The Oldest Mammal Ancestor Ever Found Was Discovered in Mallorca 

What Mallorca’s Gorgonopsian Tells Us About Mammalian Origins

I was still an undergrad student in Barcelona when I decided that I wanted to do a semester abroad. I sent the application paperwork and won a scholarship to do a “lab training experience” in Finland. I now needed to find a lab.

I had known for years that Paleontology was something that excited me, so when I found out that Dr. Michael Fortelius, one of the best mammal Paleontologists I’ve ever met, was at the University of Helsinki, I emailed him to enquire whether he’d be willing to be my supervisor during my time there. 

He accepted to be my mentor with his characteristic kindness, but with a condition: I had to find my own fossil material and bring it with me. He suggested that I contact the Catalan Institute of Paleontology Miquel Crusafont (ICP), and so I did. 

That was, singlehandedly, one of the best steps I took in my career. Dr. Salvador Moyà-Solà, director of the research institution, saw potential in me and introduced me to the whole team, and hence, I started collaborating with them. 

Being at the ICP was an amazing experience, and I will never forget attending my first conference and, of course, participating in my first fossil dig led by Dr. Josep Fortuny. 

Over the years, and even after I left the institution to do my PhD in Australia, I have stayed in touch with my old friends at the ICP, and seeing a new cool discovery from the team always brings a smile to my face. 

That’s why I’m so excited to introduce today’s story: the discovery of the oldest known mammal relative in the Balearian island of Mallorca. 

Sometimes, science uncovers fossils that not only reshape how we understand the past but also where we look for answers. This was the case with a gorgonopsian fossil recently discovered on the Spanish island of Mallorca, just a few miles across the Mediterranean Sea from where I was born. 

At around 270–280 million years old, it’s the oldest known therapsid, a group of ancient reptiles on the evolutionary line leading to mammals. So that you can envision what this means, this specimen is at least 50 million years older than the first dinosaurs known to us. As a reference, modern humans have only been on Earth for about 300,000 years.

But beyond the novelty, this extraordinary find opens a new window into the origins of traits that define mammals today.

Once again, new fossils help us rethink the complex history of evolution. 

But before we dig in (pun intended) into what this fossil means to us, let’s look at the group this specimen belongs to: the Gorgonopsians (no, these aren’t your new neighbors from across the street). 

Gorgonopsians, which thrived during the Permian period, are often called saber-toothed predators, for they looked similar to saber-tooth cats. See below. 

Despite looking a bit like furless, earless dogs, they were among the first animals to show mammal-like traits, including warm-bloodedness and efficient movement. 

But until now, fossils of gorgonopsians had only been found in regions that once were in higher latitudes, like Russia and South Africa. However, this Mallorcan specimen, discovered in a former equatorial habitat, flips the narrative of where therapsids may have first emerged.

But let’s look back at what the authors did, shall we?

The discovery happened during a series of excavations in the Port des Canonge Formation in Mallorca’s Serra de Tramuntana. Using magnetostratigraphy (a technique that uses Earth’s ancient magnetic flips recorded in rocks to date geological layers), fossilized spores, and tetrapod (animals with four limbs) track analyses, the research team dated the fossil to the Cisuralian–Guadalupian boundary (between 278 and 268 million years ago) of the Permian period (the time before the dinosaurs).

The fossil, pieced together from multiple skeletal remains as seen in the figure above, included a nearly complete hind limb, cranial fragments, and saber teeth. 

Advanced modeling methods helped situate this gorgonopsian within therapsid evolutionary history, confirming its position as one of the earliest members of this lineage.

I’ve seen these analyses take place multiple times, and finding the age of a particular fossil is always one of the most exciting results everyone looks forward to. 

And what did the results of these analyses have to say?

The fossil represents a small gorgonopsian, roughly a meter long, that was likely an apex predator (on top of the ecosystem’s food chain) in its tropical floodplain environment. 

Its saber teeth and semi-erect posture — unlike the sprawling gait of reptiles — hint at evolutionary steps toward efficient predation and movement. 

“We know that this is a carnivorous animal, a characteristic shared by all gorgonopsians worldwide,” said Dr. Àngel Galobart, a researcher from the Institut Català de Paleontologia.

However, what sets this discovery apart is its location and age. This specimen, thought to be at least 270 million years old, predates other known gorgonopsians by several million years. 

“The one we found in Mallorca is at least 270 million years old, and the other records of this group worldwide are, at the very least, slightly younger,” explained Dr. Josep Fortuny, senior author of the study. 

This shifts the timeline of therapsid evolution and provides the first solid evidence that their early diversification began in tropical rather than temperate regions.

But why is this discovery so important for paleontologists and evolutionary biologists?

Well, therapsids are often associated with higher-latitude regions, where their fossils dominate. This Mallorcan gorgonopsian, however, supports the idea that therapsids may have originated in tropical Pangaea, where the climate oscillated between wet and dry seasons. 

During the Permian, Mallorca wasn’t an island with astonishing beaches but part of a vast floodplain near the equator. Here, gorgonopsians likely preyed on herbivorous reptiles found in the same formation.

But beyond that, this equatorial origin also has implications for therapsid physiology (how the chemistry in our bodies works). While modern mammals evolved their endothermic (warm-blooded) traits later, the adaptability required to thrive in tropical conditions may have laid the groundwork for later expansions into cooler climates. 

Early therapsids likely developed traits such as improved locomotion and more efficient respiration to compete with other predators and capture larger prey. These evolutionary tools became stepping stones for their descendants, including us. 

In other words, these are the key adaptations that, down the road, made us possible. Think of it as an evolutionary compounding effect. 

And what can modern science take away from this?

This find is about more than just gorgonopsians; it’s a reminder of the untapped potential of underexplored regions in paleontology. 

Until now, studies on early therapsids have focused on fossils from well-documented high-latitude sites. We knew we could find them there, and so we doubled and tripled down on these regions. 

But Mallorca’s Gorgonopsian shows the value of looking beyond traditional hunting grounds. As Dr. Fortuny noted, “It is most likely the oldest gorgonopsian on the planet,” cementing Mallorca’s role as a key piece in the puzzle of mammalian ancestry.

But beyond that, the discovery also highlights how the interplay of climate, geography, and evolution drives biodiversity (of course, I’ll mention climate). 

These saber-toothed ancestors weren’t just surviving; they were adapting and thriving in conditions that would later shape the course of life on Earth. This tropical therapsid provides a good starting point for anyone wondering how traits like warm-bloodedness or efficient locomotion began.

Understanding our past isn’t about answering all the questions at once. It’s about uncovering pieces of the story as if they were pieces in a puzzle, like this fossil predator, that lead us closer to seeing the bigger picture. 

This discovery challenges the way we think about mammalian origins and reminds us that history is often found where we least expect it. 

Before I close, I have a message for my old friend Dr. Josep Fortuny: Felicitats Fortu!

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