17-million-year-old crocodile remains found in Poland

By Ilayda Cakirtekin

ISTANBUL (AA) - The fossilized remains of a 17-million-year-old crocodile have been discovered in central Poland, state-run TVP World reported Monday.

Polish and Czech scientists found a skin plate fossil – estimated to be from 17 million years ago – at a coal mine in central Poland.

Though they first assumed it to be a typical bone fragment, analysis confirmed that it was of crocodilian origin.

Scientists believe the discovery marks the northernmost evidence of crocodiles from the Miocene epoch, which lasted 23 million to 5.3 million years ago.