Archaeologists in Mexico discovered a huge collection of mammoth skeletons buried under an airport construction site. At least 200 skeletons have already been unearthed, and many more await excavation. Paleontologists think that studying these mammoths could offer new insight into why the species went extinct 10,000 to 13,000 years ago. […]
Summary List Placement Have you ever wondered what the area around your hometown was like during the Cretaceous period, when the Tyrannosaurus rex roamed? How about before then, when Earth had just one supercontinent? Now you can find out. An interactive map developed by software engineer Ian Webster lets users […]
Researchers in Canada diagnosed a dinosaur with an aggressive type of bone cancer – the first time a dinosaur has received a confirmed cancer diagnosis. The dinosaur died “surrounded by its friends,” the scientists said, a finding that may offer insight into dinosaur social structures. Visit Business Insider’s homepage for […]
Earlier this month, paleontologists announced the discovery of the largest soft-shelled egg ever found. The researchers think the football-sized specimen, which was discovered in Antarctica, came from a giant, swimming reptile. But other scientists think the giant egg could have been laid by an early dinosaur. Visit Business Insider’s homepage […]
Scientists discovered fossilized eggs from two different dinosaur species in the Gobi Desert. Unlike previously discovered dinosaurs eggs, these eggs had soft-shells, like turtle eggs. New research posits that the earliest dinosaurs laid soft-shelled eggs, not hard-shelled ones. Another new study reveals the largest soft-shelled egg ever discovered in the […]
Paleontologists discovered a trackway of fossilized footprints in South Korea that are more than 110 million years old. The footprints came from a 10-foot-long crocodile ancestor called a crocodylomorph, which walked only on its hind legs. The finding helps put a debate to rest: In 2012, scientists suggested that similar […]
A rare, 200-million-year-old fossil found off the southern coast of the UK preserved an encounter in which a squid ancestor crushed the head of a prehistoric fish in its tentacles. Both creatures died during the scuffle and were fossilized together on the sea floor. It’s the oldest known example of […]
Paleontologists have discovered the oldest known tyrannosaur species seen in North America. The researchers describe the dinosaur in a new study – they named it Thanatotheristes degrootorum, which means “reaper of death” in Greek. The predator lived 12 million years before the T. rex did and was 10 feet shorter […]
Paleontologists have uncovered countless dinosaur fossils since the original “Jurassic Park” movie came out in 1993. The discoveries have changed their understanding of how dinosaurs looked, sounded, and acted. Most of the creatures we see on screen throughout the franchise are not scientifically accurate. New research shows that dilophosaurus – […]
Paleontologists’ understanding of the Tyrannosaurus rexhas changed significantly over the past 15 years as more skeletons have been discovered. According to a new study, a T. rex grew so much and so quickly during its teenage years that its hunting practices changed. Young T. rexes were agile and could move […]
A remote island in the Arctic ocean northeast of Siberia was identified as the resting place of the world’s last woolly mammoth population. A new study shows that these island mammoths outlived their North American and European counterparts by some 7,000 years, before going abruptly extinct. A genetic analysis reveals […]
In an iconic scene in the Hollywood blockbuster “Jurassic Park,” velociraptors hunt down two children in a kitchen. One raptor fogs up the glass on the kitchen door as it eyes its prey – a sign that these dinosaurs were warm-blooded, not cold-blooded. According to the film’s science adviser, the […]
The T. rex had the strongest bite of any land animal in Earth’s history. Its toothy jaw delivered upwards of 7 tons of pressure when it chomped its prey. Until now, scientists weren’t sure how the carnivore delivered such impactful bites without damaging its own skull. A new study shows […]
More than 40,000 years ago, giant kangaroos roamed western Australia. One type of ancient kangaroo weighed 260 pounds (118 kilograms) and had powerful jaws that enabled it to bite through tough vegetation. A new study shows that jaw was remarkably similar to those of modern giant pandas, which allow them […]
A massive asteroid struck present-day Mexico 66 million years ago. The impact contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs and 75% of life on Earth at the time. By analysing rocks from deep in the asteroid crater, scientists were able to reconstruct what happened during the day after the impact. […]
Anthropologists have found very few fossils of the Australopithecus anamensis species – a hominin ancestor that lived in Africa between 4 million and 2 million years ago. Now researchers have discovered that an Australopithecus anamensis skull found in 2016 is 3.8 million years old, making it the oldest Australopithecus skull […]
Paleontologists have identified a fossil of the world’s largest parrot, which weighed 15 pounds and stood 3 feet high, in New Zealand. They nicknamed it “Squawkzilla.” The 19-million-year-old mega-parrot had a curved beak, which it may have used to hunt and eat other parrots (in addition to its typical diet […]
Colourful fossils discovered in Australia were found to belong to a stunning new species of dinosaur, according to a new report published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The fossils were discovered in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, a hotbed for dinosaur discovery in recent months. The new dinosaur, Fostoria […]
Photographer Christian Voigt travels to museums in Europe to take photographs of extinct dinosaurs, mastodons, and saber-toothed cats. Voigt uses a black cloth backdrop and natural light to capture each skeleton individually and in detail. His goal is to “bring these creatures back to life” through his photography, Voigt said. […]
Scientists discovered fossils of the oldest known fungus in the Canadian arctic. Fungi include mushrooms, yeasts, and molds. The billion-year-old fungus, called Ourasphaira giraldae, provides clues about how life may have evolved on land. In a new study, researchers discuss how the discovery of fungi like this one, which are […]
Scientists have discovered fossils from a 163-million-year old flying dinosaur in China. In a new study, paleontologists say the creature had leathery wings like a bat, rather than feathery wings like a bird. It flew in a similar way to modern-day flying squirrels. This new fossil, in combination with previous […]
