A team of researchers reported that at least 20 carnivorous mammals lived in southern Germany 11.5 million years ago at a fossil site called Hammerschmiede. Recent excavations have unearthed many fossil animals and plants, including 350 individual mammal specimens. The first author of the study, Nikolaos Kargopoulos, said that among the specimens discovered the most distinctive was the well-preserved skull of a marten. He mentioned that the discovery would help them establish a new genus of extinct large marten.

Professor Madelaine Böhme led the excavation project in which they discovered different fossils of animals that lived in a semi-aquatic habitat, while some were found to live in trees. The professor said the species had adapted to the river and surrounding forest in the area at the time.

The animals recorded at the site belonged to the order Carnivora. The animals were four marten-like species, two relatives of the modern wolverine, four otter species, three skunk species, two species from the red panda family, three different genets, four marten-like species, and several species from groups We have no living species today.

One of the smallest predators in the area is a weasel that weighs only between one and two kilograms. The particular dental characteristics of the species show that they only consumed meat. The species was named Circamustela hartmanni in honor of the Hartmann family.

Wolverines, skunks and even red pandas were expected in Europe’s fossil record. However, Böhme said such a high concentration was not expected.

Böhme said that the presence of 20 different species of small carnivores in the same place indicated that the ecology at that time was healthy and could support all the various forms.

“Based on an analysis of body mass, diet and the way they moved, each of the discovered species appears to have assumed a different role in the ecosystem. They used different natural resources and thus were able to avoid competition,” Kargopoulos said.

Since the 2019 discovery of Danuvius guggenmosi, the first ape known to walk upright, the site has attracted a lot of attention.

In September 2021, researchers discovered species of the extinct genus Vishnuonyx. It was identified from the 11.4 million year old lower jaw found at the Hammerschmiede site in the Late Miocene.

One of the recent discoveries was published in March 2022 in Taylor and Francis Online. Scientists from the Senckenberg Research Institute and the Natural History Museum in Frankfurt and the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and the Paleoenvironment at the University of Tübingen discovered the fossil remains of a prehistoric water bird. However, this came from an unknown species. It was discovered in the Hammerschmiede clay mine.