Scientists in Australia have identified the oldest known fossil footprints of a reptile-like animal on a slab of sandstone recovered near Melbourne.

After a brief rain in part of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana 350 million years ago, a reptile pressed its small claws into the still-wet ground. "You see the claws making long scratches on the ground.

Fossilized claw tracks discovered in Australia show that the animal group that includes reptiles, mammals and birds formed earlier than expected