New index reveals likelihood of terrestrial or aquatic lifestyles of extinct mammals

Researchers have developed a new index based on rib and body weight measurements that predicts whether a mammal lived on land, in water, or both. When applied to extinct mammalian species, the index showed that some could not have supported their own weight while walking or crawling, and thus must have been restricted to an aquatic life. The index reveals the habitats of extinct species and enables reconstruction of their lifestyles and the anatomical changes that accompanied adoption of an exclusively aquatic lifestyle.

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