scientist have described three new mammals metal money that trotted around the Cayman Islands until just 300 years ago . The evidence , funnily enough , come in the build of ossified bone that appear to have been swallowed down , churned up , and pooped out by Cuban crocodiles .
research worker conduct by the Zoological Society of London ( ZSL ) , the American Museum of Natural History , and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History recently discovered the newfangled metal money by studying off-white found in a number of museum collections that were found between the thirties and 1990s .
compose in theBulletin of the American Museum of Natural History , the team note the castanets have " an unusual preservation that appears to represent digestion by crocodile . " anatomic analysis and ancient DNA of the unknown specimensrevealed two new large rodents ( Capromyspilorides lewisiandGeocapromys caymanensis ) , as well as a small shrew - like mammal ( Nesophontes hemicingulus ) .
When the Cayman Islands were " visited " by Sir Francis Drake in 1586 , he and his crew wrote about the island ’s " coneys " and “ small beasts like CT ” . It ’s now believed that these new key species were the animate being they were referring to . Unfortunately , it looks like these coloniser , along with their introduction of rats and cats , could have spelled the end for these low mammals .
" human being are almost for sure to blame for the extinction of these newly described mammals , and this represents just the tip of the iceberg for mammal extinctions in the Caribbean . Nearly all the mammal specie that used to live on these tropic islands , include all of the aboriginal Caribbean sloths and monkeys , have late disappeared , ” co - author Professor Samuel Turvey , Senior Research Fellow at ZSL ’s Institute of Zoology , say in astatement
" It ’s vitally important to understand the factor responsible for for past extinguishing of island species , as many threatened metal money today are found on island . The handful of Caribbean mammals that still exist today are the last survivors of a unique go away world and represent some of the world ’s top conservation priorities . "
raft of questions still besiege these newly discovered critter . Their close living relatives , Desmarest ’s hutia(Capromyspilorides ) , are still see on the neighboring island of Cuba . But , how and when did they bring off to get to the Cayman Islands , several hundred of kilometers across open seas ? One solution could be that they"sailed " over on a raft of flora , the investigator say . However , for now , that remains unanswered .
" Although one would think that the great day of biologic field discoveries are long over , that ’s very far from the event , ” study co - writer Professor Ross MacPhee of the American Museum of Natural History added . “ With only one potential sighting too soon in the course of European expanding upon into the New World , these small mammals from the Cayman Islands were thoroughgoing terra incognita until their fossils were discovered . “
