New Zealand’s Ancient Monster Penguins Had Doppelgangers in Japan, the USA and Canada
New Zealand’s monster penguins that lived 62 million years ago had doppelgangers in Japan, the USA and Canada, a study published today in the Journal…
Paleontology
“Seriously Strange” New Extinct Family of Giant Wombat Relatives Discovered in Australian Desert
A giant marsupial that roamed prehistoric Australia 25 million years ago is so different from its wombat cousins that scientists have had to create a…
The Most Popular Textbook Example of Punctuated Evolution Has Been Debunked by Researchers
Researchers at the University of Oslo have debunked a textbook example about how evolution proceeds during speciation. Renowned paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould fronted the old…
An Eye for a Tooth: Bizarre Saber-Tooth Predator From South America Was No Saber-Tooth Cat
A new study led by researchers from the University of Bristol has shown that not all saber-tooths were fearsome predators. Saber-tooth cats, such as the…
“Enigmatic and Strange” – 300-Million-Year-Old Fish Resembles a Sturgeon, but With Key Differences
Tanyrhinichthys mcallisteri recasts the notion of what it means to be a ‘primitive’ vertebrate, according to Penn paleontologists Lauren Sallan and Jack Stack. Sturgeon, a…
“The Thing” – Analysis of Mysterious Giant Egg, the First Ever Found in Antarctica
In 2011, Chilean scientists discovered a mysterious fossil in Antarctica that looked like a deflated football. For nearly a decade, the specimen sat unlabeled and…
New Insight Into the Great Dying – Earth’s Most Deadly Mass Extinction Event Disrupted Ocean Chemistry
A new study shows for the first time that the collapse of terrestrial ecosystems during Earth’s most deadly mass extinction event was directly responsible for…
Ceratopsian Dinosaur Mystery Solved – By Soft-Shelled Eggs?
New study suggests that hard eggshells evolved at least three times in dinosaur family tree. New research suggests that the first dinosaurs laid soft-shelled eggs…
Paleontologist Trackers Discover Giant Crocodile That Walked on Two Legs
University of Colorado Denver researcher Marin Lockley was a member of the team that found the well-preserved footprints. A new study released on June 11…
Volcanic Gases May Explain Long-Standing Puzzle About Rise of Atmospheric Oxygen on Earth
Oxygen first accumulated in the Earth’s atmosphere about 2.4 billion years ago, during the Great Oxidation Event. A long-standing puzzle has been that geologic clues…
Researchers Stunned to Discover Ancient Crocodiles That Walked on Two Legs
An international research team has been stunned to discover that some species of ancient crocodiles walked on their two hind legs like dinosaurs and measured…
To Think Like a Dinosaur: Paleontologists Created the Most Detailed 3D-Model of Ankylosaur Brain
Paleontologists at St Petersburg University created the most detailed virtual 3D-model of the endocranial cast and blood vessels of the head of an ankylosaurian. Paleontologists…
Scientists Discover What a 2900 Pound Armored Dinosaur Ate for Its Last Meal 110 Million Years Ago
More than 110 million years ago, a lumbering 1,300-kilogram (~2900 lbs), armor-plated dinosaur ate its last meal, died, and was washed out to sea in…
Chinese Pterodactyl Wings Its Way to England
The first ever specimen of a pterodactyl, more commonly found in China and Brazil, has been found in the United Kingdom. A fossil hunter recently…
How a Selfie Stick and Fishing Rod Accessed an Ancient Skeleton to Shed First Light on 145 Million-Year-Old Reptile
The skeleton of an extinct ‘fish lizard’ locked in a glass case over 16ft from the ground for the last 100 years has finally been…
Garden of Eden for Ancient Humans and Animals Revealed by Migration Patterns
Pinnacle Point, a series of archaeological sites that overlook a now submerged section of South Africa’s coastline and one of the world’s most important localities…
Ancient Reptile Had Mammal-Like Tooth Enamel – “Strangest Teeth Ever Seen”
Priosphenodon specimens found in Argentina show the Late Cretaceous reptile evolved to have resilient tooth enamel similar to that in mammals. A new study by…
Giant Armored Fish Fed Similar to Basking Sharks 380-Million-Years Ago
Scientists from the University of Bristol and the University of Zurich have shown that the Titanichthys — a giant armored fish that lived in the seas…