article_snippet: Now, scientists believe the first four-limbed vertebrates, known as tetrapods, that lived 360 million years ago may have been more like modern crocodiles than previously thought.
article_snippet: the first four-limbed vertebrates, known as tetrapods, that lived 360 million years ago were able to reconstruct the skull of one of these animals in 3D from fragments of fossils that have been found in East Greenland.
article_snippet: Scientists have reconstructed a 360 million-year old tetrapod's skull from bone fragments, to reveal a 360 million-year old tetrapod's skull from bone fragments was similarly shaped to a modern day crocodile's.
article_snippet: Scientists are fascinated by the species because it is thought to be crucial to understanding the anatomy and ecology of the earliest tetrapods.
article_snippet: The evolution of hind legs began as enhanced fins, according to a study publsihed last year.
article_snippet: Researchers discovered a well-preserved pelvis and a partial pelvic fin from a 375 million-year-old fossil of a transitional species, Tiktaalik roseae, between fish and the first legged animals.
article_snippet: The find challenges the existing theory that large, mobile hind appendages were developed only after vertebrates transitioned to land.
article_snippet: Corresponding author of the study Doctor Neil Shubin, of the University of Chicago, said: 'Previous theories, based on the best available data, propose that a shift occurred from "front-wheel drive" locomotion in fish to more of a "four-wheel drive" in tetrapods. '
article_snippet: But it looks like a shift actually began to happen in fish, not in limbed animals.' a 375 million-year-old fossil of a transitional species, Tiktaalik roseae, between fish and the first legged animals was discovered in 2004 and represents the he best-known transitional species between fish and land-dwelling tetrapods.
article_snippet: The researchers plan to apply these methods to other flattened fossils of the earliest tetrapods to better understand how modifications to these early animals' bones and teeth helped these early animals' meet the challenges of living on land. '
article_snippet: Because early tetrapods skulls are often "pancaked" during the fossilization process, these early animals' are usually reconstructed having very flat heads,' said Dr Laura Porro, who led the study published in Plos One. '
highlights_snippet: Ancient tetrapod, or four-limbed vertebrate, lived 360 million years ago .
  