【#Tech24H】A team co-led by the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility has reported a milestone discovery in paleontology: the first confirmation and description of fossilized eggs from a mammalian ancestor. The fossil, discovered in South Africa, is an egg containing a nearly complete embryo of an animal called ”Lystrosaurus”, a badger-sized, herbivorous mammal-like reptile that lived approximately 250 million years ago. Remarkably, it survived the Permian-Triassic mass extinction event (around 252 million years ago). This discovery not only directly answers the long-standing scientific question of whether mammalian ancestors laid eggs, but also provides key clues for understanding how life endured Earth’s most severe extinction event.