The modern wildebeest's ancient cousin may have had one common link with dinosaurs, a new study revealed.
In Kenya's Rusinga Island, archaeologists unearthed wildebeest-like fossils with a strange, trumpet-like nose resembling that of hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaurs.
Although ancient wildebeests and duck-billed dinosaurs lived millions of years apart, both animals had a trumpet-like nasal passage that extended to the top of their heads. Researchers said this may have served as "resonance chambers" to help these creatures communicate with their own kind.
It's also an amazing example of a process called the convergent evolution. Ancient wildebeests and hadrosaur dinosaurs are unrelated animals, but they had developed a similar trait because it was an advantage for survival.
Paleophysiology student Haley O'Brien, one of the researchers of the study, said nasal dome feature is a novelty for mammals, and it's not something we could see in an animal that lives today. She said the closest example would really be duck-billed dinosaurs with half-circle crests that enclose the nasal passages.
Researchers were examining a fossil site in Kenya about seven years ago. The Bovid Hill fossil site is famous for its bovid fossils such as the Rusingoryx atopocranion. This creature was a hoofed mammal that roamed the Earth during the Late Pleistocene Era.
Little was known about the Rusingoryx, but it was still identified as a new species in 1983. When scientists returned to the fossil site, they realized an entire herd of Rusingoryx might have been wiped out and buried on it.
When researchers scoured the Bovid Hill for fossils, they found several intact skulls of the beasts.
J. Tyler Faith, one of the authors of the study, said the skulls of the Rusingoryx were different from the skulls of antelopes.
"The anatomy was clearly remarkable," said Faith.
O'Brien and Faith then studied the juvenile and adult skulls using computer tomography scans. They found that the inner structure of the skulls contained large, hollow crests similar to the long crests of the hadrosaur.
"We were expecting the inside of the dome to have something closer to normal mammalian anatomy," said O'Brien. "But once we took a look at the CT scans, we were pretty shocked."
Scientists believe that both animals used their crests to deepen their vocal calls.
As the Rusingoryx and hadrosaur were both social animals, researchers said these creatures must have communicated with their herd from large distances.
The team's findings are featured in the journal Current Biology.
