Balkantolia: Traces of lost continent discovered after 50 million years from fossils

Fossils are of specific interest to several experts around the globe as via fossils; one can actually check the age of a particular rock as compared to other rocks or identify the environment in which the rock was formed or about its origin.

A similar example came out when weird-looking fossils provided the way for palaeontologists to step upon a forgotten continent.

The part of the land is called as "Balkanatolia," it seems to have formed a bridge between Africa, Asia and Europe around 50 million years ago.

Several reports had disclosed how this discovery began when researchers began to receive information about some puzzling fossils popping up around the Balkans. These fossils resemble a cross between some kind of hippo and a type of marsupial, showing inconsistency with species found explicitly in the area.

As per a research scientist at the French National Center for Scientific Research and investigators in the resulting study, Alexis Licht, "There were a very few reports of very weird fossil animals, and we actually had no idea what they were doing there."

Several reports have stated how Licht and a team of geologists and palaeontologists began to realize that these fossils resulted from Asian mammals breeding with those located in Europe, pointing to a time in which the regions were connected.

The study reveals that Balkanatolia was home to unique fauna and was settled 40 million years ago by Asian mammals as a outcome of geographical changes that have yet to be completely understood."

The study further reveals that it could be considered as a lost continent in the sense that it was a single big land mass with the similar animals on it.