News
Newly Discovered 95-Million-Year-Old Spinosaurus Was a "Heron-Like Beast"
10+ hour, 31+ min ago (642+ words) Learn how a newly discovered 95-million-year-old Spinosaurus mirabilis used interlocking teeth to catch fish in an ancient inland river system. A curved slab of bone pulled from a remote fossil site called Jenguebi, deep in Niger's central sand sea, revealed…...
This 215-Million-Year-Old Crocodile Was Built to Run, Not Swim
2+ day, 11+ hour ago (515+ words) Learn how fossil evidence uncovered a new Triassic crocodylomorph species and reshaped our understanding of early crocodile evolution. Researchers have now named the animal Galahadosuchus jonesi and described it in The Anatomical Record. The genus name references Sir Galahad of…...
A Prehistoric Bear Attack Ended in the Gruesome Death of a Teenage Boy Around 27,000 Years Ago
1+ week, 1+ day ago (609+ words) Learn about the bear attack that may have killed "Il Principe," a prehistoric teenager whose skeleton was found in a lavish burial site. Being attacked by a bear often ends in tragedy, and this is certainly no exception for prehistoric…...
One of The Earliest-Known Vertebrates Navigated the Cambrian Dark Forest with Four Eyes
1+ week, 2+ day ago (615+ words) Learn how a second pair of eyes helped this 518-million-year-old fish evade predators. Spiders have eight eyes, bees have five, and boxed jellyfish have 24 " but these are the exceptions. The vast majority of animals on this planet possess two peepers....
This 307-Million-Year-Old Animal May Have Been One of the First Plant Eaters
1+ week, 2+ day ago (774+ words) Learn more about Tyrannoroter heberti, a football-shaped land vertebrate who may have enjoyed snacking on plants. A 307-million-year-old football-sized creature may be one of the earliest land vertebrates to have eaten plants. While plant-eating animals are overly abundant today, that…...
New Zealand Cave Discovery Reveals Ancient Species — Including a Relative of the Kākāpō
2+ week, 1+ day ago (508+ words) Learn more about the animals that were living inside the 'lost world' of this New Zealand cave. The fossils were unearthed at Moa Eggshell Cave, near the village of Waitomo on New Zealand's North Island, and analyzed by paleontologists from…...
Fossils Show Pronghorn Speed Predates the American Cheetah by 5 Million Years
2+ week, 1+ day ago (504+ words) Learn how Miocene fossils from the Mojave Desert reveal that pronghorn running adaptations developed long before high-speed cheetahs appeared in North America. The American pronghorn can outrun every land predator in North America. Its speed has often been linked to…...
2,000-Year-Old Mummies Show Ancient Egyptians Had Back and Hip Pain, Too
2+ week, 1+ day ago (549+ words) Learn how advancements in CT scanner technology is helping to unwrap the lives of ancient Egyptian mummies without even touching them. It's not every day that you get to run a mummy-filled sarcophagus through a CT scanner. But a research…...
Archaeopteryx — The Earliest Known Bird — Had a Strange Mouth, but Fed Like Modern Birds
2+ week, 2+ day ago (595+ words) Learn how looking in Archaeopteryx's fossilized mouth uncovered weird features unique to birds, supporting their ability to fly. Birds didn't invent flight " but they're pretty good at it. So good, in fact, that the evolution of birds from dinosaurs makes…...
Unusually Small Dinosaur Fossil Helps Fill a 70-Million-Year Gap in Ornithopod Evolution
2+ week, 3+ day ago (570+ words) Learn how tiny fossils from Spain led to the discovery of Foskeia and a new chapter in dinosaur evolution. Dinosaur evolution is often told through giants, towering herbivores and predators that define museum halls. But a new discovery suggests that…...