02/03/10

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ Fossilized bones found in central Utah are
from two prehistoric rodents never before seen by scientists.

Don DeBlieux (de-BLUE'), a paleontologist with the Utah
Geological Survey, says the fossils are about 8 million years old
and were found among the scattered bones of elephants, extinct
camels and other animals.

The find near Sevier was announced Wednesday.

Paleontologists say the bones provide rare clues about animal
life in Utah during a period known as the Miocene Epoch, which
lasted from about 23 million years ago to about 5 million years
ago.

One of the newly discovered tiny rodents is a relative to the
modern-day deer mouse. The other is related to the spiny pocket
mouse.

The cache of bones also included a type of prehistoric rabbit
never recorded before in Utah.


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