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Paleontology & Fossils news
How we uncovered the UK's biggest site of dinosaur tracks in a quarry in Oxfordshire
In 2024, researchers from the universities of Oxford and Birmingham excavated a huge expanse of a quarry floor in Oxfordshire filled with hundreds of dinosaur footprints.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jan 23, 2025
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A new twist in an old origin story: Earliest dinosaurs may have emerged in the Amazon
The remains of the earliest dinosaurs may lie undiscovered in the Amazon and other equatorial regions of South America and Africa, suggests a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers.
Evolution
Jan 23, 2025
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Rare pterosaur fossil reveals crocodilian bite 76 million years ago
The fossilized neck bone of a flying reptile unearthed in Canada shows tell-tale signs of being bitten by a crocodile-like creature 76 million years ago, according to a study published 23 January in the Journal of Paleontology.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jan 23, 2025
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Azraq Basin fossils reveal mammals shrank during Pleistocene-Holocene climate shift
Earth's climate changed dramatically during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene 130,000 to 7,000 years ago, when cold glacial cycles transitioned into the current warmer interglacial. Such a climatic evolution had considerable ...
Romanian fossils show hominins in Europe 500,000 years earlier than thought
Research led by the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at Ohio University has found evidence of hominin activity at a Romanian fossil site dating to at least 1.95 million years ago. This discovery pushes back the known ...
Rediscovered fossil reveals rare bird skull from 45 million years ago
Around 45 million years ago, a 4.6 foot-tall (1.40 meters) flightless bird called Diatryma roamed the Geiseltal region in southern Saxony-Anhalt. An international team of researchers led by the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jan 22, 2025
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Fossil footprints study is the first to track cave bears in the Iberian Peninsula
A set of footprints impressed in clay in the Honseca Cave (Velilla del Río Carrión, Palencia), which were made by cave bears that inhabited this area during the Late Pleistocene, are the subject of a new article featured ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jan 22, 2025
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Large bipedal dinosaur footprints discovered: Possible evidence of Mongolian giant Saurolophus
A joint dinosaur survey conducted by Okayama University of Science (OUS) and the Institute of Paleontology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, has uncovered one of the largest hadrosaurid footprints ever found, measuring 92 cm ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jan 21, 2025
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New fossil species sheds light on divergent life-history strategies in early land plants
The initial radiation of vascular land plants, evidenced by increases in both diversity and morphological disparity during the Silurian and Devonian periods, is considered plant terrestrialization, which can be seen as the ...
Evolution
Jan 17, 2025
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Isotopes in early South African hominin teeth show they ate little meat
A team of climate geochemists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand and Princeton University has found evidence that early hominins living in South Africa ate a mostly vegetarian diet. ...
'Serrated blade' stuck in rock on UK beach is ancient sea creature tooth, experts say
A "serrated blade" found sticking from a rock in the United Kingdom has been identified as a "nearly perfect" prehistoric shark tooth, experts say.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jan 15, 2025
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Conquest of Asia and Europe by snow leopards during the last Ice Ages uncovered
An international team of scientists has identified fossils of snow leopards for the first time. The discovery has allowed them to trace the evolutionary history of the species during the Quaternary period and to propose how ...
Evolution
Jan 15, 2025
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DNA study shows extinct moa consumed colorful truffle-like fungi in New Zealand
A team of environmental scientists at Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, in New Zealand, the University of Adelaide and the University of Auckland has found that the now-extinct flightless bird moa once consumed the colorful, ...
Paleontologists discover a new species of North African predatory dinosaur in archived images
SNSB and LMU Paleontologists have identified a new species of predatory dinosaur from the Cretaceous period in North Africa, about 95 million years old. What makes this discovery so special is that the original fossil from ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jan 15, 2025
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Apex predators in prehistoric Colombian oceans would have snacked on killer whales today
Predators at the top of a marine food chain 130 million years ago ruled with more power than any modern species, McGill research into a marine ecosystem from the Cretaceous period revealed.
Ecology
Jan 13, 2025
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Fossil discovery sheds light on the early evolution of animal nervous systems
An international team of scientists has uncovered a fascinating piece of the evolutionary puzzle: how the ventral nerve cord, a key component of the central nervous system, evolved in ecdysozoan animals, a group that includes ...
Evolution
Jan 10, 2025
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New research refutes notion that prehistoric kangaroos ran out of food due to specialized diets
Prehistoric kangaroos in southern Australia had a more general diet than previously assumed, giving rise to new ideas about their survival and resilience to climate change, and the final extinction of the megafauna, a new ...
Ecology
Jan 9, 2025
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How ancient flying reptiles ruled the skies: Study uncovers pterosaur tail structures that enhanced flight capabilities
Scientists have long puzzled over how pterosaurs became the first vertebrates to master flight. Some pterosaur species, such as the Quetzalcoatlus were the largest known animals to ever take to the skies, with wingspans of ...
Evolution
Jan 9, 2025
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Fossil killifish: New findings reveal unforeseen diversity
Killifish, or egg-laying toothcarps, are known for their ecological adaptability and species diversity. Two families of killifish exist in Europe today: the highly species-rich Aphaniidae and the relatively species-poor Valenciidae, ...
Evolution
Jan 9, 2025
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The extreme teeth of saber-toothed predators were 'optimal' for biting into prey, study reveals
Saber-toothed predators—best known from the infamous Smilodon—evolved multiple times across different mammal groups. A study titled "Functional optimality underpins the repeated evolution of the extreme 'saber-tooth' ...
Evolution
Jan 9, 2025
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More news
Discovery of rare new fossil sheds light on New Zealand's extinct dolphin-like reptiles
Major new footprint discoveries on Britain's 'dinosaur highway'
New dinosaur, Archaeocursor asiaticus, hints at early Gondwana to Laurasia migration
New study reconstructs the skull of ancient Cretan hippo
Fossil treasure chest: How to preserve the geoheritage of South Africa's Cape coast
Extremely rare baby mammoth found in Siberia
New York man finds mastodon jaw while gardening in his backyard
Other news
Using AI machine learning to map hidden molecular interactions in bacteria
Fruit flies' courtship song may hold key to controlling mosquitoes
Engineering the first semimetallic Weyl quantum crystal
World's oldest mammalian ancestor discovered in Mallorca
Mysterious plant fossil belongs to a family that no longer exists
What bone scans reveal about a tiny crocodilian from the Jurassic era
Thylacoleo the fossil lion makes a roaring comeback
New species of ancient fish may be smallest known vertebrate fossil in Queensland's history
Triassic reptile with unusual jaws named as a new species
Improving ammonia synthesis: New iron-based catalyst surpasses century-old benchmark
Mechanochemical synthesis: New theory explains reaction rate acceleration
