First Snake-Like Shark Fossil Found in Morocco

File photo - Children look at a blacktip shark in an aquarium at 'Haus des Meeres' (Aqua Terra Zoo) in Vienna. REUTERS
File photo - Children look at a blacktip shark in an aquarium at 'Haus des Meeres' (Aqua Terra Zoo) in Vienna. REUTERS
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First Snake-Like Shark Fossil Found in Morocco

File photo - Children look at a blacktip shark in an aquarium at 'Haus des Meeres' (Aqua Terra Zoo) in Vienna. REUTERS
File photo - Children look at a blacktip shark in an aquarium at 'Haus des Meeres' (Aqua Terra Zoo) in Vienna. REUTERS

An international team of researchers has found the first skeletal remains of Phoebodus, an ancient shark, in the Anti-Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

Ancient sharks that are long extinct left behind a lot of teeth, but a complete skeleton has never been found before. This is because their skeletons were made of soft cartilage instead of hard bone, so finding a full fossilized one can be so rare. In this new effort, the researchers announced in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society that they found a complete fossilized skeleton of Phoebodus, a shark that lived over 350 million years ago.

A report by the Science X Network on the discovery stated that "the shark fossil was found in a mountainous region of Morocco that had once been a shallow sea basin. The region's limited water circulation and low oxygen levels have created an environment that has preserved the fossil for future generations."

According to the report, prior to the find, the only evidence of Phoebodus was three teeth. The fossilized remains revealed that the specimens were approximately 360 to 370 million years old.

Study coauthor Christian Klug of the University of Zurich, said: "In studying the fossilized skeleton, we were able to see that the old shark had a long, slim body (almost like an eel), a flat skull and a long jaw," noting that it resembles the modern frilled sharks that still live in the sea but with small contrasts in their teeth.

The old shark teeth were pointed, rather than the more common serrated edges of current fish. Many modern sharks have serrated teeth that allow them to cut up their prey before ingesting the pieces. By contrast, the cone-shaped, inward-pointing teeth of Phoebodus and the frilled shark are only good for capturing prey and then swallowing it whole.



Heartbroken Brits Abandon Pets as Living Costs Bite

Rising numbers of pets are being left at the Mayhew shelter in London as owners no longer able to afford their care take the heartbreaking decision to try to re-home them. Ben STANSALL / AFP
Rising numbers of pets are being left at the Mayhew shelter in London as owners no longer able to afford their care take the heartbreaking decision to try to re-home them. Ben STANSALL / AFP
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Heartbroken Brits Abandon Pets as Living Costs Bite

Rising numbers of pets are being left at the Mayhew shelter in London as owners no longer able to afford their care take the heartbreaking decision to try to re-home them. Ben STANSALL / AFP
Rising numbers of pets are being left at the Mayhew shelter in London as owners no longer able to afford their care take the heartbreaking decision to try to re-home them. Ben STANSALL / AFP

Staff at a London animal shelter have seen more than their fair share of abandoned pets over the years, from kittens in boxes to budgies dropped outside in the dead of night.
But lately there has been a surge in the numbers as people make the heartbreaking decision to give up their animal companions, no longer able to afford to care for their pets.

Struggling animal owners are feeling "a lot of heartache... and also shame and frustration that they're having to make these decisions," said Elvira Meucci-Lyons, the boss of the Mayhew shelter in Kensal Green, west London.

"They come to us because they feel they have no choice," she said.

"Behind every animal we take in there's a human story."

The small center has taken in more than 130 animals this year alone. It is part of a wider rise across the UK, where tens of thousands of pets have been abandoned since the Covid-19 pandemic and the onset of a cost-of-living crisis.

In the first few months of this year, more than 5,700 abandonments have been reported to the RSPCA, the world's oldest animal welfare organization -- a 32 percent rise on the same period in 2024.

Last year saw around 22,500 cases reported in total, up more than seven percent on 2023.
The challenge of affording animal care poses a heart-wrenching problem for many in Britain, a nation of dog and cat lovers where half the adult population -- more than 26 million people -- has a pet, according to the RSPCA.

And it has hit the country's poorest especially hard. Staff at Mayhew said some owners were having to choose between feeding themselves or their pets.

Several pets at the center -- including dogs Brownie, a one-year-old toy poodle, and Astro, a pocket American bully -- were brought in because their owners lost their homes due to financial troubles.

Stories like these are "the most upsetting", Meucci-Lyons said, because in hard times pet owners "need their lovely animals more than ever and the dog or cat doesn't want to do without their owner."

Rising vet bills
Mayhew staff said more pets were also arriving at the center in Kensal Green in poor health, often because their owners cannot afford veterinary bills.

Felix's case is typical. The muscular nine-year-old tomcat was playing with a length of string. But he arrived with tooth problems, with his owners bringing him to the shelter and saying they couldn't afford to keep him.
"We're seeing quite a lot more needing dental work nowadays," said Mayhew spokeswoman Olivia Patt.

The pandemic saw a spike in pet ownership under government lockdowns, and a subsequent wave of people then giving up their animals as normal lifestyles resumed.

Some people are returning lockdown pets, several years on. But RSPCA spokesman David Bowles told AFP that living costs, which soared during the pandemic, have become a major factor driving abandonments.

"We are now five years on from the first lockdown under Covid. The RSPCA believes the cost-of-living crisis is really impacting people's ability to pay for vet treatment in particular," he said.

UK inflation soared above 11 percent in October 2022, the highest level in more than four decades, and while it has slowed in the last few years, people are still feeling the squeeze.

Prices for many items including pet food have gone up by around 25 percent.
At Mayhew, staff have been doing all they can, from providing struggling owners with pet food and animal care packages, to offering free preventative treatments.

But the pressure has pushed the shelter's bubbly staff to their limits.

"We are run off our feet, we can't keep up with the demand," said Meucci-Lyons.

Even though the staff are comforted by knowing they make a difference, "every day it is heartbreaking -- we go to bed at night thinking about the dogs and cats we can't help," she said.