Our ancestors may have become warm-blooded more suddenly than previously realized.
A new study, published in Nature, suggests that ancestors of mammals known as mammaliamorphs abruptly went from being cold-blooded ectotherms to warm-blooded endotherms, rather than experiencing an extended period of change.
This extremely fast burst of evolution would have rapidly redefined how these animals lived, transforming our ancestors into more active creatures that lived a wide range of lifestyles.
Dr Romain David, a researcher at the Museum who co-led the study, says, ‘Until now, the general consensus was that the acquisition of endothermy in the mammalian lineage has been a gradual process, taking place over millions of years from the end of the Permian and through the Triassic, but our results suggest it has actually been very abrupt.’
The point at which animals began to regulate their own body temperature is an important one in the evolution of life.
By controlling their temperature separately from the environment, mammals and birds are able to be active at any time of day in a range of environments, as well as being able to perform energetic behaviors such as flying.
