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An early predecessor to mammals could swim, suckle and swallow

Published: 07/10/2026, 00:00

This is a summary of: Li, Y. et al. A Jurassic mammaliaform swimmer and transformation of the mammalian pharynx. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11107-0 (2026). Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout ‘Expert opinion’ is published under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Hiiemae, K. M. & Crompton, A. W. in Functional Vertebrate Morphology (eds Hildebrand, M. et al.) 262–290 (Belknap, 1985). Huang, D. et al. in The Daohugou Biota (ed. Huang, D.) Ch. 3 (Shanghai Scientific and Technical, 2016). Jia, J., Anderson, J. S. & Gao, K.-Q. iScience 24, 102744 (2021). Article PubMed Google Scholar Ji, Q., Luo, Z.-X., Yuan, C.-X. & Tabrum, A. R. Science 311, 1123–1127 (2006).