An artist’s impression of an adult and a juvenile Dendromaia unamakiensis. Image credit: Henry Sharpe.
SciNews has a piece about an ancient synapsid with evidence that it cared for its young. The animal, called Dendromaia unamakiensis, lived about 305 million years ago in what is now Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. This find consists of both an adult and an associated juvenile which were found inside a fossilized tree stump. Evidence of behavior is rare in the fossil record, which is why this is a such a valuable find. The details of the discovery was published in a paper in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
“Parental care is a behavioral strategy where parents make an investment or divert resources from themselves to increase the health and chances of survival for their offspring,” said paleontologist Professor Hillary Maddin and her colleagues from Carleton University and Fundy Treasures.
“While there are a variety of parental care strategies, prolonged postnatal care is amongst the most costly to a parent.”
“This form of parental care is particularly common in mammals, as all mammalian offspring demand nourishment from their mothers.”
“However, there is still little understanding of the evolutionary history of this behavior.”
