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80-million-year-old snake brain reveals a surprising evolutionary secret

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80-million-year-old snake brain reveals a surprising evolutionary secret
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The Gist

An 80-million-year-old fossil of a snake has revealed that early snakes explored underground, terrestrial, and marine worlds much earlier than scientists realized. The discovery was made possible by a detailed digital reconstruction of the specimen, showing a more diverse and complex evolutionary history.

The discovery of an 80-million-year-old snake fossil has shed new light on the evolutionary history of snakes, revealing that they explored various habitats much earlier than previously thought.

Key Insights

Detailed digital reconstructions of the fossil have shown features of the skull, vertebrae, and brain endocast that indicate adaptations for burrowing, terrestrial, and marine lifestyles, suggesting that early snakes developed different sensory systems and ecological strategies to thrive in these environments.

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