Platybelodon "flat-spear tusk" was definitely an odd looking animal...(nothing evolved right? These fossils are all fakes! )
While it looked like modern elephants, it also had a protruding lower jaw with horizontal teeth that scientists believe were used in a scythe-like manner to mow down gr...ass for consumption.
It lived approximately 8 to 20 million years ago in Africa, Asia and even made its way to North America. But because its upper mouth region, snout or trunk, was made of softer material that didn't fossilize very well, researchers have not been able to see what the upper part of the mouth or trunk actually looked like.
Now, William Sanders , a paleontologist is weighing in, suggesting that the answer is simple. Platybelodon had a trunk like modern elephants, but rather than simply using it to yank food from the ground to stuff into its mouth, it used it to hold onto thick tough grasses while sawing with its lower teeth.
That would explain, he says, why the trait evolved. "It was a way to help feed a large animal that had to subsist on grass that was too tough to simply yank from the ground."
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/osgsq6cSee More
|
