Animals that can 're-grow limbs' appear 300 million years ago

Experts have discovered fossils of prehistoric amphibians that show the possibility of re-growth in some animals can begin at least 300 million years ago.

>>>People can "regrow their hands and feet" like reptiles

The salamander is a modern four-legged vertebrate that can re-grow the limbs as adults.

The Micromelerpeton fossil grows abnormally - (Photo: Proceedings of the Royal Society B)

However, many other animals, like frogs, some fish species, are also capable of reproducing any lost limbs, suggesting that the broken back regrowth may have happened for a long time, but scientists have not yet grasped the exact evidence of the evolution of regeneration.

To better understand the first phase of this evolution, scientists from the Museum of Natural History in Berlin (Germany) analyzed fossils of Micromelerpeton crederni , an ancient amphibian living from 310 to 280 million years ago.

The fossils were found in sediments of lakes in Central Europe, like Lake Odernheim in southwestern Germany.

The team of experts discovered some fossils of Micromelerpeton that have abnormal limbs, such as some limbs with bones attached to each other, or those with extra fingers with smaller sizes than normal fingers, and this condition can found in some modern amphibian species when they re-grow limbs.

This shows that Micromelerpeton has the ability to regrow lost limbs, according to a report published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.