An international research team from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin discovered the oldest known imprint of a cloaca in a 290-million-year-old fossil in the Thuringian Forest, Central Germany. The animal, estimated to be 9 centimeters long and named Cabarzichnus pulchrus, likely fell into mud approximately 298 to 299 million years ago, leaving the impression. Researchers identified an imprint near the tail's base as a cloaca, a vent used by reptiles and birds for excretion and reproduction. This discovery significantly predates the previously oldest known such opening, a 120-million-year-old Psittacosaurus anus found in China. Lead researcher Lorenzo Marchetti stated that these traces offer new perspectives on early reptile development and skin structures, supporting the long-held view that cloacas were present early in reptile evolution.