By Mark Kinver
Science and environment reporter, BBC News
The ancestors of the current mammals found on the island of Madagascar could have been transported on floating vegetation from Africa, a study says.
Researchers modelled ancient ocean currents and found that favourable conditions existed in the same period as when mammals arrived on the island.
The idea of "rafting" first emerged in 1940, but some argued that a "land bridge" allowed animals to walk there.
The findings have been published online on the Nature website.
Madagascar, the fourth largest island on the planet, is deemed one of the world's biological hotspots.
Because of its isolation, most of its mammals, half its birds, and many of its plant species exist nowhere else on Earth.
The first mammals are believed to have appeared on the island about 60 million years ago, 100 million years after the landmass was thought to have separated from Africa.
This led to the emergence of two main hypotheses on how mammals managed to inhabit the island: via a "land bridge" or floating vegetation.
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