Geologists from Cape Breton University uncovered fossilized imprints, believed to belong to a rare, 320-million-year-old, crocodile-like creature, near Creignish on Cape Breton Island, N.S. The groundbreaking discovery, made during unrelated research on sedimentary structures related to earthquakes, sheds light on the previous existence of larger creatures in the region.

While the exact identity of the creature remains unknown, it is believed to be an anthracosaur, a transitional animal between an amphibian and a reptile. The fossilized tracks, resembling marks left by a swimming, crocodile-like animal in shallow water, were found in a sandstone block about 150 mm (5.9 in.) thick, 2 m (6.5 ft) long and 1 m (3.2 ft) wide.

Matt Stimson, assistant curator of geology and paleontology at the New Brunswick Museum, told CBC News, “To find the largest footprint in that time period that we know of so far, the apex predator, is a really significant discovery.”

Such a discovery is uncommon in Atlantic Canada, as most rocks from the Mississippian period are typically concealed beneath layers of material from the Carboniferous period.