Adalatherium is an extremely bizarre mammal that lived on Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous, approximately 67 million years ago. It is known from a single, remarkably well-preserved skeleton that is, in fact, the most complete for any Mesozoic mammal known from the entire southern hemisphere. Translated from the Malagasy and Greek languages, Adalatherium means “crazy beast." Why? Because its bones and teeth reveal that it was incredibly strange- its backbone has more vertebrae than any known mammal, it has a strangely curved hind leg, its molar teeth are constructed like no other mammal, and it has a very large hole on the top of its snout for which there is no parallel known.

Adalatherium belongs to an extinct group of mammals called gondwanatherians, so-named because they are only known from the ancient southern supercontinent of Gondwana. Before the discovery of the skeleton of Adalatherium, gondwanatherians were known only from a single skull (also from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar) and a handful of isolated teeth and fragmentary jaws. The skeleton of Adalatherium therefore provides great new insights into what gondwanatherians are related to and how they lived, but the many bizarre features remain difficult to explain. They are probably the result of its lineage living in isolation on Madagascar for over 20 million years.

Locality: Madagascar

Formation: Maevarano

Length: 50.8 cm (20 inches)

Height @ Hips: 20.3 cm (8 inches)

Skeleton: $7,139

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