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Article: A Weird little crocodile.
- Article from:
- Highlights for Children
- Article date:
- August 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Highlights for Children, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Small, dark pieces of a backbone were stuck in the gray rock, like raisins in a cookie. They were the fossils of a strange crocodile that lived among the dinosaurs.
The fossils were found in the summer of 1998. Scientists were searching for fossils in a hot, dry area of Madagascar. Rain does not fall there very often, but when it does, it strips away the hillsides, exposing layers of rock that are millions of years old.
In one hill, the scientists recognized a layer of soft, gray rock. They had seen the same layer in other hills nearby. By studying the layers of rock above and below this layer, they had discovered that the rock had been formed from dirt ...