Extinct Creatures Fill Puzzling Gap in the Fossil Record
Research reveals yunnanozoans as the oldest known stem vertebrates. New findings answer questions in the fossil record. The puzzling gap in the fossil record that…
Paleontology News
Meraxes Gigas: Giant New Carnivorous Dinosaur Discovered With Tiny Arms Like T. rex
Meraxes gigas — a new species of dinosaur has been discovered with disproportionally short arms just like T. rex called the Meraxes gigas. Tyrannosaurs (like…
Early Human Evolution: Hominin Fossils in “Cradle of Humankind” May Be a Million Years Older Than Thought
Famous Sterkfontein Caves deposit is 1 million years older than previously thought. New dates for Australopithecus-bearing Sterkfontein Cave deposit places South African hominin fossils at…
The Case of the False Thumb: Giant Panda’s “Amazing” Feature Developed at Least Six Million Years Ago
Eating bamboo? It’s all in the wrist. When is a thumb not really a thumb? When it’s an elongated wrist bone of the giant panda…
Human Ancestor Fossils in the “Cradle of Humankind” May Be More Than a Million Years Older Than Thought
The earth doesn’t give up its ancient secrets easily – not even in the “Cradle of Humankind” in South Africa, where a wealth of fossils…
Mastodon Killed in Bloody Battle 13,200 Years Ago – Reveals Extinct Animal’s Annual Migration
Mastodons are relatives of elephants belonging to the genus Mammut that inhabited North and Central America before they went extinct about 10,000 to 11,000 years…
Europe’s Largest Predatory Dinosaur Unearthed on the Isle of Wight
Despite a land area of just 148 square miles (384 km2), the Isle of Wight, an island off England, is one of the richest dinosaur…
Remains of Europe’s Largest Land Predator Discovered on the Isle of Wight
Paleontologists have identified the remains of one of Europe’s largest ever land hunters. Spinosaurids, or spinosauridae (meaning “spined lizards”) is a family of carnivorous theropod…
Great Whites May Have Contributed to Extinction of Megalodon Sharks
Scientists investigated the diet of megalodon, the largest shark to have ever lived, using zinc isotopes. In a new study, researchers compared how high up…
First Animals Formed Complex Ecological Communities Before the Cambrian Explosion
Metacommunity analysis suggests succession, not mass extinction, explains the Ediacaran diversity drop. Early animals developed complex ecological communities more than 550 million years ago, setting…
Hot-Blooded or Cold-Blooded? Chemical Clues Solve One of the Oldest Mysteries in Paleontology
Paleontologists have been debating for decades whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded, like modern mammals and birds, or cold-blooded, like modern reptiles. Knowing whether dinosaurs were warm-…
Strange 130-Year-Old Mystery of Vertebrate Evolution Solved Using Powerful X-Rays
Evidence that the mysterious ancient fish-like vertebrate Palaeospondylus was likely one of the earliest ancestors of four-limbed animals, including humans, has been discovered by the…
What the New Jurassic Park Movie Gets Wrong: Aerodynamics of Magnificent Ancient Creatures
What the new Jurassic Park movie gets wrong: Aerodynamic analysis causes a rethink of the biggest pterosaur. One of the most exciting moments of Jurassic…
Scientists Discover “Ghost” Fossils – “Completely Unexpected”
An international team of researchers has discovered a new type of fossilization. Discovery of ‘ghost’ fossils reveals plankton resilience to past global warming events. An…
A Hunt Gone Wrong! What Caused This Megalodon Shark’s Massive Toothache?
Did the world’s largest prehistoric shark need an orthodontist, or did it just have a bad lunch? Researchers from North Carolina State University (NCSU) and…
Overlooked “Jurassic Park of Lizards” Discovered by Researchers
Scientists have found that a key modern group of reptiles that includes lizards and snakes – known as squamates – diverged in the Jurassic period,…
Clasper Appendages Discovered in Mid-Cambrian Trilobite Reveal Mating Behavior Secrets
Fossils can tell scientists a lot about an animal such as their morphology, their environment, and where to place them in the tree of life….
Gigantic New Beast – One of the Largest Animals Ever – Discovered High in the Alps
Largest ever ichthyosaur tooth is among fossil discoveries including remains of a new beast, sized longer than a bowling alley. Paleontologists have discovered sets of…
