--- ---  # Scientists Discover Salamanders the Size of Cars ## Video: Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life [Watch (HLS stream): Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8) (4:03)  _Published 2014-03-12. Conservationists and scientists have a saying, "extinction is forever." But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to "DE-extinction is forever."_ by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 24, 2015 6:30 PM UTC  An artist's rendition of a previously unknown species of crocodile-like "super salamander" that roamed the Earth more than 200 million years ago. Image, made available by the University of Edinburgh on Tuesday March 24, 2015. An artist's rendition of a previously unknown species of crocodile-like "super salamander" that roamed the Earth more than 200 million years ago. Image, made available by the University of Edinburgh on Tuesday March 24, 2015.Marc Boulay–Cossima Productions/University of Edinburgh/AP by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 24, 2015 6:30 PM UTC Scientists [have discovered](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32016625) the bones of ancient salamanders that they say would have been the size of cars. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh excavated the bones in southern Portugal, where they have already found remains from at least 10 individual bodies, the BBC reports. Though related to the modern salamander, the animal would have behaved more like a crocodile or alligator when it likely feasted on early dinosaurs and mammals some 220 million years ago. Scientists continue to dig up the flat-headed, toothy amphibians and expect to uncover hundreds more bodies on the site. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32016625)\] Scientists Discover Salamanders the Size of Cars ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3756550/car-sized-salamanders/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3756550/car-sized-salamanders/"},"headline":"Scientists Discover Salamanders the Size of Cars","datePublished":"2015-03-24T18:30:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:37.165Z","description":"The creature lived some 220 million years ago","url":"https://time.com/3756550/car-sized-salamanders/","keywords":["Archaeology","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46f4eb1f33176cff/6987850e0b72e33fbc6de550/giant-salamander.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt46f4eb1f33176cff/6987850e0b72e33fbc6de550/giant-salamander.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"An artist's rendition of a previously unknown species of crocodile-like \"super salamander\" that roamed the Earth more than 200 million years ago. 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