Mammal-like Triassic creature beat polar winters by hibernating

An artist's rendition shows the Triassic Period mammal relative Lystrosaurus in a hibernation-like state, released on August 27, 2020 by the University of Washington. Crystal Shin/Handout via REUTERS.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The tusks of a stoutly built plant-eating mammal relative that inhabited Antarctica 250 million years ago are providing the oldest-known evidence that animals resorted to hibernation-like states to get through lean times such as polar winters.

The research published on Thursday focused on a four-legged forager called Lystrosaurus whose fossils have been found in China, Russia, India, South Africa and Antarctica. It was an early member of the evolutionary lineage that later gave rise to mammals.