China displays 54 million-year-old rabbit skull

BEIJING - A rabbit skull, believed to be about 54 million years old, has been put on display at a museum here.

The fossil is part of a special exhibition at the Paleozoological Museum to mark the Chinese Lunar Rabbit Year, which is being celebrated across the country.

The miniature skull, which can be seen through a magnifying glass, was put up Saturday, the third day of the new year celebrations, Xinhua reported.

Chinese archaeologists discovered the skull, “Dawsonlagus antiquus”, in 2007 in northwest Inner Mongolia region.

The animal with its two pairs of upper front teeth and one pair of lower front teeth has been described by experts as one of the oldest species of rabbit.