Discover fossils of strange ancient deer

Scientists have just announced a new discovery of an ancient deer, an extinct relative of giraffes.

This ancient deer looks like a monster in the Star Wars series, with its head exposed to a bone and a relatively short neck. According to a new study published in the journal Science. Open, giraffes evolved their long necks gradually over millions of years.

The animal is named Xenokeryx amidalae , based on the nickname of the character Queen Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker's wife (also known as Darth Vader) in the Star Wars series.

In a study describing this animal, the researchers noted that its head had two horn-like and, more exoticly, T-shaped parts that sprouted from the top of the head.

Newly discovered fossilized images of ancient deer.(Source: Live Science).

Fossils are found in central Spain in a well-preserved condition and have an estimated age of 12 to 16 million years.

"The new fossils that we found are important because they allow the description of new animals that have never been known about the ancestors of this animal," said Israel Sánchez, author of the study. , a biologist at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid said.

The fossils discovered belong to the palaeomerycids , an extinct family of ruminants that have been wandering for food from the Iberian peninsula to China during the Miocene period (from 23 million to 5 million years). before).

Fossils have allowed researchers to solve a long, controversial question about this animal. Previously, based on some incomplete fossils, some biologists have suggested that this species is closely related to a deer-like animal called dromomerycids , who once lived in North America.

New studies, which use both genetic data from living ruminants and bones of living and extinct ruminants, show that X. amidalae has close relatives. more with giraffes. Based on that finding, the team identified them as a new branch, or in a group of organisms originating from a common ancestor, which includes the ancestors of today's giraffes.