Scientists believe new discovery to be the oldest crocodilian eggshells ever found in Australia

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Scientists have identified what are believed to be the oldest crocodilian eggshells ever found in Australia, unearthed in a grazier’s back yard in regional Queensland.

The 55m-year-old eggshells – found at a fossil deposit in Murgon, approximately 270km north-west of Brisbane – likely belong to a group of extinct crocodiles known as mekosuchines, new research suggests.

Floods, storms and droughts have uprooted people across the globe as rising temperatures intensify conflict and hunger

Climate-related disasters forcibly displaced 250 million people globally over the past decade, the equivalent of 70,000 displacements every day, according to a report by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). The figure includes people who have been displaced multiple times.

Floods, storms, drought and extreme heat are among the weather conditions driving conflict and displacement, alongside slow-onset disasters such as desertification, rising sea levels and ecosystem destruction, which are threatening food and water security.

Decision by international court of justice hailed as a gamechanger for climate justice and accountability

In July 2025, the international court of justice delivered a landmark decision that clarified that all states were bound under international law to tackle the human-made climate crisis, which the judges unanimously concluded posed an “urgent and existential threat” to the planet’s life-sustaining systems and therefore humanity itself.

The ICJ advisory opinion built on rulings from hundreds of climate lawsuits across the world over the past decade or more, and added further legal weight to strong decisions from the inter-American court of human rights in July 2025 and the international tribunal on the law of the sea in May 2024.