Mummified reptile hints at the origins of how we breathe

Mummified reptile hints at the origins of how we breathe Skip to content Subscribe today Every print subscription comes with full digital access Subscribe Now Menu All Topics Health Humans Anthropology Health & Medicine Archaeology Psychology View All Life Animals Plants Ecosystems Paleontology Neuroscience Genetics Microbes View All Earth Agriculture Climate Oceans Environment View All Physics Materials Science Quantum Physics Particle Physics View All Space Astronomy Planetary Science Cosmology View All Magazine Menu All Stories Multimedia Reviews Puzzles Collections Educator Portal Century of Science Unsung characters Coronavirus Outbreak Newsletters Investors Lab About SN Explores Our Store SIGN IN Donate Home INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM SINCE 1921 SIGN IN Search Open search Close search Home INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM SINCE 1921 All Topics Earth Agriculture Climate Oceans Environment Humans Anthropology Health & Medicine Archaeology Psychology Life Animals Plants Ecosystems Paleontology Neuroscience Genetics Microbes Physics Materials Science Quantum Physics Particle Physics Space Astronomy Planetary Science Cosmology Tech Computing Artificial Intelligence Chemistry Math Science & Society All Topics Health Humans Humans Anthropology Health & Medicine Archaeology Psychology Recent posts in Humans Science & Society Snippets of hair may expose chronic stress in war refugees By Sujata GuptaApril 6, 2026 Health & Medicine When our minds wander to the body, it may affect mental health By Diana KwonApril 3, 2026 Health & Medicine Supreme Court ruling on ‘conversion therapy’ puts medical talk in the hot seat By Aimee CunninghamApril 3, 2026 Life Life Animals Plants Ecosystems Paleontology Neuroscience Genetics Microbes Recent posts in Life Animals For gray whales, San Francisco Bay is becoming a deadly pit stop By Gennaro Tomma2 hours ago Neuroscience Seeing and imagining activate some of the same brain cells By Diana KwonApril 9, 2026 Paleontology Mummified reptile hints at the origins of how we breathe By Carolyn GramlingApril 8, 2026 Earth Earth Agriculture Climate Oceans Environment Recent posts in Earth Animals For gray whales, San Francisco Bay is becoming a deadly pit stop By Gennaro Tomma2 hours ago Climate Emperor penguins are marching toward extinction. 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Oil and mineralized groundwater seeping into the body helped mummify it, preserving soft tissues like skin, cartilage and protein remnants. Michael DeBraga By Carolyn Gramling April 8, 2026 at 11:00 am Share this:Share Share via email (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Print (Opens in new window) Print Listen to this article This is a human-written story voiced by AI. Got feedback? Take our survey . (See our AI policy here .) The mummified remains of of a land-dwelling vertebrate are helping to reveal how early ancient reptiles began to take a breath with their whole chests — the breathing style used by modern reptiles, birds and mammals. The two new specimens of a small, lizardlike reptile called Captorhinus were found in an Oklahoma cave system. Captorhinus was less than a meter long, perhaps the size of a bearded dragon. The remains, dating to between 289 million and 286 million years old, were carefully embalmed by the slow seep of crude oil and mineral-rich groundwater into their bodies, while they were also being gently encased and preserved in fine mud. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday. As a result, the fossils contain not only preserved rib cages and ribs but also the oldest-known cartilage and remnants of protein, paleontologist Robert Reisz of the University of Toronto Mississauga and colleagues report online April 8 in Nature. Reptiles evolved from amphibian-like ancestors sometime around 320 million to 310 million years ago — not just dipping a toe onto the shore, but surviving on dry land full-time, thanks to evolutionary adaptations such as hard shells protecting their eggs. Then there’s the breathing. Earlier animal breathing methods were tied to water: Amphibians, for example, can breathe underwater via gas exchange across the moist, porous surface of their skin; some fish and sharks breathe by rhythmically pumping water across their gills. Early amphibians did have rudimentary lungs, but used other methods to pump air into them, such as raising and lowering the jaw.  At some point, early reptiles evolved a novel breathing apparatus that used chest muscles to pump air into the lungs, enabling the animals to stay full-time on land. It’s the same type of apparatus used by their descendants — including humans — today. But when this evolutionary adaptation occurred in the reptile lineage hasn’t been known, not least because the fossilization of soft tissues that could provide insight into this transition is extremely rare. Taking a breath R.R. Reisz et al./Nature, 2026 (adapted from M.J. Heaton and R.R. Reisz/J. Paleontology, 1980)R.R. Reisz et al./Nature, 2026 (adapted from M.J. Heaton and R.R. Reisz/J. Paleontology, 1980) For the first time, scientists have recovered soft cartilage tissue (in yellow, against the backdrop of the whole skeleton) from the 289-million-year-old mummified fossil of a Captorhinus. These tissues helped reveal that the creature was capable of breathing by pumping its chest muscles — the style of breathing used today by modern reptiles, birds and mammals. The team used a technique called neutron computed tomography to peer into the fossilized specimens without disturbing them. One of the two new fossils consists of a partial skull, shoulder and some of the ribs, along with one complete f