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.
An international team of paleontologists has spent more than 15 years excavating and studying fossils from Africa to expand our understanding of the Permian, a period of Earth's history that began 299 million years ago and ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Aug 11, 2025
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371
Fossils are the backbone—oftentimes literally—of researching the far past. And because most of human evolution took place throughout Africa, the fossils the continent holds are vital to piecing together early human history. ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Aug 11, 2025
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304
In a recent study by Dr. Sofia Patrocínio and her colleagues, published in Papers in Palaeontology, a new specimen of Docodonta is described.
An international team led by scientists from the Canadian Museum of Nature and the University of Chicago reconstructed the brain, heart, and fins of an extinct fish called Norselaspis glacialis from a tiny fossil the size ...
Evolution
Aug 6, 2025
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77
A previously unexploited source of information is now throwing new light on Earth's climate during the age of dinosaurs. Fossilized dinosaur teeth show that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during the Mesozoic ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 5, 2025
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83
About 56 million years ago, when Earth experienced a dramatic rise in global temperatures, one meat-eating mammal responded in a surprising way: It started eating more bones.
Ecology
Aug 5, 2025
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35
Scientists have uncovered the remains of a vast animal community that lived in the European Arctic 75,000 years ago.
Paleontology & Fossils
Aug 4, 2025
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807
A fossilized tooth recovered from the Galería site in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) confirms that reindeer (Rangifer) inhabited this area of the Iberian Peninsula between 243,000 and 300,000 years ago. It represents ...
Ecology
Aug 4, 2025
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118
A new analysis of the bite strength of 18 species of carnivorous dinosaurs shows that while the Tyrannosaurus rex skull was optimized for quick, strong bites like a crocodile, other giant, predatory dinosaurs that walked ...
Evolution
Aug 4, 2025
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483
An international group of paleontologists led by the University of Poitiers, France, report that a recently recovered velociraptorine fossil, Shri rapax, brandished unusually large, powerful clawed hands. Findings point to ...
