Name:
Triconodon (Greek for "three-spiked tooth"); pronounced try-CON-oh-don
Habitat:
Woodlands of Asia and Western Europe
Historical Period:
Late Jurassic (150-145 million years ago)
Size and Weight:
About one foot long and one or two pounds
Diet:
Omnivorous
Distinguishing Characteristics:
Relatively large body and brain
About Triconodon:
To a certain extent, even for a paleontologist, one primitive mammal tends to blend into the next primitive mammal. That's why many experts refer not to the specific genus Triconodon, but "triconodonts," a group of related critters that shared the same general features. Triconodon (and its fellow triconodonts) appears to have been a plain vanilla mammal, with relatively unspecialized teeth, good hearing, and a larger brain than comparably sized reptiles. Like most early mammals, it probably spent most of its time in trees, feeding on insects.
