This timelapse footage shows an amateur palaeontologist uncovering an ancient crab fossil that he says is "12-million-years-old."<br /><br />The fossil, found on beach in Christchurch, is encased in rock and Morne (Mamlambo on YouTube) carefully picks it away revealing the crab's claws and shell. <br /><br />Morne told Newsflare: "I found a fossil crab on a beach in New Zealand and then used an air scribe to remove the rock to show the fossil crab. It took about 10 hours and I made a timelapse of it.<br /><br />"It [the fossil] is dated by the age of the rock it is found in, Miocene era in this case. The rock layers have been dated by some geologists using a variety of techniques, I use that information to date it. It isn't very specific, rather a range.<br /><br />"The species is a Tumidocarcinus Giganteus. Found in New Zealand."
