3.3-million-year-old fossil of extinct anthracothere found in Pakistan

Skull of the animal believed to be the ancestor of hippos discovered in Sohawa tehsil in Punjab's Jhelum district

The skull of an animal, belonging to the family of extinct creatures known as anthracotheres, has been found in Sohawa, Jhelum District of Pakistan's Punjab province.

The fossil weighs 10 kilogrammes and is one foot long. It is believed to be 3.3 million years old, Express News reported.

PHOTO: Express

It was found by Punjab University's research scholar Ghayyur Abbas and field guides Chaudhry Abid Hussain and Mehtab Khan. The fossil will be examined at the Punjab University.



Sohawa is a hotbed for fossils, with many other discoveries made there in recent years.

PHOTO: Express

The plant-eating, semi-aquatic mammals called anthracotheres flourished over 40 million years and died out less than 2.5 million years ago. They are believed to have left only one descendant - the hippopotamus.

PHOTO: Express

Earlier, the skulls of a nine million-year-old anthracothere, Merycopotamus medioximus, and a contemporaneous fossil hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon sivalensis) were found in Pakistan's Siwalik Hills, according to Berkeley.