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Close-up of the prehistoric mammal, Leptictidium

Leptictidium

Extraordinary Leptictidium fossils have been found that tell us they ate lizards, insects and small mammals and even that they had fur. Large hind legs indicate they were bipedal, however scientists have puzzled over whether they hopped like kangaroos or ran like chickens. A long, bare tail acted as a counterbalance and a mobile snout helped Leptictidium to sniff out its prey. Three different species have so far been discovered. It's most probable that they became extinct when their forest habitat gave way to open grasslands.

Scientific name: Leptictidium

Rank: Genus

Common names:

graceful weasel

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Distribution

The Leptictidium can be found in a number of locations including: Europe. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.

Behaviours

Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.

Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web

When they lived

Discover the other animals and plants that lived during the following geological time periods.

Eocene epoch Eocene epoch
The Eocene began as a time of global warming, with temperatures across the planet soaring. Forests thrived and trees grew even in polar regions.

Fossil types

Learn more about the other animals and plants that also form these fossils.

Exceptional preservation Exceptional preservation
Normally, only the hard parts of animals and plants - shell, bone, teeth and wood - are preserved as fossils. However, every now and then conditions permit the preservation of soft parts and create treasure houses of information for palaeontologists.

About

Leptictidium ("graceful weasel" in Latin) is an extinct genus of small mammals; together with macropods, ground pangolins, and humans, they are the only known completely bipedal mammals. Comprising five species, they resembled today's elephant shrews. They are especially interesting for their combination of characteristics typical of primitive eutherians with highly specialized adaptations, such as powerful hind legs and a long tail which aided in locomotion. They were omnivorous, their diet a combination of insects, lizards and small mammals. One of the first branches to split from basal eutherians, they appeared in the Lower Eocene, a time of warm temperatures and high humidity, roughly fifty million years ago. Although they were widespread throughout Europe, they became extinct around thirty-five million years ago with no descendants, probably because they were adapted to live in forest ecosystems and were unable to adapt to the open plains of the Oligocene.

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Classification

  1. Life
  2. Animals
  3. Vertebrates
  4. Mammals
  5. Leptictida
  6. Pseudorhyncocyonidae
  7. Leptictidium

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