It roamed the territory that, 55 million years later, would become the Sulcis region. It fed on fresh leaves and tender shrubs and looked similar to today's tapir, though slightly larger.

The atalodon, the oldest fossil mammal in Italy, tells the story of Sardinia over 50 million years ago and a conference was dedicated to this extraordinary animal, whose remains were found many years ago between Carbonia and Gonnesa, in the Great Serbariu mine at the "Martel" paleontological museum thanks to paleontologist Daniel Zoboli.

The meeting offered the opportunity to get up close and personal with one of the island's oldest artifacts and reconstruct a landscape now long gone. "Sardinia preserves a geological history spanning over half a billion years," explained the paleontologist from Carbonia, "and a heritage of exceptional value: among the most significant testimonies of this remote past is a small national record, the oldest mammal fossil ever discovered in Italy." This is the atalodon, a distant relative of modern tapirs, known from a jawbone discovered between Gonnesa and Carbonia.

"The find represents a precious testimony to a time when Sardinia was very different from today, characterized by a tropical climate, vast forests, and fauna composed of animals that have now disappeared."

The story of the atalodon allows us to travel back in time to an island still immersed in a tropical environment and populated by a fauna different from that of today. The atalodon fed on tender plants, shrubs, and leaves. Its distant descendants include the tapir and the horse. The original specimen is preserved at the Geology Museum in Turin. The conference was organized as part of the 14th edition of "Planet Earth Week."