January 1, 2000

1 min read

MAMMAL MELEE

New fossils impugn leading model of early mammal origins

By Kate Wong

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Kate Wong is an award-winning science writer and senior editor at Scientific American focused on evolution, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology and animal behavior. She is fascinated by human origins, which she has covered for more than 25 years. Recently she has become obsessed with birds. Her reporting has taken her to caves in France and Croatia that Neandertals once called home, to the shores of Kenya's Lake Turkana in search of the oldest stone tools in the world, to Madagascar on an expedition to unearth ancient mammals and dinosaurs, to the icy waters of Antarctica, where humpback whales feast on krill, and on a "Big Day" race around the state of Connecticut to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. Kate is co-author, with Donald Johanson, of Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biological anthropology and zoology from the University of Michigan. Follow Wong on X (formerly Twitter) @katewong

More by Kate Wong
Scientific American Magazine Vol 282 Issue 1This article was originally published with the title “MAMMAL MELEE” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 282 No. 1 ()
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican012000-7MqEmTLnSj2XSt75kC7niR
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