Footprints found after 340m years

THE oldest known record of amphibian tracks in the UK has been discovered in a sandstone fossil.

The footprints, which date back 340million years, were imprinted on a block of sandstone taken from the base of a waterfall in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire.

They belong to edopoids, crocodile-like creatures which were up to 6ft long and were the earliest relatives of modern amphibians.

Researchers made their findings after analysing the fossil – part of the Natural History Museum’s collection – with modern 3D scanners.