65 million-year-old new species of mammal discovered in El Paso County

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - A newly discovered, fossilized species was unearthed in El Paso County and it was named after two Colorado Springs icons.

The Corral Bluffs area, just east of Colorado Springs, is a place scientists describe as a “treasure cove.”

That truly was the case when they found a 65-million-year-old fossil.

“It's a cool mammal because it belongs to a group of mammals that gave rise to all modern hoofed mammals,” Tyler Lyson, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology said.

The Militocodon Lydae fossil was uncovered in the Corral Bluffs Open Space.

Only the mammal's skull and jaws were found, but according to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, it was about the size of a chinchilla and is related to animals with hooves.

“Right after the extinction of the dinosaurs is when the modern world took over. Modern mammals took over sort of in this interval of time, 65 and a half million years ago. So, the mammal that I found just over on the ridge over there was something new to science,” Lyson said.

Scientists say the mammal's fossils were found in rocks dating back to the time just after the extinction of the dinosaurs.

“This area is the best place to understand what happened after the extinction of the dinosaurs,” Lyson said.

The group of researchers said they chose the name - 'Militocodon Lydae’ after two Colorado Springs women who have been a part of other pivotal discoveries in the city.

They plan to continue digging throughout the Corral Bluffs area in hopes of better understanding how we got to where we are today.