Palaeontologists identified a prehistoric species after excavating bones buried on the site of an ancient lake in southern Portugal. They found a giant killer salamander officially known as Metoposaurus algarvensis.

It is a distant relative of salamanders living today, and it was wiped out during a mass extinction 201 million years ago, which was long before the death of the dinosaurs. The creature was as long as a small car and had hundreds of sharp teeth in its large and flat head. The animal lived in lakes and rivers during the late Triassic period, living much like crocodiles today and feeding mainly on fish.

Difficult words: palaeontologist (a person who does palaeontology – the science of fossilised animals and plants), species (an animal kind), excavate (dig out).