Something 75 million years old is new again. Scientists have discovered a new species of mammal on Colorado’s Western Slope. Heleocola piceanus, which translates to “swamp dweller,’’ lived 70 to 75 million years ago among the dinosaurs.
Weighing in at somewhere around two pounds, the mammal kept a low profile in the marshes on the edge of a seaway that bisected the American continent at the time.
Paleontologist Jaelyn Eberle of the University of Colorado identified the new species from teeth and a small piece of jaw found in a sandstone formation near the town of Rangely.
