The largest-ever flying animal acted like a giant heron, plucking prey from the water and launching itself into the air.
Paleontology & Fossils
Dec 23, 2021
1
2089
Today, being "birdbrained" means forgetting where you left your keys or wallet. But 66 million years ago, it may have meant the difference between life and death—and may help explain why birds are the only dinosaurs left ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jul 30, 2021
1
2916
In a study published today in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews, an international research team led by scientists from the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment presents ...
Ecology
May 12, 2023
0
1987
A wide variety of animals have tusks, from elephants and walruses to five-pound, guinea pig-looking critters called hyraxes. But one thing tusked animals have in common is that they're all mammals—there are no known fish, ...
Evolution
Oct 26, 2021
1
680
Sloths weren't always slow-moving, furry tree-dwellers. Their prehistoric ancestors were huge—up to 4 tons (3.6 metric tons)—and when startled, they brandished immense claws.
Paleontology & Fossils
Dec 20, 2024
2
679
Geneticists from Trinity College Dublin, together with an international team of researchers, have deciphered the prehistory of aurochs—the animals that were the focus of some of the most iconic early human art—by analyzing ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 30, 2024
0
679
Geologists have been baffled by perforations in an Australian quartzite (rock), identical in shape to burrows made in sands by crustaceans; the original sandy sediment is a billion years older than the oldest known animals. ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Sep 27, 2021
1
679
About 250 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic mass extinction killed over 80% of the planet's species. In the aftermath, scientists believe that life on Earth was dominated by simple species for up to 10 million years ...
Ecology
Feb 9, 2023
1
675
A multi-institutional team of paleontologists has identified a new dinosaur species dug up in Thailand in 2012. In their paper published in the journal Diversity, the group describes where the fossil was found, its characteristics ...
Uncovering the evolution of any set of living creatures is a complex and highly detailed task for scientists, and theories and approaches that may differ over time may indeed change the fossil record. But paleoanthropologist ...
Evolution
Jul 11, 2022
0
714
