In the 19th century , paleontologist collected many finger cymbals and tooth they could n’t identify . Some of these number from rich Ethiopian depository laid down up to 4.5 million years ago . Now , after 150 - 180 years in reposition , some of these fossils have been identified as coming from giant otters that weighed more than 200 kilograms ( 440 pounds ) and co - exist in the area with our ancestors .
The new coinage take so long to identify because we are a very long fashion from having a complete frame . A paper in the Gallic journalComptes Rendus Palevolputs together two partial jawbones , a few tooth , and a branch bone to describe a fresh species the author namedEnhydriodon omoensis , while allocating other scattered otter bones found at the same positioning to the Torolutra genus .
Giant otters are a long - established feature of the Pliocene and previous Miocene Eras . Enhydriodon dikikae , a resident of Africa ’s Afar region , was already line as lion - sized when it was scientifically line in 2011 , butE. omoensisis larger still .
A reconstruction of E. omoensis compared to silhouettes of living otters, a modern human woman, and a Australopithecine. Image Credit: © Sabine Riffaut, Camille Grohé / Palevoprim / CNRS – Université de Poitiers
The most familiar of the 13 come through otter might be Eurasian otter , but the subfamily cover a surprising range of size . Eurasiatic otter typically weigh up to 17 kilograms ( 37.5 pounds ) but the Asia small - taloned otter weighs just 2 - 6 kilo ( 4.4 - 13.2 pound ) , while the North Pacific sea otter can reach a hefty 45 kilograms ( 99.2 pounds ) .
The extinct Enhydriodon genus has been find in many locations across easterly Africa and sometimes beyond , with at least six mintage living in the easterly rift system of rules . E. omoensiswas retrieve in the Lower Omo Valley , Ethiopia north of Lake Turkana where theoldest Isidor Feinstein Stone toolswere made 3.3 million year ago .
Australopithecine fossils have been launch in the same Omo formation , and later early humans live on in the expanse as well;Homo Sapiensmay evenhave evolve there . E. omoensiswould have been a competitor with Australopithecines for food , and perhaps the first man if it survived a little longer , even if it did n’t run through them directly .
Moreover , this was n’t one scary beast our ancestor could avoid by ride out out of the H2O .
" The peculiar matter , in plus to its massive size , is that [ isotopes ] in its teeth suggest it was not aquatic , like all mod otters , " saidDr Kevin Unoof Columbia University in astatement . “ We found it had a diet of sublunary animals . ”
The conclusion draws on the fact that plants store dissimilar ratios of carbon paper isotope look on their develop condition andphotosynthetic pathways . herbivore contain the ratio of the plants they feed on , which in turn go into the making of carnivores , including their bones and dentition .
Uno and co - source are confident other bone found in the same establishment belong to the Torolutra genus , which resembled the advanced river otters and lived mostly on Pisces the Fishes . They also describe a bone fragment they conceive came from a large Enhydriodon , but ca n’t identify the species .
