article_snippet: Charles Darwin described ancient DNA analysis as the 'strangest animals ever discovered' and was baffled as to how ancient DNA analysis could have evolved.
article_snippet: But now by analysing the proteins preserved in fossilised bones, scientists have been able to show that the animals are more closely related to modern horses.
article_snippet: The technique the animals used also promises to reveal new information about other long-extinct fossilised species.
article_snippet: Unlike DNA, proteins can be better preserved within fossilised remains.
article_snippet: The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Nature, began The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Nature study by attempting to extract DNA from the fossilised bones of ungulate fossils found in South America.
article_snippet: Instead The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Nature began to look at analysing the sequence of a structural protein called collagen that is found in all animal bones.
article_snippet: Collagen can survive more more than a million years in a range of conditions and is made up from amino acids.
article_snippet: The sequence of amino acids is ultimately determined by the DNA code of the animal and so can be used to draw conclusions about the species origins.
article_snippet: Dr Ian Barnes, a molecular evolutionary biologist at the Natural History Museum in London who led the research, said: 'Although the bones of these animals had been studied for over 180 years, no clear picture of these animals origins had been reached.'
article_snippet: The modern technique, known as proteomics, allowed The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Nature to show that the closest living relatives of these species were perissodactyls - the group that includes horses, rhinos and tapirs.
article_snippet: The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Nature now believe The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Nature technique could help to revolutionise palaeotological research by allowing scientists to reach far further back in time than The researchers, whose work is published in the journal Nature have been able to with DNA analysis.
article_snippet: Frido Welker, the lead author of the study at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the University of York, said: 'By selecting only the very best preserved bone specimens and with various improvements in proteomic analysis, we were able to obtain roughly 90 percent of the collagen sequence for both species. '
article_snippet: This opens the way for various other applications in paleontology and paleoanthropology, which we are currently exploring.'
highlights_snippet: Scientists developed new technique for analysing proteins in bones that can reveal links between animals that have been dead for millions of years .
  
highlights_snippet: new technique for analysing proteins in bones that can reveal links between animals that have been dead for millions of years can reach further back in time than ancient DNA analysis .
  
highlights_snippet: ancient DNA analysis found that the extinct South American animals were related to horses .
  
highlights_snippet: The new technique - called proteomics - could revolutionise palaeontology .