Sabre-toothed, ferret-like mammal unearthed in Patagonia

It looks like something out of a slightly unhinged cartoon artist's imagination – long snout, dagger-like canines and a powerful set of muscles with which to chew its insect food.

However, Cronopio dentiacutus is no Warner Brothers creation but a small ferret-like mammal that lived 94m years ago in what is now South America.

The fossilised remains of the skulls and jaws of Cronopio were found in Patagonia and are described in the journal Nature by a team of researchers led by Guillermo Rougier of the University of Louisville.   More