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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Science
Donna Lu

Australian scientists solve mystery of moment monotremes migrated

Mammalogist Prof Timothy Flannery, at the Australian Museum in Sydney.  Flannery and chief scientist, Prof Kristofer Helgen, have discovered exactly when echidnas arrived in Australia.
Mammalogist Prof Timothy Flannery, at the Australian Museum in Sydney. Flannery and chief scientist, Prof Kristofer Helgen, have discovered exactly when echidnas arrived in Australia. Photograph: James Alcock/Australian Museum

Researchers have pinpointed exactly how and when echidnas likely arrived in Australia as part of a fossil analysis shedding new light on the origins of egg-laying mammals.

The platypus and four species of echidna are the only remaining living monotremes – mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. New analysis of every monotreme fossil discovered to date has recast the earliest history of the animals.

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