Balkanatolia: the forgotten continent that sheds light on the evolution of mammals

Map showing Balkanatolia 40 million years ago and at the present day. Alexis Licht & Grégoire Métais - A team of geologists and palaeontologists has discovered that, some 50 million years ago, there was a low-lying continent separating Europe from Asia that they have named Balkanatolia. Geographical changes 40 to 34 million years ago connected this continent to its two neighbours, paving the way for the replacement of European mammals by Asian mammals. A team of French, American and Turkish palaeontologists and geologists led by CNRS researchers 1 has discovered the existence of a forgotten continent they have dubbed Balkanatolia, which today covers the present-day Balkans and Anatolia. Formerly inhabited by a highly specific fauna, they believe that it enabled mammals from Asia to colonise Europe 34 million years ago. Their findings are published in the March 2022 volume of Earth Science Reviews . Working at the Centre for Research and Teaching in Environmental Geoscience (CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université/IRD/INRAE) and at the Centre for Research on Palaeontology - Paris (CNRS/Museum national d'Histoire naturelle/Sorbonne Université).