Physical Wellness

Fossils Prove Ancient Animals Could Regrow Limbs, Science

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Nov 03, 2015 11:48 AM EST

Recently, German scientists discovered that fossils, especially those that belong to prehistoric creatures, could regenerate their limbs, which can also help scientists today to crack the 'mystery of human limb regeneration', according to Live Science.

Those were the amazing tetrapods, which were the earliest four-legged creatures, discovered as fossils about 290 million years old. The scientists are able to understand that tetrapods could regrow lost limbs.

This finding was particularly important in that it suggests that limb regeneration was possibly a more common trait among animals back then, a skill that could have possibly died off at some point during evolution, according to IFL Science.

Today, salamanders are the only animals that can regrow limbs and their tails that have been damaged. But interestingly, the fossils were older than the first appearance of the ancient salamander by about 80 million years. Hence, not only did other types of animals show regenerative capabilities, but they could also indicate different ways in which the animals restored the tissue that had been lost.

Scientists are drawn by the special method adopted by salamanders to regrow their limbs. This opposes the "natural growth patterns" in other animals, according to The Daily Mail

By understanding how limbs can be regrown, scientists will perhaps be able to explain how we could take a shot at it today.

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