Flying Squirrels The Size Of Cats Used To Fly Through The Appalachian Skies Millions Of Years Ago
Long ago, a giant flying squirrel that was about the size of today’s house cats soared through the skies over what is now Southern Appalachia.
It is believed to have looked like a kite sailing between trees above mastodons, rhinos, and red pandas.
This discovery was made at the Gray Fossil Site and Museum. The site is located northwest of Johnson City, Tennessee. It was discovered 25 years ago, revealing a treasure trove of prehistoric finds.
“Finding Miopetaurista in North America was quite unexpected as this genus is only known from Eurasia,” said Dr. Isaac Casanovas-Vilar, one of the researchers from East Tennessee State University.
“There had been some uncertain reports from Florida, but the specimen of the Gray Fossil Site provided new information and helped to confirm that somehow these giant flying squirrels crossed the Bering Land Bridge alongside other mammals about five million years ago.”
The closest relatives of the ancient critters are actually the giant flying squirrels in China, Japan, and Indonesia, not the squirrels that are seen regularly in Appalachia. These giant flying squirrels weighed around three pounds and were very agile.
When they arrived in the area that is now Tennessee, the world was much warmer than it is currently. As a result, the squirrel’s ancestors were able to cross into North America, gliding through dense, humid forests like the ones preserved in the fossil record millions of years ago. The Ice Ages eventually led to some major changes.
“As the climate cooled over time, the Pleistocene Ice Ages led to the isolation of these giant flying squirrels in warmer refuges like Florida and ultimately contributed to their extinction,” said researcher Montserrat Grau-Camats.
“The last American Miopetaurista lived millions of years after all Eurasian species of this genus had disappeared, meaning at the time they were ‘living fossils.'”
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The Gray Fossil Site has also led to the fascinating discovery of a bone-crushing dog that weighed between 155 and 160 pounds.
The dogs were ambush hunters and were among the top predators in the area. They behaved similarly to hyenas today.
Despite their powerful jaws and strong teeth, the dogs would not have relied solely on meat for sustenance. They also would have feasted on plants and insects, a diet that was something like that of a miniature bear. They lived alongside ancient pigs, horses, and elephant-like animals.
The last members went extinct around two million years ago during the late Pliocene. They were likely outcompeted by the ancestors of modern wolves, coyotes, and foxes.
Overall, these extraordinary archaeological discoveries have given experts useful insight into the ecosystem of North America millions of years ago. It just goes to show how the Gray Fossil Site continues to reveal more surprises even after 25 years.
The study was published in the Journal of Mammalian Evolution.
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