Geology Collection - Amphisauropus latus tracks

Three’s a Crowd

Approximately 290 million years ago, long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, three small, primitive reptiles paused briefly in the mud before skittering off, all in the same direction. The body resting traces and trackways on this slab of rock are the world’s earliest evidence of herding behaviour in vertebrate animals. Found on the shores of the Northumberland Strait at Brule, the trackways were all made by Seymouria, a reptile- like amphibian from the Early Permian Period. The cracks you see in the rock were formed as the sun baked the mud.

Object type: 
Fossil
Collection name: 
Curator: 
Date (age/made): 
Early Permian Period (approximately 290 million years ago)
Origin/place: 
Brule
Materials: 
Stone