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Lone Frog
The creatures in this gallery were all entomb at the bottom of Wyoming ’s long - cash in one’s chips Fossil Lake , which was teeming with life during the other Eocene , about 52 million years ago . Only one toad has ever been find at the formation . The single specimen pictured here measures just 1.6 inches ( 4 cm ) long . It has yet to be give a systematic classification by scientists .
Monitor Lizard
peel and neck cartilages are keep up in this monitor lizard fogey , which appear to have swallowed one of its tooth . This specimen represents a primitive mintage of the diverse varanid lizards , which counts the Komodo dragon among its 50 living species .
Mini-Horse
This is the most all over skeletal frame of a so - called dawn horse cavalry ever find . This specimen of Protorohippus venticolus was much more diminutive than today ’s Equus caballus , standing less than two foot high at the shoulder , but its longsighted back leg suggest it was a beneficial jumper . Perhaps it was less skilled as a natator ; investigator are n’t certain how the horse ended up at the bottom of the middle of Fossil Lake but they suspect it submerge , possibly trying to run a predator .
Long-Tailed Turtles
These two grownup fossilise turtles , each more than 4 feet farsighted , belong to the species Christernon undatum . They are part a fellowship of turtles known as Baenidae , which have only been found in North America and have extremely long tooshie . The animals did n’t have the power to tuck their head into their casing ; that ’s why all of the thoroughgoing underframe of these turtles from Fossil Lake have their heads poking out . Baenids flourished during the Late Cretaceous but became nonextant in the late Eocene , meaning the specimens shown here represent some of the last survivors of their kind .
Stingray Sex
This fogy immortalizes stingray gender of the Eocene . The male and distaff fat - tailed stingrays ( Asterotrygon maloneyi ) demonstrate here were belike mating or just about to pair when they were killed , researcher believe .
Arboreal Mammal
specimen of this belittled arboreal mammal , Apatemys chardini , are seldom found in the Fossil Butte deposits . Researchers think this particular creature may have been dropped by a piranha or cross to its deathbed by a tributary river that flowed into Fossil Lake . It ’s pictured here with a common , herring - like fish of the era , Knightia eocaena .
Caiman Alligator
Crocodilians make their debut in the fossil platter about 84 million years ago . This one from Fossil Lake is a little cayman alligator , yield the name Tsoabichi greenriverensis .
This is another specimen of the extinct Tsoabichi greenriverensis . It appraise only about 2 - and - a - half foot long , but there were more dire crocodilian mintage in Fossil Lake during the early Eocene that elongate 13 substructure in length .
Snakes
These specimens of Boavus idelmani , a now extinct relative of the boa constrictor , be two of the three single snakes that have been found in the Fossil Butte Member . The bottom image show the holotype specimen , which was find in the early twentieth century , ended up in a individual collection and is now miss .
Tree-Loving Mammal
The incredibly foresightful tail end on this creature has the largest number of vertebrae of any know mammal , but researchers do n’t bonk what species this is . They imagine it ’s a tree - climbing carnivore in the out mammal kinsfolk Cimolestidae .
