October 18, 2011
A tiger-like skull unearthed from 2.5-million-year-old rock is the
oldest known complete specimen related to modern big cats, according to
a new study. Representing a new species, the skull isn't that different
from those of modern tigers, suggesting evolution hit on a winning
formula early on and stuck with it. Paleontologists in 2004 discovered
the remarkably complete skull in eastern China. Now an international
group of researchers has teased out the specimen's age and its place on
the feline evolutionary tree. The head is as big as that of a very large
modern jaguar's. But the teeth and other skeletal features make it most
similar to the skulls of tigers.
First python fossil unearthed in Germany PhysOrg.com [USA], October 17,
2011
The fossil of a python dating from about 15 million years ago has been
discovered in southern Germany, first time proof that the reptile lived
so far north, German palaeontologists said Monday. They deduced from a
group of seven vertebrae that the python had measured three and a half
metres (11.5 feet). The fossil of the python, normally found in tropical
regions of Africa and Asia, was found about 80 kilometres (50 miles)
northwest of Munich by a team of German and Czech researchers.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-10-python-fossil-unearthed-germany.html
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