Ancient footprints rewrite the history of when animals began to live on land

• Newly discovered fossil footprints in Australia, dating back 350 million years, are the oldest evidence of reptile-like creatures walking on land.
• This finding predates the previous oldest footprints by millions of years, suggesting a faster transition from aquatic to terrestrial life.
• The footprints reveal a creature about 2.5 feet long with clawed feet, resembling a modern monitor lizard.
• The presence of claws indicates a fully terrestrial animal, as claws are unique to land-dwellers.
• This discovery challenges previous theories about the timeline of vertebrate evolution and the development of terrestrial locomotion.

IN FULL

A new discovery is rewriting the history of evolution by millions of years