Several bone fragments of some rare mammals that lived 10 millions of years ago were recently discovered in the village of Cretesti, in Romania's Vaslui county, during work on a local road. The recent discovery is the more important as it shows a savanna with tropical area features once existed on what is now the region of Moldova in Northern Romania, according to specialists.

The paleontological site, which covers some 30 sqm, is unique in Eastern Europe, as it hosts bone fragments of rare mammals in this side of the world. Skulls of sword fang tigers, mandibles of tridactyl horses, a hyena mandible, mandibles of antelopes and gazelles, as well as a Chalicotherium skull were all found on a hill crest, after digging two and a half meters into the hill.

This diverse and unexpected discovery had the researchers in awe, especially because of the Chalicotherium skull. This was a combination between a horse and a ground sloth, an herbivore mammal similar to the giraffe, with very long front legs that ended in claws, and short rear legs.

“This skull is a trophy among all discoveries in the Cretesti site, it is unique at least in Eastern Europe and shows this strange animal lived in the Eastern part of the Carpathians. […] The presence of these bones demonstrates that 10 million years ago, a tropical savanna existed in this area of Moldova [...]” said Laurenţiu Ursachi from the Barlad museum, quoted by Mediafax newswire.

The Chalicotherium is an extinct perissodactyl whose fossil remains are common in deposits of Asia, Europe, and Africa from the Miocene Epoch, 23 to 5.3 million years ago.

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(photo source: Wikipedia)