Evolutionary Dispute: Most Human Origins Stories Are Not Compatible With Known Fossils
Fossil apes can inform us about essential aspects of ape and human evolution, including the nature of our last common ancestor. In the 150 years…
Paleontology
Shuvuuia: Extraordinary Dinosaurs That Hunted in the Dark
The tiny desert-living dinosaur Shuvuuia had extraordinary vision and owl-like hearing for nocturnal life in the Mongolian desert. Today’s 10,000 species of birds live in…
240-Million-Year-Old Ichthyosaur – Besanosaurus – Was an 26 Foot Long Marine Snapper
Paleontologists working in museum collections in Italy, Switzerland, and Germany have identified five additional specimens of a 240-million-year-old ichthyosaur, named Besanosaurus leptorhynchus, which was previously…
Extraordinary Species Diversity Within a 14.7 Million-Year-Old Tropical Rainforest and Sheds Light on Evolution
Newly Discovered Miocene Biome Sheds Light on Rainforest Evolution An international research group led by Prof. WANG Bo and Prof. SHI Gongle from the Nanjing…
Yamatosaurus: New Duckbilled Dinosaur Discovered in Japan
An international team of paleontologists has identified a new genus and species of hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaur, Yamatosaurus izanagii, on one of Japan’s southern islands….
Nuclear DNA From Cave Sediments Helps Unlock Ancient Human History
For the first time, scientists have succeeded in extracting and analyzing Neandertal chromosomal DNA preserved in cave sediments. The field of ancient DNA has revealed…
Billion-Year-Old Fossil Discovered – Reveals Missing Link in the Evolution of Animals
A billion year old fossil, which provides a new link in the evolution of animals, has been discovered in the Scottish Highlands. Scientists have discovered…
Modern Human-Like Brains Evolved Long After Earliest Humans First Dispersed From Africa
Modern human-like brains evolved comparatively late in the genus Homo and long after the earliest humans first dispersed from Africa, according to a new study….
Ancient DNA Reveals New Spot in the Tree of Life for Extinct “Horned” Crocodile
New ancient DNA-based study on Madagascar crocodile suggests that modern crocodiles likely originated in Africa. A study led by scientists at the American Museum of…
Tyrannosaurus rex Mystery Solved: How Dinosaurs Delivered Bone-Crushing Bites
New research addresses longstanding mystery on the anatomy of the Tyrannosaurus rex jaw. Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaurs chomped through bone by keeping a joint in their…
“Giant Cloud Rat” Fossils Discovered in Philippine Caves
Fluffy rodents twice the size of a gray squirrel survived for tens of thousands of years, and then abruptly disappeared a few thousand years ago…
New Biomechanical Model Shows Tyrannosaurus rex Walked Surprisingly Slowly
Humans and animals have a preferred walking speed. This is, in part, influenced by the amount of energy required: they prefer to walk at the…
Paleontologists Believe 2.5 Billion T. rex Roamed the Earth Over the Cretaceous Period
Over their entire late-Cretaceous reign, the total number of Tyrannosaurus rex that ever lived on Earth was roughly 2.5 billion individuals, according to a new…
Tarantula’s Pervasiveness Traced Back to the Cretaceous Period
Tarantulas are among the most notorious spiders, due in part to their size, vibrant colors, and prevalence throughout the world. But one thing most people…
Species Come and Go – Their Ecosystems Persist Over Millions of Years
A research study sheds new light upon an ongoing debate among conservation biologists: whether we should conserve sets of endangered species, or whether we should…
Tiny Cat-Sized Dinosaur Leaves the Smallest Stegosaur Footprint Ever Discovered by Paleontologists
A single footprint left by a cat-sized dinosaur around 100 million years ago has been discovered in China by an international team of paleontologists. University…
Scientists Zero In on the Role Volcanoes Played in the Demise of Dinosaurs
Graduate Center, CUNY researchers uncover evidence suggesting that volcanic carbon emissions were not a major driver of the Earth’s most recent extinction event. Earth has…
Paleontologists Stunning Conclusion: 2.5 Billion T. Rexes Roamed North America Over the Cretaceous Period
Analysis of what’s known about the dinosaur leads to conclusion there were 2.5 billion over time. How many Tyrannosaurus rexes roamed North America during the…