'Oldest' Gondwana land creature discovered

A 350-million-year-old fossilised scorpion discovered in South Africa is the oldest known land animal to have lived on Gondwana, part of Earth's former supercontinent, a university said Monday.

Extinct swordfish-shaped marine reptile discovered

A team of international researchers from Canada, Colombia, and Germany has discovered a new marine reptile. The specimen, a stunningly preserved meter-long skull, is one of the last surviving ichthyosaurs—ancient animals ...

New insight into the Great Dying

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 disrupting ocean chemistry.

Global study: Wild megafauna shape ecosystem properties

For millions of years, a variety of large herbivores, or megafauna, influenced terrestrial ecosystems. Among many others, these included elephants in Europe, giant wombats in Australia, and ground sloths in South America. ...

Earth's earliest forest revealed in Somerset fossils

Scientists have discovered remnants of the Earth's oldest fossil forest on the north coast of Devon and Somerset in the U.K. The trees, which are about 390 million years old, are thought to have grown as part of an extensive ...

Land-based pollution with microplastics an underestimated threat

Tiny plastic particles present a threat to creatures on land, and may have damaging effects similar or even more problematic than in our oceans. Researchers from the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries ...

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