Discover the oldest fossil fossil in Tibet

Scientists from the American Museum of Natural History recently said that fossils have been excavated from the oldest cat-like animal in China's Tibetan plateau.

Photo: AP

According to the scientists, the nearly intact cat skull is estimated to be 4.4 million years old, older than the fossil of the large cat family found in Tanzania estimated at 3.7 million. year old.

Jack Tseng, the leader of the research team, said the results showed that the newly discovered fossil in Tibet is not a direct ancestor of large cat-like animals such as tigers, jaguars, lions, but There is evidence that this fossil is closely related to the snow leopard. The frontal part of this animal has the same structure as the snow leopard.

In addition, their sizes are small compared to large cats, which are only equivalent to those of a leopard with a fossil found in Southeast Asian rainforests that can weigh up to 23kg. .

The newly discovered fossil was named Panthera blytheae . Scientists evaluate the new fossil "miraculously preserved" and "a very important finding" , helping them answer many questions about modern snow leopard.