Ichtyosaure de la Mélaie

The Ichthyosaure de la Mélaie is a 4m long, 107 million year old fossilized marine reptile that lived in the time of the dinosaurs. It bears witness to a time when water covered the land. Departure of the hike from the village of Chanolles.

In the shade of Cheval Blanc, the strata of black marl offer a lunar landscape. A shingle hut houses the fossil, alongside mountain flora and fauna. The crossing of La Mélaie is an original hike, taking both chamois and men’s trails.

In the early 2000s, the very fragmentary skeleton of an ichthyosaur was discovered in the marls of the Lower Cretaceous. This skeleton was preserved on site and protected. It is one of the last representatives of this family which died out before the end of the Cretaceous.