Mesozoic mammals are a general term for different phyla mammals dating back 5.5 million years, and it is particularly noteworthy that it is not a separate natural taxonomy. The eight well-known mesozoic mammals include: Eurasian wrinkled toothed beast, fork-bone-like ancestral winged beast, Australopithecus Morgan beast, double bowl xiang tooth beast, Song immortal beast, climbing dexterous column tooth beast, and Chinese jurassic beast.
What did Mesozoic mammals feed on?
Through a comparative study of the tooth morphology of Mesozoic mammals, it was determined that most of the Mammals of the Middle Ages fed on insects or worms; some also fed on plants, like polyodonts.
Recent studies have led to a class of Mesozoic mammals that not only ate meat, but also preyed on small dinosaurs, an animal we call reptiles. Reptiles have very strong skulls and jaws, and their teeth are unusually sharp, making them ideal for catching small animals.
More importantly, near the stomach of one of the reptile specimens, a mass of digested broken bones, including limb bones and teeth, was found. These teeth were identified as belonging to juvenile Psittacosaurus.
The largest mammal in the Mesozoic era with digestive habits
Mammals of the Mesozoic Era used to have the concept of small animals, but the largest reptiles could reach about 1 meter in length and weigh an estimated weight of 20 kilograms. We know that only mammals with wedge-shaped teeth have the dual functions of cutting and grinding, which is also a prerequisite for chewing.
But reptiles do not have such a tooth structure, and it can be seen from the structure of its stomach that there are also interrelated limb bones, indicating that these foods are not chewed and chewed, but are swallowed directly raw.
Ecological types of Mesozoic mammals
After continuous research, The Zoic mammals have found that many changes evolved to adapt to the environment. By studying the skeletal structure of mammals and comparing them with living mammals, gratifying conclusions have been drawn.
Studies have shown that mesozoic mammals mostly lived on the ground, but there were also species that lived on trees, such as the Chinese possum and Archaeopteryx. Most of the Mammals of the Mesozoic Era lived in burrowing, some were semi-aquatic, and of course soared in the air.
The Ancient Flying Beast is the only Mesozoic glide mammal we know of so far, and its limbs can support the skin membrane, somewhat similar to the current flying squirrel.
The Mesozoic is an important time node in the evolution of mammals.
Late Mesozoic mammals began to appear on Earth about 220 million years ago, and at roughly the same time as dinosaurs. By 200 million to 145 million years ago (Jurassic in geological history), primitive mammals increased radially, and most mammals on Earth also appeared during this period and evolved in different directions.
About 130 million years ago, in the Early Cretaceous Period, mammals and euparae began to diverge after the differentiation of marsupials and placenta, and it was also during this period that mammals laid the foundation for the evolution of the dominant type of the Cenozoic. So it's no exaggeration to say that if there had been any evolutionary deviations in mammals at that time, the animal world would have changed dramatically today.