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Paleontology & Fossils news
Ancient ground squirrel droppings reveal Arctic's rich evolutionary history
Ground squirrel droppings, preserved for millennia in the Yukon's deep permafrost, have yielded an enormous amount of environmental DNA from dozens of species of plants, insects, microbes and large mammals, offering detailed ...
Evolution
8 hours ago
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A lack of sex held back life's diversity for millions of years, fossil study finds
The way that Earth's first animals reproduced held back life's diversity for millions of years, until stress and competition led to the development of sexual reproduction, which in turn accelerated the pace of evolution.
Evolution
14 hours ago
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55
Hagfish fossils reveal stepwise eye simplification before near-total vision loss
Many animals, including humans, rely on their eyes to detect changes in their surroundings. The eyes of vertebrates, animals with a backbone or a similar supporting structure, contain a transparent structure (i.e., the lens) ...
Fossil fishes buried in the desert reveal a missing chapter in marine history
When an asteroid struck Earth about 66 million years ago, it ended the age of dinosaurs and transformed life across the planet. The effects of that catastrophe are visible in the fossil record on land, but scientists know ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 4, 2026
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Newfound velociraptor cousin probably glided on four 'wings' and hunted early birds
A fossil bed in northwestern China is littered with the remains of hundreds of prehistoric birds—including some whose broken bones were crushed into pellets, similar to those coughed up by modern owls. For years, scientists ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 4, 2026
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Half-ton early bovines roamed 4-million-year-old grasslands in Europe
The first large-sized bovines grew to up to half a ton 4 million years ago in the European Early Pliocene, an early step toward our modern diversity of large-bodied buffalo and cattle, according to a study published June ...
Evolution
Jun 3, 2026
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Egypt fossils show modern ocean fish rose rapidly after dinosaur extinction
The extinction that ended the Age of Dinosaurs is best known for clearing the way for the Age of Mammals on land. Scientists have long suspected that the same catastrophe also transformed life in the seas, opening ecological ...
Evolution
Jun 3, 2026
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Extraordinary fossils solve a 500-million-year mystery: Bryozoans were there at the dawn of animal life
Bryozoans are tiny, filter-feeding colonial invertebrates that thrive in the world's oceans today, yet for decades their origins presented a puzzling gap in the fossil record. While nearly every other major animal group made ...
Evolution
Jun 3, 2026
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206
Taimering mammoth was likely butchered by hunters and gatherers
The wooly mammoth from Taimering (Bavaria, Germany), discovered in 2020, was buried in a former Ice Age pond after its death. Pollen findings and radiocarbon dating confirm that the mammoth lived and died during the harsh ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 3, 2026
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World's largest scorpion revealed by 415-million-year-old fossils
Fossil fragments found in the U.K. have been identified as remains of the largest scorpions ever. Measuring more than a meter in length, Praearcturus gigas was among the first large predators to ever stalk the land.
Evolution
Jun 3, 2026
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Ötzi the Iceman and his microbiome—a 5,300-year-old relationship
Researchers at Eurac Research have obtained a detailed picture of the microbial community associated with Ötzi, Europe's oldest known natural human mummy. The study provides insights into a complex microbiome, ranging from ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 2, 2026
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186
Life in the ancient Arctic: Tiny teeth of newly discovered species suggest it was a cradle of mammalian evolution
A fossil mammal tooth smaller than a grain of rice does not announce itself loudly. It must be hard won from sediment and stone. Then, under a microscope, it reveals itself—no longer just a speck of blackness but a surface ...
Evolution
Jun 2, 2026
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Animals were sharpening their senses long before the Cambrian explosion, ancient tracks reveal
Tracks left by some of the earliest complex animals are giving new insights into how they experienced the world. New research reveals how these creatures started to understand their surroundings, paving the way for animal ...
Evolution
Jun 2, 2026
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Ancient altercations between musk turtles and alligator gar recorded in Florida's fossil record
Sometime between 5.5 and 5.6 million years ago, two shell crushers squared off in the languid currents of an ancient Florida river. The fossils they left behind, discovered by paleontologists at the Florida Museum of Natural ...
Ecology
Jun 2, 2026
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Tiny-armed alvarezsauroid dinosaurs might have been insect eaters, fossil scans suggest
Dinosaurs are estimated to have roamed Earth for over 165 million years, gradually evolving over time to survive in changing environments. Among the many fascinating groups of dinosaurs known to have lived on our planet are ...
Q&A: Ancient bird species found in China's Liaoning had extra-long tail feathers for elaborate courtship
A recently discovered extinct bird from the early Cretaceous Period (approximately 121 million years ago) may have waggled its long tail feathers to attract mates, according to a study published May 27, 2026 in the open-access ...
Plants & Animals
May 30, 2026
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Heron-like, fish-eating dinosaur from 70 million years ago discovered in Argentina
A new raptor-like dinosaur from some 70 million years ago that ate fish and behaved like modern herons has been unearthed from southern Patagonia. The new species, which has been named Kank australis, was identified based ...
Paleontology & Fossils
May 28, 2026
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Turtles finally have a place in the tree of life thanks to an X‑ray study of South African fossils
The origin of turtles has always been a bit of a puzzle for scientists who study the evolution of animals. To this day, where they fit in the tree of life remains a highly debated topic.
Evolution
May 28, 2026
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Forgotten museum fossil helps rewrite part of animal evolution
New research published in BMC Biology helps to fill in questions about the so-called "Furongian gap" from about 497 million to 485 million years ago, when paleontologists previously thought there were far fewer fossils than ...
Evolution
May 28, 2026
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'Feathered dragon' has some of the longest tail feathers ever found on a fossil bird
Birds have all kinds of fancy decorations for attracting mates—male peacocks have a fan of feathers accented with shimmering blue eye-spots, birds of paradise do courtship dances that highlight their fluffy plumes, and female ...
Paleontology & Fossils
May 27, 2026
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'Last titan': Southeast Asia's biggest dinosaur discovered
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The lost koala: New fossil species was hiding in plain sight for 100 years
