Earliest true reptiles

At Joggins, Nova Scotia, the rare remains of the earliest true reptiles have been found inside fossilised tree stumps. These reptiles, Hylonomus lyelli, are important because they were the first animals able to live efficiently on land. They lived in jungle-like forests approximately 300 million years ago, one hundred million years before dinosaurs arrived on the scene.

How did Hylonomus get inside the fossilised tree stumps? What do the fossil cliffs at Joggins reveal to us about that period in Earth's history? Read on.