{"id":2000109600,"date":"2026-04-23T16:00:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000109600"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:04:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:04:23","slug":"ancient-reptile-fossil-reveals-how-breathing-on-land-first-began","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/ancient-reptile-fossil-reveals-how-breathing-on-land-first-began\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient reptile fossil reveals how breathing on land first began"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The fossil belongs to Captorhinus aguti, a small lizard-like reptile discovered in a cave system in Oklahoma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike most fossils, which preserve only bones, this specimen contains traces of skin, cartilage, and even proteins, offering rare insight into early life on land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese early reptiles were among the first animals to fully adapt to life outside water,\u201d said Ethan Mooney, one of the study\u2019s lead authors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCaptorhinus is an interesting lizard-looking critter that is critical to understanding early amniote evolution,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using advanced scanning technology, researchers were able to examine the fossil in detail without damaging it. The scans revealed preserved skin wrapped around the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started to see all these structures wrapped around the bones,\u201d Mooney said, \u201cthey were very thin and textured. And lo and behold, there was a nice wrapping of skin around the torso of this animal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scaly skin has this wonderful accordion-like texture, with these concentric bands covering much of the body from the torso and up to the neck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly, the fossil showed how the reptile breathed. Scientists identified a rib-based breathing system, similar to the one used by humans today, where muscles expand and contract the chest to move air in and out of the lungs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe propose that the system found in Captorhinus represents the ancestral condition for the kind of rib assisted respiration present in living reptiles, birds, and mammals,\u201d said Robert R. Reisz, a professor at the University of Toronto and co-author of the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This system allowed animals to take in more oxygen and become more active on land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a game changer that allowed these animals to adopt a much more active lifestyle,\u201d Mooney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings offer a clearer picture of how life evolved on land and how modern breathing systems began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
289-million-year-old reptile Captorhinus in its death pose in a cave system. Oil seepages, hyper-mineralized water, fine clays in this cave made it an ideal environment for mummification and fossilization of soft tissues like skin, cartilage, and protein remnants. Credit: Dr. Michael DeBraga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new study published in Nature has revealed how animals first developed the ability to breathe efficiently on land, thanks to a remarkably preserved reptile fossil dating back 289 million years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000109601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[151,75],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000109600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","tag-editors-choice","tag-homenews","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":{"id":2000109601,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nj.jpg","alt":"","caption":"289-million-year-old reptile Captorhinus in its death pose in a cave system. Oil seepages, hyper-mineralized water, fine clays in this cave made it an ideal environment for mummification and fossilization of soft tissues like skin, cartilage, and protein remnants. Credit: Dr. Michael DeBraga","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":563,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nj.jpg","width":150,"height":84},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nj.jpg","width":300,"height":169},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nj.jpg","width":768,"height":432},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nj.jpg","width":1000,"height":563},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/nj.jpg","width":1000,"height":563}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000109600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000109600"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000109600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000109604,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000109600\/revisions\/2000109604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000109601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000109600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000109600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000109600"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000109600"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000109600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}