A 240-million-year-old fossil just changed the dinosaur timeline
A newly identified 240-million-year-old animal from Tanzania is forcing scientists to rethink the early dinosaur timeline. Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda belongs to a group previously known only from...
View ArticleUV light reveals possible camouflage on a 125-million-year-old crocodile
A 125-million-year-old crocodile fossil has revealed preserved skin, possible sensory organs, sophisticated respiratory structures, and an unexpected pattern on its tail. Ultraviolet light exposed...
View Article66-million-year-old feather in dinosaur poop may reveal why birds survived...
A feather discovered inside 66-million-year-old fossilized dinosaur poop may help explain why modern birds survived the asteroid catastrophe. The extinct bird it came from had more primitive insulating...
View ArticleGiant new dinosaur discovered beneath construction site in Brazil
Scientists have identified a giant new dinosaur from Brazil that reached about 20 meters long and lived 120 million years ago. Its surprising evolutionary ties to a Spanish dinosaur suggest its...
View ArticleA coffee-table-size scorpion roamed Earth before forests existed
A meter-long scorpion with massive pincers stalked ancient Britain 415 million years ago, long before forests and the better-known age of giant insects. Its surprising size and possible semi-aquatic...
View Article1.4-million-year-old footprints reveal a surprisingly large human relative
Ancient footprints in Kenya reveal that eight Paranthropus boisei may have traveled together 1.4 million years ago, with some individuals reaching surprisingly large, human-like body sizes. The tracks...
View Article324-million-year-old fossil reveals how insects conquered land
Ancient fossils suggest insects conquered land through a long amphibious phase rather than making an abrupt jump from water to dry ground. A newly identified 324-million-year-old species still carried...
View Article“One-in-a-million” sea creature fossil preserves soft tissue for 450 million...
Scientists have identified exceptionally rare soft tissue preserved in a 450-million-year-old crinoid fossil, more than 200 million years older than the first dinosaurs. Its delicate tube feet offer a...
View ArticleScientists say the human family tree may need a major rewrite
The human family tree may be due for a major rewrite. Researchers argue that Australopithecus and Paranthropus should be folded into the genus Homo because new fossils have blurred many of the traits...
View ArticleA new Ice Age species was hiding in la brea tar pits fossils for decades
Scientists have discovered a new extinct amphibian species hiding in the fossil collections of Los Angeles’ La Brea Tar Pits. Named Spea labreae, the Ice Age spadefoot toad is an exceptionally rare...
View ArticleA 30-year-old fossil was hiding bones from a mysterious ancient sea monster
Fossils collected in Osaka more than 30 years ago have revealed a surprise hiding in plain sight: four previously unrecognized bones from a giant Cretaceous mosasaur. Among them is the first confirmed...
View ArticlePaleontology rocked by organic molecules found in 66-million-year-old...
Researchers have found strong evidence that original collagen can survive inside dinosaur fossils for tens of millions of years, overturning a long-standing assumption about fossilization. The...
View Article240-million-year-old reptile fossil reveals a lost chapter before dinosaurs...
A 240-million-year-old reptile discovered in Brazil is revealing what evolution looked like just before the rise of dinosaurs and crocodiles. The small predator had unusually positioned legs that may...
View ArticleDinosaurs became giants — so why did they never become tiny?
Dinosaurs conquered the land at enormous sizes, but strangely, they almost never evolved into truly tiny animals. New research suggests that physiology alone can’t explain this missing miniature end of...
View Article567-million-year-old fossils rewrite the dawn of animal life
A spectacular fossil site in Canada contains 567-million-year-old creatures that may represent some of the earliest animals to move, reproduce sexually, and develop recognizable body plans. The...
View ArticleDid T. rex leave these 66-million-year-old bite marks?
Fossilized dinosaur bones from Wyoming are offering a rare glimpse into the feeding behavior of Tyrannosaurus rex. Researchers examined more than 3,000 bones dating back 72 to 66 million years and...
View ArticleThis school-bus-sized “terror croc” ate dinosaurs. Now it’s back
A massive crocodilian capable of attacking dinosaurs has been brought back to life as the first scientifically accurate mounted skeleton of Deinosuchus schwimmeri. The 31-foot replica at Georgia’s...
View Article518-million-year-old creature reveals the origins of spider fangs
A tiny 518-million-year-old sea creature has revealed the earliest known evidence of the structures that eventually became spiders’ fangs. Hidden inside the fossil were pincerlike limbs and preserved...
View ArticleA forgotten fossil just revealed a new Triassic predator from 210 million...
A fossil overlooked for nearly 80 years has revealed a previously unknown crocodile relative that lived 210 million years ago in what is now New Mexico. Named Eosphorosuchus lacrimosa, the jackal-sized...
View ArticleAncient ape fossil in Egypt challenges the story of human origins
A newly identified fossil ape from northern Egypt is reshaping ideas about where the ancestors of modern apes first emerged. Analyses place it closer to living apes than any known East African species...
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