30 sept 2011
Life on Earth 240 million years ago flourished in the seas, on land, and in intricate underground burrows.
THE GIST
- A sophisticated underground animal world existed 240 million years ago in Morocco.
- Tunnels, chambers and other structures related to the early burrows suggest they provided escape from predators and weather extremes.
- Stout, four-legged clawed animals likely built the Middle Triassic Era burrows, which pre-date dinosaurs.
An illustration of the a stout, short-bodied, four-legged animal with a short tail and short neck. Long before dinosaurs, something was digging intricate homes and roads underground.
While life on Earth 240 million years ago flourished in the seas and on land, the underground worlds discovered in Morocco are the oldest examples of such communal subterranean structures from a low-latitude area.
The burrows, described in the latest issue of the journal Palaios, are the world’s second-oldest known communal burrows. The oldest, from South Africa, predate these by only 5 million years.
While life on Earth 240 million years ago flourished in the seas and on land, the underground worlds discovered in Morocco are the oldest examples of such communal subterranean structures from a low-latitude area.
The burrows, described in the latest issue of the journal Palaios, are the world’s second-oldest known communal burrows. The oldest, from South Africa, predate these by only 5 million years.
