Did You Know? Ancient Footprints Change What We Know About Reptiles!

Hey there, science explorers! 🧪 Guess what? Scientists in Australia have made an amazing discovery that’s shaking up what we know about ancient animals!

They found the oldest footprints ever of a reptile-like animal. 🦎 These footprints are 350 million years old! That’s even older than the dinosaurs! 🦖

So, what’s the big deal? Well, these footprints show that reptiles were walking on land much earlier than we thought. Before, the oldest reptile footprints were found in Canada and were only 318 million years old.

Walking with Claws!

The footprints were found on a big rock called sandstone near Melbourne, Australia. The footprints have long toes and hooked claws. Only animals that live fully on land have claws like that. Isn’t that cool? 😎

Scientists think the animal that made the footprints was about 80 centimeters long (that’s like the length of a guitar!) and might have looked like a monitor lizard.

Journey Back in Time

A long, long time ago, when this reptile was walking around, the Earth was very different. Australia was part of a super-big continent called Gondwana. The climate was hot and steamy, and huge forests were starting to grow. 🌳🌴

The footprints tell a story of one day: One reptile walked across the ground. Then, it started to rain lightly, and raindrops made little dimples on the ground. After that, two more reptiles walked by in the opposite direction. 🦎🌧️

Why Is This Important?

This discovery helps scientists understand how animals moved from living in water to living on land. It shows that reptiles started living on land sooner than we thought! It also tells us about how they evolved, which means how they changed over time to adapt to their environment.

Isn’t science fascinating? Who knows what other amazing discoveries are waiting to be found! Maybe one day, you’ll be the scientist making the next big find! 🔬🌟

Reference(s):

Ancient reptile footprints reshape timeline of land animal evolution

cgtn.com