Introducing Paleontology

Furry, spiky mammal scampered among dinosaurs

Early Cretaceous fur ball with spikes discovered in Spain

illustration of Spinolestes xenarthrosus

MESOZOIC MAMMAL  Spinolestes xenarthrosus lived 125 million years ago, weighed about as much as a possum and probably looked like small mammals do today. 

Oscar Sanisidro

By Helen Thompson

- More than 2 years ago

When scales were all the rage, one early mammal sported fur and spines.

Unearthed in central Spain, a skeleton of the newly discovered small mammal, christened Spinolestes xenarthrosus, dates to 125 million years ago, paleontologist Thomas Martin of the University of Bonn in Germany and colleagues report in the Oct.