An early predecessor to mammals could swim, suckle and swallow

A fossil of an early ancestor of mammals from the Jurassic period reveals a mammal-like throat passage (pharynx) and throat bones (hyoids). It fills a gap in our knowledge about throat features in the animals from which modern mammals evolved their ability to swallow as adults and suckle milk as babies. A fossil discovery suggests that suckling emerged in a common ancestor of modern mammals that lived in the Jurassic period.