Ichnofossils, also known as trace fossils, are geological records of biological activity rather than preserved body parts, encompassing structures such as burrows, tracks, trails, borings, and coprolites. They provide direct evidence of organism behavior, ethology, and organism–substrate interactions, often where body fossils are absent. Ichnofossil analysis underpins ichnology and is used to interpret paleoenvironmental conditions, substrate consistency, energy regimes, and bioturbation intensity. Because ichnofossils are typically preserved in situ, they are critical for refining depositional models, sequence stratigraphy, and basin analysis, and for constraining the distribution, locomotion, and trophic strategies of ancient benthic and nektonic communities.
South Africa is well known for its fossil heritage, a record of plants and animals that tells us what the world was like long ago.
Paleontology & Fossils
Dec 2, 2025
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An analysis of a unique looping trail of ancient footprints in the United States reveals the dinosaur which made it may have been limping.
Paleontology & Fossils
Nov 25, 2025
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85
A research team from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS) has made progress in studying the Shibantan biota in Yichang, Hubei Province, uncovering the oldest known ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Oct 29, 2025
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Rock hyraxes, known in southern Africa more often as "dassies," are furry, thickset creatures with short legs and no discernible tails. They spend much of their time sunning themselves on rocky outcrops.
Paleontology & Fossils
Oct 6, 2025
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390
An international research team led by Curtin University has used prehistoric feces to better understand how molecular fossilization works, offering a new window into what ancient animals ate, the world they lived in and what ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 19, 2025
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171
Paleontologists, including researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN), have described the oldest insect larval feeding tunnels inside leaves, also known as leaf mines, along with associated egg deposits, based ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 2, 2025
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314
The Polish Geological Institute-National Research Institute reports a Lower Devonian (419 to 393 million years ago) fossilized trackway in the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland, attributed to dipnoan fish. Their analysis finds ...
Footprints of a multispecies herd of dinosaurs discovered in Canada demonstrate the social interaction between different dinosaur species 76 million years ago, according to findings in a new study published in the journal ...
Ecology
Jul 23, 2025
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285
Ancient footprints found near the shores of Portugal's Algarve region are giving us fresh insights into the lives of coastal-dwelling Neanderthals. An international study led by Carlos Neto de Carvalho of the University of ...
The Cambrian Explosion is a landmark moment in the history of life on Earth when many of the major groups of animals first appear in the fossil record.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jul 10, 2025
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