Hundreds of three-eyed 'dinosaur shrimp' emerge from mud pits at Burning Man as 70,000 revelers escaped flooded Nevada festival

Heavy rains that poured down on 70,000 Burning Man attendees have also awoken hundreds of three-eyed 'dinosaur shrimp' from their slumber.

The small creatures, known as fairy shrimp, were encased in a thick shell for years until rainstorms drenched the Nevada festival, typically a dry wasteland, and provided an optimal environment to hatch.

The crustaceans were spotted emerging from the mud pits as revelers escaped the flooded desert and will start laying more eggs over the next week.

Fairy shrimp are known as 'living fossils' as similar forms date back to the Cambrian Period, more than 500 million years ago.

The 'self-expression' Burning Man, held in the Black Rock Desert, started August 27 and ran until September 4, when an unusual late-summer storm turned the fest into a sloppy mess with partygoers stuck in foot-deep mud.

In addition, most fairy shrimps are found to have 11 pairs of legs, while modern shrimps have eight.

The 'dinosaur' creature has two eyes and a pit organ, a third eye common among insects. The pit organ helps them detect light changes to avoid predators.

Fairy shrimps have a short life span of two to three months and live in seasonal water bodies.

Their eggs are said to have 'tenacious vitality'. They can remain in the soil for a few years before hatching in freshwater and even survive being boiled.

The shrimp originally populated the world's oceans but were forced into shallow freshwater habitats by predators.

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