Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS

Ear fossils hint at origin of warm-blooded mammals

Analysis suggests that the cold-blooded ancestors of mammals evolved faster metabolisms in the Late Triassic period, roughly 230 million to 200 million years ago.
  1. Bianca Nogrady
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

The reptile-like ancestors of mammals evolved to be warm-blooded — but the timing of this transition is hotly contested. Now scientists have used fossilized inner ear canals to suggest that the adaptation occurred around 230 million to 200 million years ago1. But other researchers say this evidence is unlikely to settle the debate.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01975-7

Read the related News & Views: ‘Evolution of thermoregulation as told by ear’

References

  1. Araújo, R. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04963-z (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Lovegrove, B. G. Biol. Rev. 87, 128–162 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Grigg, G. et al. Biol. Rev. 97, 766–801 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links