Beneath the snowy slopes lay a prehistoric surprise: an ecosystem that predates the dinosaurs, revealed by melting snow before being stumbled upon by a hiker in the Italian Alps. Intrigued, she snapped photos and shared them with her friend, Elio Della Ferrera, a nature photographer. Della Ferrera then contacted Dal Sasso, at the museum in Milan, to learn more about the discovery. These environmental shifts contributed to the extinction of many species, which we may now encounter as fossils on a fortunate hike. “The past has much to teach us about what we risk doing to the world today,” the researchers warned.

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Persons: ”, Cristiano Dal Sasso, Elio Della Ferrera, Milano Claudia Steffensen, ” Steffensen, Della Ferrera, Dal Sasso, Ausonio, Lorenzo Marchetti, Marchetti, Ronchi, Fabio Manucci, ” Ronchi Organizations: Guardian, University of Pavia, NBC, Milano Locations: Italian, Milan, Italy's Lombardy, Northern Italy, Berlin, Southern