The discovery, made public Wednesday, includes well-preserved footprints of reptiles and amphibians that scientists say date back 280 million years.

Summary

Melting snow in the Italian Alps revealed a prehistoric ecosystem from the Permian period, predating dinosaurs by 280 million years.

The discovery, made by hiker Claudia Steffensen in 2023, includes well-preserved footprints of reptiles and amphibians, alongside traces of flora and invertebrates.

Paleontologists describe the find as unprecedented in quality and variety. The fossils, uncovered due to rising temperatures linked to climate change, highlight parallels between ancient environmental shifts and today’s climate crisis.

Researchers expect more discoveries as melting ice and erosion expose additional fossils.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
        3·
        6 days ago

        I will have you know that the world was created by The Great Squid in 7 days approximately 60 million years ago.

        Give me time and I will tell you about how he had a squid gather up all the life in the sea two by two and put them in a big aquarium after the Great Squid punished the wicked by 40 days and 40 nights of no rain.

  • FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    6 days ago

    Even now and then it just catches me how absolutely insane it is how long the planet sustained complex life without any humans whatsoever. We’re an evolutionary accident. A footnote consequence of unlikely circumstance. Were it not for a number of unlikely destructive events this planet might have quite happily continued ad infinitum with only dinosaurs on it. Can you imagine that, if this whole universe had happened and this one random blue marble had dinosaurs on it and not a single minded being anywhere to appreciate the magnificent insanity of it all?