From a 220-million year old shrimp to a 130 million year old frog find out which modern species have a gift for survival. These prehistoric creatures still exist and walk the earth.
Purple Frog
Photo via Impact Lab
Purple frogs live underground, getting out just to mate during monsoon season, and they eat termites, ants, and and worms, but experts believe the frogs have been around for about 130 million years, since the days of the dinosaurs and that they evolved into their current state before humans existed.
Tuatara
Photo via Auckland Zoo
Tuatara comes from New Zeland and based on the country’s website: The tuatara is part of the Sphenodontia order, which witnessed all of its other members go extinct more than 60 million years ago. Although they look like modern-day reptiles and lizards, they have body structure that experts believe has remained basically the same for 220 million years.
Tadpole Shrimp
Photo via Computer Scotland
Two years ago, researchers in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, discovered the tadpole shrimp (Triops cancriformis) that have uniquely adapted reproductive methods that have allowed them to survive pretty much entirely unchanged for more than 220 million years.
Coelacanth
Photo via Wired
The coelacanth that some experts believe symbolizes the evolutionary step between ancient fish and reptiles, had dinosaurs for its neighbors when it wondered the oceans more than 65 million years ago, and though it was believed to have gone extinct alongside the dinos, a coelacanth caught in 1938 put the fish back on the world stage.
Sandhill Crane
Photo via Carolina Nature
Recent discoveries are showing that the sandhill crane has survived plenty of previous threats. According to The Nature Conservancy, a fossil found in Nebraska, “estimated to be about 10 million years old, is identical in structure to the modern sandhill crane.”
Horseshoe Crab
Photo via Rollins.edu
Horseshoe crabs could share their name with the other crabs you see at the seaside, but they’re not crustaceans — they are part of their own Arthropod class called Merostomata, and, according to The Horseshoe Crab, they are most similar to trilobites, creatures that lived 544 million years ago.
Sturgeon
Photo via The Shadowlands
When sturgeon (which date back as far as 70 million years) first arrived on the scene, they were yet another fish in the sea. Now, they’re valued for their caviar stocks and facing extinction because of overfishing. Sturgeon live in saltwater and can grow as long as 15 feet but their fins, skeleton, and lifestyle are nearly the same as they were millions of years ago.
