Anthracobunids are a family of extinct mammals thought to be the ancestors of elephants and manatees, but that was before this recent discovery shook the mammal family tree branches, reported National Geographic.
A recent discovery of fossils in Pakistan has shed new light on anthracobunids. The previous fossil record was incomplete and not much was known about the "four-foot (meter-long) beasts that resembled hornless rhinos with flat foreheads, long snouts, and golf ball-size eyes."
The article quotes "tribal instabilities" as one reason why research (and the number of fossils found) has been limited, but now, Howard University and the Geological Survey of Pakistan have struck an agreement and scientists were able to dig for fossils near Islamabad.
The freshly discovered fossils include "a crushed skull and a full set of teeth" which doubles the number of fossils previously unearthed in the 1930s and it has answered some nagging questions, such as, "If elephants and manatees originated in Africa, what are these bones doing in Asia?"
Anthracobunids are now thought to be related to "odd-toed ungulates, such as rhinos and tapirs."
