Fossil Found by a Teacher in the Beach May Just Be Older than Dinosaurs

A "unique" fossil found peeking through the sand might be older than the first dinosaurs.

A teacher made an astounding discovery that only occurs "every 50 or 100 years" while strolling along the beaches of Canada's east coast.

What is a fossil?

The preserved remains, or signs of remains of extinct animals, are called fossils, according to the definition of the National Geographic.

The remnants of the creature itself are not fossils! They're stones. An entire organism or only a portion of one can be preserved as a fossil. Leaves, feathers, shells, bones, and shells may turn into fossils. 

These come in a wide range of sizes.

An Amazing Find

On August 22, a Canadian teacher was seeking sea glass while walking her dog along the beach.

However, what she found was considerably more significant: a rare fossil that may be hundreds of millions of years old, as per the report of AccuWeather.

Lisa Cormier, a teacher in Prince Edward Island on Canada's east coast, said to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., "I noticed something that I assumed was a root, and when I looked closer at it, I saw that there were ribs, and then I saw the spine, and the skull."

Cormier snapped photos of the fossil sticking out of the red, clay-like sand at Cape Egmont for her friends and family.

Her mother-in-law gave the images to a tour guide she knew named Laura MacNeil.

They finally went to Halifax, Nova Scotia-based paleontologist and geologist John Calder.

He told CBC, "A fossil like this turns out every 50 to 100 years."

This might be a unique fossil on the tree of life that traces the evolution of amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and humans.

Also Read: Slow Death of Dinosaurs Gave Way to the Size Growth of Mammals  

Older than the oldest dinosaur?

The fossil's species hasn't been determined.

Still, according to Calder, it must date from the Carboniferous or Permian eras at least, placing its age at about 300 million years, far older than the first dinosaurs.

According to Global News, Calder put together a crew as soon as he received the pictures so they could get to the beach and begin excavating the fossil.

Then it was placed into a truck and transported to a fossil storage facility in neighboring Greenwich.

According to Global News, the Prince Edward Island government will soon determine where to send the fossil next, perhaps to a lab.

Studying the Fossil

To completely identify the genus and species of the fossil, Calder estimated that it might take roughly a year of research; he noted that it might even be a brand-new species.

The discovery, according to Cormier, is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for her to make history.

She remarked, "It's astonishing to think I uncovered something that might be 300 million years old. I believe it will only happen once, but I'll keep going on my walks and searching for sea glass in the hopes of discovering something new."

Related Article: 5 Most Important Fossil Discoveries in the World 

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