Vertebrate paleontology is the scientific discipline within paleontology that focuses on the study of fossilized remains of vertebrate animals, including their morphology, systematics, evolutionary relationships, and paleoecology. It integrates anatomical analysis, comparative biology, stratigraphy, and geochronology to reconstruct the origin, diversification, and extinction patterns of vertebrates through deep time. Research in vertebrate paleontology often involves detailed examination of skeletal elements, functional morphology, and phylogenetic methods to infer evolutionary trajectories and biogeographic histories, as well as to interpret environmental and climatic conditions recorded in vertebrate fossil assemblages and associated sedimentary contexts.
Scientists have long been trying to reconstruct the appearance of dinosaurs. The tidbits they are able to piece together from fossils and other analysis are displayed in museums, educational materials, and media, lending ...
For over a century, the scientific literature has credited western missionaries with "discovering" fossils in Lesotho, the small, mountainous country surrounded by South Africa.
Paleontology & Fossils
Dec 9, 2025
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The sense of smell is vital for animals, as it helps them find food, protect themselves from predators and interact socially. An international research team led by Dr. Quentin Martinez and Dr. Eli Amson from the State Museum ...
Evolution
Dec 8, 2025
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The fossil called "Medusa" could be a dinosaur mummy—the remains of an Edmontosaurus about 66 million years old that researchers believe contains a significant amount of skin and tendon tissue.
Paleontology & Fossils
Dec 5, 2025
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A fossil only tells part of the story. When an animal's body is preserved as a fossil, there are often pieces missing, and even a perfectly preserved body doesn't tell the whole story of how that animal behaved, how it lived, ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Dec 5, 2025
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There's a new dinosaur species on the block. An international team, including a biologist from Penn State Lehigh Valley, discovered that a 75-million-year-old fossil classified as a different dinosaur is its own massive, ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Dec 4, 2025
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New research conducted by paleontologists from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin reveals a burst in jaw variety in the earliest amniotes—which includes the ancestors of all reptiles, ...
Evolution
Dec 4, 2025
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A fossil site in Bolivia preserves thousands of traces of dinosaurs who walked, ran, and swam along an ancient coastline, according to a study by Raúl Esperante of the Geoscience Research Institute, California, U.S., and ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Dec 3, 2025
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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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A University of Cambridge-led team has analyzed giant anaconda fossils from South America to deduce that these tropical snakes reached their maximum size 12.4 million years ago and have remained giants ever since.
Evolution
Dec 1, 2025
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