5 December 2018
Scientists have identified fossilised blubber from an ancient marine reptile that lived 180 million years ago.
Blubber is a thick layer of fat found under the skin of modern marine mammals such as whales.
Its discovery in this ancient "sea monster" - an ichthyosaur - appears to confirm the animal was warm-blooded, a rarity in reptiles.
The preserved skin is smooth, like that of whales or dolphins. It had lost the scales characteristic of its ancestors.
The ichthyosaur's outer layer is still somewhat flexible and retains evidence of the animal's camouflage pattern.
The reptile was counter-shaded - darker on the upper side and light on the underside. This counter-balances the shading effects of natural light, making the animal more difficult to see.
"Ichthyosaurs are interesting because they have many traits in common with dolphins, but are not at all closely related to those sea-dwelling mammals," said co-author Mary Schweitzer, professor of biological sciences at North Carolina State University (NCSU).
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