OTTAWA: Scientists in Canada's Arctic have discovered the fossil of a previously unknown web-footed carnivore that helps explain how seals developed from land-based mammals, a member of the team said on Wednesday.

The very primitive animal, measuring around 110 cm from nose to tail, had a body similar to that of an otter, with a skull more closely related to a seal.

It lived in and around fresh water lakes about 20 million to 24 million years ago.