Ecosystem older than the dinosaurs found in the Italian Alps

A hiker in the northern Italian Alps has stumbled across the first trace of what scientists believe to be an entire prehistoric ecosystem, including the well-preserved footprints of reptiles and amphibians.

- Angela Giuffrida

Brought to light last year by the melting of snow and ice induced by the climate crisis, the discovery in Lombardy's Valtellina Orobie mountains dates back 280 million years to the Permian period, the age immediately prior to dinosaurs, scientists say.

Claudia Steffensen, from Lovero, a village in Sondrio province, and her husband were making their way along a rocky trail in the Ambria valley when she stepped on a light grey rock covered in "strange designs".

"It was a very hot day and we wanted to escape the heat, so we went to the mountains," Steffensen said. "On our way back down, we had to walk very carefully along the path. My husband was in front of me, looking straight ahead, while I was looking towards my feet.