The fossilised skeleton of a rabbit-like creature that lived 55 million years ago has been found in Mongolia, Science magazine reports. Gomphos elkema, as it is known, is the oldest member of the rabbit family ever to be found. Gomphos was surprisingly similar to modern rabbits - and probably hopped around on its elongated hindlimbs. The fossil adds weight to the idea that rabbit-like creatures first evolved no earlier than 65 million years ago. "This skeleton is very complete," co-author Robert Asher, of Humboldt Universität, Berlin, Germany, told the BBC News website. "Gomphos gives us valuable information about the anatomy of early rabbits - it tells us what they looked like. "Gomphos had a true 'rabbit's foot'; that is, a foot more than twice as long as the hand that could be used for hopping." But the ancient creature did have some traits that were unlike its modern relative. For example, Gomphos had quite a big tail and some of its teeth were more squirrel-like than rabbit-like.

Prior to this discovery, the oldest, most complete fossil lagomorphs (the family which includes rabbits, pikas and hares) were about 35 million years old. Scanty fossil evidence has led to some uncertainty about when modern placental mammals first appeared in evolutionary time. One camp believes that modern placental mammals (which include elephants, bats, rabbits, lions etc, but not kangaroos, opossums or echidnas) existed long before the famed "KT" boundary 65 million years ago, which marked the demise of the dinosaurs.

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That rabbit-like creature looks more like a rat to me. haha.

Yea it does look more like a rat, but the hind legs is the only wrong trait. It's more of a hybrid between a rat and a rabbit. Perhaps this is where the evolutionary tree branches out.

Hhhmmmmm it really doesn`t look much like a rabbit does it?!?! But then again there has been awhile for evolution to take place!

Cut his tail and stretch his ears and it really looks like a rabbit.

Exactly as Dezmond said.

This creature is interesting because at this point it actually became so adapted to it's environment that it didn't need much further change. Indeed the only main differences in todays rabbit are the ears, which is has evolved along with the longer stronger back legs, for more advanced warning od predators and faster escapes. The tail it lost due to not needing it for balance, since it got the feet instead.