O bicho de 240 milhões de anos que ficou 20 anos perdido numa gaveta

Scientists find a new animal in Brazil. But the animal dies 240 million years ago. Its bones come from Rio Grande do Sul. It is small, like a young alligator. It walks on four legs and it eats meat.

Now look at the legs. They stay under the body. In older reptiles, the legs go out to the sides. So this animal walks better and it gets tired later. Millions of years after, the dinosaurs and the crocodiles have legs like this too.

The fossil has a funny story. Part of it disappears for twenty years. Then someone finds it again and studies it. So the animal finally gets a name: Silescelida acristata. Its cousins live in other continents. So this family travels much more than we think.