Prehistory otters roamed Earth nearly 6 million years ago

Remains of the large extinct otter, which had large, powerful jaws and is estimated to have weighed about 50 kilogrammes.(Representational image)

New Delhi: Researchers claim that prehistoric otters believed to have been of the size of modern wolf might have dominated Earth almost 6 million years ago.

Believed to be one of the largest otter species, scientists claim to have discovered 6.24-million-year-old fossils of these prehistoric species.

Remains of the large extinct otter, which had large, powerful jaws and is estimated to have weighed about 50 kilogrammes, was found in the northeastern Yunnan Province in China.

The species, named Siamogale melilutra, belongs to an ancient lineage of extinct otters that was previously known only from isolated teeth from a different, much older species that was recovered in Thailand.

Researchers from Cleveland Museum of Natural History in the US recovered a complete cranium, mandible, dentition and various skeletal elements - offering a wealth of insight into the taxonomy, evolutionary history and functional morphology of this new species.

"While the cranium is incredibly complete, it was flattened during the fossilisation process," said Denise Su, from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

"The bones were so delicate that we could not physically restore the cranium. Instead, we CT-scanned the specimen and virtually reconstructed it in a computer," said Su.

(With PTI inputs)