18+ hour, 42+ min ago   (277+ words) A small iguanodontian fossil from Japan adds evidence that Late Cretaceous coastal ecosystems supported dinosaurs of widely different body sizes. Iguanodontians were widespread plant-eating dinosaurs that lived from the Late Jurassic through the Late Cretaceous. Their movement between Asia, North…...

4+ day, 15+ hour ago   (119+ words) Using a new computational toolkit, Yale researchers recovered evolutionary clues from highly degraded DNA and identified two extinct lineages of giant tortoises....

1+ week, 6+ hour ago   (649+ words) Africa’s giant herbivores did not simply vanish in a wave of extinctions. Their evolutionary family tree was slowly running out of new branches. A new study suggests that the long decline of animals such as elephants, hippopotamuses, and their extinct…...

2+ week, 1+ day ago   (557+ words) Microlithic projectile points from Uzbekistan may link Central Asia to a revised story of Homo sapiens’ early expansion into Europe. Researchers have identified tiny triangular projectile points at the Obi Rakhmat site in Uzbekistan by studying the marks left when…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago   (173+ words) Ultraviolet imaging of a 125-million-year-old crocodylomorph fossil has revealed unexpectedly detailed traces of skin, sensory structures, and chest cartilage....

2+ week, 4+ day ago   (703+ words) A study shows that monkeys use their feet to climb trees as skillfully as chimpanzees. The way a primate climbs a tree can offer clues about how our own ancestors once moved. New research suggests that whatever scientists eventually determine…...

2+ week, 5+ day ago   (327+ words) A team of paleontologists studying penguin fossils from Seymour Island found that ancient bird bones can preserve chemical evidence of past climate change. Because the fossils are rare, the researchers needed a way to examine them without causing damage. They…...