Paleontology

160 million years later: This rare fossil is overturning everything we knew about how birds evolved

Research on the Anchiornis specimen reveals hidden feather structures that contradict old theories on dinosaur flight. Scientists are now re-evaluating how and when animals first took to the skies.

160-million-year-old Anchiornis fossils.
Dinosaur, edmontosaurus close up with open mouth. Ukraine, Khmelnitsky, October 2021.

'Medusa,' possible 'dinosaur mummy' discovered in Badlands, transferred for further research

People in protective suits examine a frozen woolly mammoth from Siberia named "Yuka" during a media preview at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei November 6, 2013.

Scientists discover RNA molecules from a mammoth that went extinct 40,000 years ago

 an illustration of a shark being eaten by an even larger shark Scientists have long assumed megalodons looked like big great white sharks, but new research suggests this is not the case

Megalodon shark may have reached 80 feet, new study finds


Tanzania footprints offer clues on origin of human upright walking

Researchers said on Wednesday a thorough new examination of the fossil footprints has shown that they were made not by a bear, as once believed, but by a hominin.

Footprints in the sand

Humanity's missing link: 2-million-year-old bones shed light on human spine

The Australopithecus sediba is estimated to have lived nearly two million years ago and is thought to be a predecessor to the Homo genus, to which modern humans – Homo sapiens – belong.

 Malapa Hominin 1 (MH1) left, Lucy (AL 288-1 (Centre), and Malapa Hominin 2 (MH2) right. Image compiled by Peter Schmid courtesy of Lee R. Berger, University of the Witwatersrand.

New dinosaur species discovered in Australia, one of world's biggest

"Discoveries like this are just the tip of the iceberg," said Queensland Museum curator and palaeontologist Scott Hocknull.

Dr. Scott Hocknull poses with a 3D reconstruction and the humerus bone of "Cooper," a new species of dinosaur discovered in Queensland and recognised as the largest ever found in Australia, in this undated handout image made available to Reuters on June 8, 2021 in Eromanga, Australia.

Paleo-start up nation: Prehistoric Israelis exchanged technology - Study

In order to understand what kind of exchanges occurred between them, the archaeologists looked at their utensils and the way they manufactured them.

Ein Gev site in 2016.

'Like Godzilla, but actually real': study shows T. rex totaled 2.5 billion

Their analysis put the total number of T. rex individuals that ever existed at about 2.5 billion, including approximately 20,000 adults alive at any one time.

An approximately 67 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, one of the largest, most complete ever discovered and named "STAN" after paleontologist Stan Sacrison who first found it, is seen on display ahead of its public auction at Christie's in New York City, New York, U.S., September 15, 2020

Researchers discover 74-million-year-old mammal - Watch

The skunk-like mammal inhabited southern Patagonia alongside dinosaurs.

A BYZANTINE-ERA pigeon fossil.

Fossils of oldest member of huge dinosaur group found in Argentina

The researchers said Ninjatitan demonstrated that the titanosaurs as a group first appeared longer ago than previously known.

Palaeontologists pose for a picture next to an excavation of dinosaur bones and fossils that may have belonged to the largest dinosaur ever discovered, in Neuquen, Argentina November 12, 2016.

Species of dinosaur 125 million years-old discovered in China

"These animals were quickly covered by fine sediment while they were still alive or just after their death," said paleontologist Pascal Godefroit of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.

Dinosaurs

Scientists digitally reconstruct skull of mysterious Triassic reptile

As the scientists note, its "paleobiology remains contentious," some scientists believe it lived on land other stated that it was an aquatic-dwelling reptile.

Tanystropheus

Israeli scholars find earliest proof of feather molt in flying dinosaur

One of the fossils clearly featured the marks of the feathers on the wings.

Fossil of Microraptor, a four winged dinosaur which lived 120 million years ago