‘One-of-a-kind’ fossil poking through sand may be older than first dinosaurs
While walking along the beaches of Canada’s east coast, a teacher stumbled upon an incredible discovery that only happens ‘every 50 years or 100 years.’
Part of the fossil that was found on Prince Edward Island, Canada, believed to be about 300 million years old, which would make it older than the first dinosaurs, according to paleontologists. (Photo courtesy of Laura MacNeil/Prehistoric Island Tours)
A Canadian school teacher was strolling along the beach with her dog on Aug. 22, looking for sea glass, when she discovered something much more: A rare fossil that could be hundreds of millions of years old.
"I saw something that I thought was a root," Lisa Cormier, a teacher on Prince Edward Island on Canada's east coast, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. "And when I looked closer at it, I realized that there were ribs. And then I saw the spine, and the skull."
A closeup of the fossil that was found on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and is believed to be about 300 million years old, which would make it older than the first dinosaurs, according to paleontologists. (Photo courtesy of Laura MacNeil/Prehistoric Island Tours)
Cormier took pictures of the fossil poking out from the red, clay-like sand from Cape Egmont to send to her friends and family. Her mother-in-law sent them to a tour guide she knew, Laura MacNeil, and the pictures eventually found their way to paleontologist and geologist John Calder from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
"A fossil like this comes up every 50 years or 100 years," he told CBC. "I mean there's no real frequency, but it's rare. And this could be a one-of-a-kind fossil in the tree of life … of evolution of amphibians, to reptiles, to mammals to us."
The species of the fossil hasn't yet been identified, but Calder said it has to be at least from the end of the Carboniferous Period or the beginning of the Permian Period, which puts it at roughly 300 million years old -- much, much older than the first dinosaurs.
Left, Laura MacNeil, of Prehistoric Island Tours in Prince Edward Island, Canada, with Lisa Cormier, a teacher on the island, at the excavation site where Cormier found the fossils in August 2022. (Photo courtesy of Laura MacNeil)
Immediately upon getting the photos, Calder assembled a team to rush to the beach and excavate the fossil, according to Global News. It was then loaded on a truck to a fossil storage building in nearby Greenwich. According to Global News, the Prince Edward Island government will soon decide where to send the fossil next, likely to a lab in either Washington, D.C. or Ottawa, Ontario.
Calder said it could take about a year of study to fully identify the genus and species of the fossil -- it could even be a new species, he added.
Paleontologists and researchers excavate the fossil found on a beach on Prince Edward Island in Canada in August 2022. (Photo courtesy of Laura MacNeil/Prehistoric Island Tours)
Cormier told CBC the find is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leave her mark in the history books.
"To think that I found something that might be 300 million years old, it's incredible," she said. "I think it's gonna be a one time [thing], but I'll continue my walks and I'm going to continue to look for sea glass and maybe I'll find something else."
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