The Economic Times

These 300-million-year-old baby fossils just turned a major evolution theory upside down

Ancient fossilized babies of crocodile-like predators are rewriting evolutionary history. Previously, scientists believed early land animals hatched, underwent a tadpole phase, and then transformed, much like modern amphibians. However, new discoveries reveal these early tetrapods skipped the tadpole stage, suggesting their life cycles were more akin to fish or mammals, fundamentally altering our understanding of how life conquered land.