Otter Fossils As Big As Wolf Discovered In Southwestern China

First Posted: Jan 25, 2017 03:10 AM EST

Scientists discovered fossils of an otter referred to as Siamogale melilutra. It was big as a wolf that roamed around the rivers and lakes in southwestern China about 6.2 million years ago.

Denise Su, a curator of paleobotany and paleoecology from Cleveland Museum of Natural History, said that Siamogale melilutra reminds them of the diversity of life in the past and how many more questions there are that still need to be answered. She asked, "Who would have imagined a wolf-size otter?"

The said outsized otter was about 2 meters (6.5 ft) long and weighs 50 kg (110 lb), according to the researchers. This makes it bigger than any of its cousins that are alive today.

Otter fossil from 6 mln yrs ago discovered in SW China. 50kg like a wolf, 2m long, twice as big as modern otter https://t.co/80UQxxoFoR pic.twitter.com/lJzhsG82gC

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) January 24, 2017

Washington Post reports that the new findings include the creature's mandible, a complete cranium and some teeth and limb bones. Su stated that they were incredibly lucky to be able to find this.

This otter had enlarged cheek teeth and strong jaws that probably used for munching hard objects such as big shellfish and freshwater mollusks. It could swim in shallow and swampy waters. Xiaoming Wang, the head of vertebrate paleontology at the natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, said that he thinks it used its powerful jaws to crush hard clams for food, somewhat like modern sea otters, although the latter use stone tools to smash shells. He added that Siamogale melilutra was not smart enough to figure out tools. Perhaps the only option left was to develop more powerful jaws by increasing body size.

The researchers used high-tech scanning to identify the mix otter-like and badger-like skull and dental traits they had found. Some of the other fossils they discovered there are of the rhinos, elephants, tapirs, crocodiles, beavers, water birds such as swans, ducks, cranes and deer, according to The Guardian.