Experts still don’t know what it is, but high school teacher Lisa St. Coeur Cormier’s mysterious discovery of a 300 million year old fossil He raised all kinds of comments.
Although it may not seem like it sometimes, the majority of big discoveries usually happen casually, especially when it comes to fossils. This is why the discovery made in the Prince Edward Island, in Canada, caused such a stir. Especially since it is the fossil of an animal that lived before the same dinosaurs.
300 million year old fossil
Coeur Cormier was walking his dog around Cape Egmont when he noticed something reddish it was advancing strangely beyond the shore.
When he approached to see what it was, he realized that it was not a simple object, but of a fossil
During Interview with Radio-Canadathe teacher said:
“I saw something that I thought was a root, and when I looked closer, I realized there was ribs. And then I saw the spine and skull“.
He took some pictures and presented them to the paleontologists after making the call, who was quick to approach the scene to verify the find.
Image of the fossil with its measurements. Credit: Laura MacNeil/CBC.
geologist and paleontologist John Caldersaid the characteristics of the bones seem to belong to a fossil from the end of the period Carboniferous and the period Permian. This means that at least you have some 300 years.
Calder said such a fossil usually appears every 50 or 100 years usually. That means he’s not found often, he’s a rare target.
“And it could be a unique fossil in the tree of life of evolution amphibians, reptiles, mammals and us”.
a unique find
John Calder and his team are working to find the fossil. Credit: John Calder/CBC.
The fauna that inhabited the Earth before the existence of the dinosaurs consisted mainly of sharks, bony fishes, arthropods, amphibians, reptiles and synapsids.
The fossil that Lisa St. Coeur Cormier found on the beach is small and barely a little over half a meter. However, it provides important details that have allowed scholars to determine, in the first place, that it lived many years before the dinosaurs.
The geologist and responsible for Prehistoric Island Toursa company that offers tours of fossil sites on the island, Laura McNeilwas also present to determine what to do with the discovery of fossils.
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The main objective of specialists is dig it up safely, especially since it is located in the bedrock. Then, it will be handed over to expert paleontologists for detailed study.
It’s amazing how coincidences happen, a high school teacher walking her dog could have made the find of the year. It’s amazing how these kinds of findings can tell us so much about past life on Earth.
References: Clarín / Very interesting.
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