The oldest known fossil skin belongs to a reptile that existed before dinosaurs appeared on Earth, according to a report published in the journal Current Biology.
The fossil skin has the appearance of crocodile skin.
A fossilized piece of skin belonging to a reptile has been found inside a limestone cave in Oklahoma, and is at least 130 million years older than the previous record-holder.
Researchers from the University of Toronto in Mississauga (Canada) announced the discovery, according to which the piece of leather has a surface like crocodile skin.
Dating back to around 289 million years ago, the skin is the oldest preserved specimen of a type of epidermal skin. Epidermal skin is thought to have played an important role in the evolution of animals adapting to the change in habitat from sea to land.
Report author Ethan Mooney, a graduate student studying paleontology at the University of Toronto, said findings like these could enhance understanding and awareness of humans and animals that pioneered Earth's evolutionary history.
Finding fossilized skin is exceptionally rare, despite it being the largest organ in a living organism, said report co-author Robert Reisz, a professor of biology specializing in vertebrate paleontology.
The reason is that skin decomposes quickly after an animal dies. In the case of the 289-million-year-old skin, Professor Reisz says it was thanks to special features inside Oklahoma's Richards Spur limestone cave system.
"The conditions inside the cave were really unusual," Professor Reisz told CNN, adding that the abnormalities were related to the chemistry of the clay sediments, water, and the presence of hydrocarbon chemicals inside the limestone cave.
Animals that fall into this cave system are buried within fine clay sediments, which slows decomposition, and then interacts with hydrocarbon chemicals, allowing the skins to be preserved for hundreds of millions of years.
(According to Vietnamnet, January 13)
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