Archaeologists from Yale University and Abu Dhabi’s Authority on Culture and Heritage (AUCH) have been studying fossilized remains from the Miocene Era, some 6-8 million years ago, the AUCH said in a statement.

The researchers concluded that the area in Abu Dhabi, now a windswept desert, was once full of life. Researchers have previously found other remains of ancestors of the modern ostrich, catfish, elephants, crocodiles, and turtles.