Mammals but not Men or Mammoths Quiz

Answer: Morganucodon

The name means Morgan's tooth. Morganucodonts were a group of early shrew like Jurassic mammals - they do not seem to belong to any of the modern groups - monotremes, marsupials or placental mammals). They are better known than later mammals as some of them fell into crevices (in the area that became Bristol and South Wales), which preserved them well.
There are other species which are could considered to be the earliest true mammal - it depends on your definition of a true mammal and on what fossils have been found.
The other three were all approximately mouse sized late Cretaceous mammals.
Kamptobataar was a weasel shaped arboreal herbivorous multiuberculate.
Zalambdalestes was a shrew like placental.
Deltatheridium was a mouse like marsupial.

Answer: First deer with antlers

It is a muntjac from the lower Miocene (24-16 million years ago). The antlers were simple in shape - just two branches. Modern muntjacs still only have small, simple antlers.
There are spineless hedgehogs and the okapi is a giraffe with a relatively short neck.

Answer: They were hoofed

All the mesonychids' modern relatives are herbivores - they branched from the perissodactyls (odd toed hoofed mammals such as the horse) just before the start of the Eocene (about 60 million years ago). The earlier ones had omnivorous dentition similar to a bears. Almost any attempt to look them up on the web says that that they are ancestral to the whales but now many people think that whales are closer to hippopotami. One mesonychid, Andrewsarchus of the Eocene (44-37 million years ago) of Mongolia was the largest known terrestrial carnivore with an 83 cm long by 56 cm wide skull and a body of over six metres long.

Answer: Elk (moose to people who are American influenced)

It is described as having an ox like body. The 'antlers' were more elaborate versions of those on a modern giraffe. Some people believe it survived long enough to be portrayed by an ancient Sumerian artist.
The European elk (Alces alces) is the same animal as the American moose. The American elk or wapiti (Cervus elpahus) is a different animal.

Answer: Rhinoceros

Weights of up to 32 tons have been estimated but it is now believed to be more slender - an average of eleven tons and a maximum of 15-20 (two species of elephants have been estimated at up to 16 tons). Despite being found in India the name does not refer to India but to a mythological animal - the Indrik (which had a horn, unlike the Indricatherium).

Tayassuidae is the family peccaries belong to.

Answer: Didelphodon

The three wrong answers are all modern wallabies. Steropodon was a platypus.
Didelphodon was featured in 'Walking with dinosaurs'. It was a badger sized, burrowing marsupial carnivore. Its teeth like those of a Tasmanian devil, which is a scavenger. The teeth are suited to crushing and it has been suggested that the didelphodon preyed on young anklyosaurs.

Answer: Uintatherium

All these animals were about the size and shape of a rhinoceros.
The Uintatherium (Uinta beast) has no known close relatives. One of the best candidates for a relation is the rabbit! It lived in the Eocene of N. America and E. Asia (52-37 million years ago).
Diprotodon was the largest known Australian marsupial. It was perhaps distantly related to kangaroos and wombats. As I wrote this quiz an article appeared pointing out that diprotodons coexisted with humans for thousands of years and blamed climate change caused by the ice age for its extinction rather than humans but they had survived several other ice ages when there were no humans so in my opinion humans played a significant roll in their extinction.
Brontotheres lived in the Oligocene (37-24 million years ago) and had Y shaped skin-covered horns on their nose. The Sioux knew of their bones and thought they came to earth during storms to hunt bison, so they were named Brontotherium, which means thunder beast.
The Arsinotherium is another animal with no definite relatives. One of the best candidates for a relation is the hyrax. It comes from the Oligocene of Egypt with related species from other parts of Eurasia. It has two horns like a rhino except that they are side by side and form a V shape.

Answer: A short trunk

It was probably not closely related to any surviving hoofed animal. Macrauchenias survived the arrival of North American mammals but apparently not the arrival of man. It stood about 1.5 m at the shoulder and appears to have relied on dodging rather than speed or fighting back when attacked.

Answer: Carnivores

They were the earliest group of mammals to become the dominant carnivores, and reached the peak of their number and diversity during the Eocene (between 58 and 37 million years ago). Some strongly resembled the later sabre-toothed cats. The last known creodont Dissopsalis survived until at least eight million years ago in Pakistan.

Answer: Deinogalerix

Deinogalerix was a giant spineless hedgehog. It was as big as a terrier and lived on the late Miocene (11-5 million years ago) island that became Southern Italy (small animals on islands often become giants and large ones become dwarfs).
Nimravids are not true cats but are very similar - They are also known as the Paleofelids (ancient cats) or False Sabre-toothed Cats. They lived from the late Eocene (36 million years ago) to the late Miocene (five million years ago), peaking around 28 million years ago.
Machearodonts were true cats and include Smilodon (the best-known sabre tooth).
Thylacosmilids were S American marsupials which looked very like Smilodon but they had a bony projection on the lower jaw to protect their sabres which grew continuously to 200mm - the longest of any sabre tooth. They lasted till the Pleistocene.