First Land Animal May Have Had a Ripple Effect
The first four-limbed animals on land may not have hopped or waddled but rather shuffled like modern-day caterpillars, according to research published in the journal Nature.
Scientists from Uppsala University in Sweden and McGill University in Canada came to these conclusions after studying the fossils of the Ichthyostega, a fish-amphibian hybrid that lived about 360 million years ago.
They noted that the construction of the creature’s backbone ruled out wriggling in a fish-like side-to-side motion, but would have instead suggested a ripple-like forward movement.
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