Jurassic mammals

The New York Times of February 17th 2015 had a piece on Jurassic mammals. It said that scientists once thought the only mammals that existed alongside the dinosaurs during the Jurassic were small shrew like creatures. Why such insignificant life forms should expand to fill the niches created by the extinction event at the end of the dinosaur age has always been somewhat of a mystery. In 2006 a fossil beaver like animal was found and more recently, other mammal fossils somewhat larger than the humble shrew. One of these was adapted to living in trees and the other was equipped with large claws and sprawling limbs that resemble modern diggins animals such as badgers. Mammals had already found a niche – even in the Jurassic.