00:00This is the skeleton of a giant rat that experts believe walked alongside the dinosaurs 66
00:08million years ago.
00:09And it's the most complete mammal skeleton from the period before dinos went extinct,
00:13ever found in the southern hemisphere.
00:15They say it's a missing link, and they're calling it Adelatherium, or crazy beast translated
00:20from Greek.
00:21And it's been named that because it's sort of baffling scientists.
00:23Denver Museum of Nature and Sciences Dr. David Krauss, who co-led the paper, said, quote,
00:28Knowing what we know about the skeletal anatomy of all living and extinct mammals, it is difficult
00:33to imagine how it could have evolved.
00:34It bends and even breaks a lot of rules.
00:37The creature was around three feet long, and likely weighed around seven pounds, with its
00:40front end evolution contradicting the back end, according to Krauss.
00:44And its teeth suggested eight plants, but researchers say the rear ones are completely
00:47unique to this animal.
00:49And researchers say all of its anatomical peculiarities would likely be due to evolving
00:53on the island of Madagascar, which had become completely isolated 86 million years ago.
00:58Experts say Adelatherium was wiped out by the same asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.
