Early mammals weren’t all loners, as scientists thought – some already lived in pairs alongside the dinosaurs

By Carsten Schradin, Director of Research, Université de Strasbourg; University of the Witwatersrand

About 200 million years ago, furry little egg-laying creatures evolved the ability to feed their offspring with a secretion from some special glands: milk. Their evolutionary journey continued and by about 160 million years ago, the first mammals with a real placenta had come into being. Instead of laying eggs, they gave birth to live young that had been connected via a placenta directly to their mother during pregnancy, allowing the exchange of oxygen, nutrients and waste products.

These early…

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