Our common ancestor, the "mouse" Hadrocoidium wui in the video "How Horses Save Humans From Snake Bites"
Looked like an interesting video. It was, in an unexpected way - an encounter with a distant ancestor that illustrates how we are all related. Meet our "potential" most distant ancestor as mammals (unless proven otherwise): Hadrocoidium wui.
Stated in the video, our species is "closely related to snakes main prey: rodents. Rodents and primates split on the evolutionary tree only 75 million years ago."
The environment is 75 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous period (65mya) which was also the end of the Mesozoic Era, notorious for also being the end of the dinosaurs. I have wondered how, after the dinosaurs were disappearing, a tiny mammals that looks like a mouse was attributed with the flourishing of mammals.
We have an exhibit of Hadrocoidium wui at our local museum, so tiny, I understood because it was easier to avoid the toxicity of the environment that had killed larger animals along with limited food sources. I had to look for more information. Apparently primate mammals split from rodents 75-70 million years ago (mya), more precisely from a "mouse-like, paper-clip sized animal".
from
https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/27/6/1315/1112504 Rodent Evolution: Back to the Root
Hadrocoidium wui, the potential fossil ancestor of all mammals, looked very much like a small mouse. Rodents evolved only some 130 million years later, 62–100 million years ago, from an ancestor (Hadrocoidium wui) that shares a common ancestry with primates, tree shrews, and the flying lemurs
Zac Bower (the handler in the video) commented on the video (he is highly allergic to antivenom):
It was bloody great to have Derek and his crew come and hangout for the day. A lot of people are asking why I would continue working with the snakes once I found out I’m allergic. I’ve spoken to medical professionals and have a plan that we believe will keep me alive in the unfortunate event of a bite. I love my job and that I have an active part in saving lives. Knowing people still have their children, partners and parents because of the work I do is an incredible feeling.