New Creature Discovered: Mystery of an 8-Metre-Tall Ancient Giant Uncovered in Scotland

New creature discovered in Scotland as scientists confirm a 370-million-year-old fossil represents an extinct life form unlike plants or fungi, rewriting early life on Earth.

A Giant From a Lost World

A new creature discovered in the ancient rocks of Scotland is forcing scientists to rethink how complex life first evolved on land. Towering at an estimated eight metres tall and dating back around 370 million years, the organism belongs to no known group of plants, fungi or animals. Instead, researchers say it represents a completely extinct branch of life — one that flourished long before forests, dinosaurs or mammals existed.

The findings, led by scientists from the University of Edinburgh and the National Museums of Scotland, bring fresh clarity to a mystery that has puzzled researchers for nearly two centuries.

New Creature Discovered in Ancient Scottish Rock

The fossil, known as Prototaxites, was unearthed from the Rhynie chert rock deposit near Aberdeenshire, a site famous for its exceptionally preserved early land life. Although fossils of Prototaxites were first identified as far back as 1843, their true nature remained unclear.

Initially, the towering structure — resembling a massive tree trunk without branches or leaves — was believed to be a giant fungus or an early form of plant. However, advanced molecular and chemical analyses have now ruled out both possibilities.

Sandy Hetherington, co-lead author of the study, explained the significance of the discovery:

"It is a living thing, but not as we know it today. It has anatomical and chemical features different from fungi or plants, and belongs to an evolutionary branch that is now completely extinct."

A Long-Running Scientific Debate Finally Settled

The identity of Prototaxites has been fiercely debated since Canadian scientist JW Dawson studied the fossils in the 19th century and proposed they were fragments of giant conifer trees. Later theories suggested fungal or lichen-like origins, but none fully explained how the organism survived or grew to such enormous proportions.

Unlike plants, Prototaxites did not rely solely on photosynthesis for energy. It also lacked the underground mycelium networks that fungi depend on to absorb nutrients. New chemical evidence confirms the fossils are structurally distinct from any known fungi of the same period.

According to the research team, the organism belongs to an extinct eukaryotic lineage — complex life forms with cells containing nuclei — unlike anything alive today.

Nature’s Forgotten Experiment With Giant Life

Laura Cooper, a co-author of the study, described Prototaxites as an evolutionary outlier:

Prototaxites represents an "independent experiment" by nature in creating large, complex organisms.

This experiment occurred during a time of dramatic transformation on Earth. Between 420 and 370 million years ago — from the late Silurian to the late Devonian period — life was only just beginning to colonise land.

Remarkably, Prototaxites was the first known giant organism to live on land, dwarfing all plants and animals of its era and standing alone in an otherwise low-growing landscape.

Why the New Creature Discovered Matters Today

The confirmation of Prototaxites as a unique life form highlights how much remains unknown about Earth’s earliest ecosystems. Scientists say its discovery sheds new light on the diversity of life experiments that occurred before modern plants and animals came to dominate the planet.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, underscores the importance of fossil sites like Rhynie chert, where rare preservation allows researchers to peer deep into life’s distant past.

As scientists continue to analyse these ancient remains, the new creature discovered in Scotland stands as a reminder that Earth’s evolutionary history is far richer — and stranger — than once imagined.