Anthropologists may have discovered a new human relative in the Philippines. Named Homo luzonensis after the island it was discovered on, this ancient hominin lived between 50,000 and 67,000 years ago. A new study discusses how H. luzonensis shares traits with both older human ancestors like Australopithecus and Homo erectus, […]
New evidence from a cave in France might explain why some Neanderthals ate their compatriots about 100,000 years ago. The bones found in the cave aren’t the first evidence of Neanderthal cannibalism, but this is the first time scientists have hypothesized about the reasons Neanderthals became cannibals. The scientists suggest […]
Paleontologists have discovered an ancient whale that had four legs, webbed feet, and small hooves on the tips of its fingers and toes. The creature, named Peregocetus pacificus, had sharp teeth for hunting fish and could both walk on land and swim in the sea. A new study about this […]
Scientists have discovered a 518-million-year-old fossil found in South China that looks like a monster from Star Wars. They describe it in a new study. The creature, called Daihuasanqiong, sat on the ocean floor like a sea anemone, pulling in unsuspecting prey with 18 long tentacles covered in cilia. The […]
Paleontologists have discovered the heaviest and longest-lived T. rex ever seen in the fossil record. A new study catalogues the specimen’s discovery in Saskatchewan, Canada. Nicknamed “Scotty,” this rex weighed close to 20,000 pounds. Scotty’s battle-scarred skeleton suggests that the predator incurred a lot of injuries during its life, including […]
Tyrannosaurus rex has captivated the public imagination since the “king of the dinosaurs” ate its way onto the scene in “Jurassic Park.” But when Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster was being made, paleontologists didn’t really know much about T. rex – only seven or eight skeletons existed in the fossil record. […]
Paleontologists have unearthed a new dinosaur relative in the rocks near the South Pole. They named it Antarctanax shackletoni, or “Antarctic king.” It was a carnivorous reptile about the size of an iguana thatlived roughly 250 million years ago. The fossil gives scientists new insight into what Antarctica (and the […]
Recent discoveries have revealed that much of the traditional understanding of the human origin story is wrong. Until the past few years, most anthropologists and archaeologists believed that the first members of our species – Homo sapiens – evolved in East Africa approximately 200,000 years ago. As that story goes, […]
Scientists have determined that a lizard fossil discovered in 2003 is 240 million years old – making it the earliest known lizard fossil ever discovered. Researchers also determined that the creature is the world’s earliest known ancestor of snakes and lizards. The fossil’s age means that lizards coexisted with dinosaurs […]
Long before early modern humans arrived in Europe, Neanderthals were painting in caves, leaving behind animal shapes and hand-prints. They may also have been decorating shells before Homo sapiens did. This indicates that the stereotype of the brutish Neanderthal is wrong – they were cognitively closer to us than many […]
Scientists have long known that an asteroid slammed in Earth and created the Chicxulub Crater, which contributed to the dinosaurs’ extinction 66 million years ago. Scientists have struggled to determine whether the volcanic activity or the global cooling that resulted from the asteroid impact were more responsible for the extinction […]
The discovery of a dinosaur footprint at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in 2012 led to the discovery of one of the richest sets of prehistoric tracks from the Cretaceous Period ever seen. Among the footprints is “the mother lode of Cretaceous mammal tracks,” according to one of the authors […]
A new analysis of the oldest known microbial fossils revealed that several diverse types of organisms existed more than 3.4 billion years ago. The finding indicates that life first evolved on Earth long before that. If life existed in so many forms that early in Earth’s history, it suggests a […]
A new study of a fossil from Burma reveals a tick grasping a dinosaur feather, providing our first evidence that ticks preyed on dinosaurs. Scientists also found a new species of tick –Deinocroton draculi, or “Dracula’s terrible tick” – that fed on dinosaur blood. Unfortunately, the “Jurassic Park”-style extraction of […]
A dinosaur newly discovered in Mongolia was most likely semiaquatic, a trait that hadn’t been found in dinosaurs before. The finding helps establish a new subfamily of dinosaurs. The creature had a neck like a goose’s, wings similar to those of penguins, and sharp claws like those of velociraptors. Birds […]
A new discovery of pterosaur eggs and fossils from the Hamipterus tianshanensis species in China gives us our most complete look at the early flying reptiles. Researchers found at least 215 eggs with at least 16 containing traces of embryos. “We want to call this region ‘Pterosaur Eden.'” They swooped […]
Sixty-six million years ago, a 9-kilometer-wide...
The newly announced discovery of an ancient...
The strongest bite force on Earth today belongs...
In the late Pleistocene period, approximately...
When researchers at the Royal Ontario Museum...
On a 25-kilometer stretch of coastline...
Much of what we "know" about dinosaurs has...
While some of our ancient human relatives...
In a recent paper published in Nature...
While some of our ancient human relatives...
Last year, researchers discovered the remains of a giant penguin. They realised penguins were once as tall as people. The penguin species reached 180 centimetres. Emperor penguins are the tallest current living species of penguin, and they grow up to 122 centimetres. The evolution of penguins is a bit of […]
A giant asteroid struck the Earth 65...
The remains of a mummified Copper Age man...
Otters are one of the best animals on Earth....
Dinosaurs went extinct around 66 million years...
Dinosaurs in the ceratopsian family, like Triceratops, had massive bony frills and fearsome horns on top of their heads. Over time, researchers have speculated that these could have served various purposes, including defence against predators, temperature regulation, and helping to prevent mating between different species. But a new study argues […]
A new type of large, prehistoric bird has just...
Scientists made an unprecedented discovery that...
Scientists recently found a feathered, 99...
Last year, the bones of a gigantic mammoth were...
A new bird-like dinosaur was just discovered in...
This year is continuing to be a great one for...
Over 66 million years ago, a 25-meter long...
Paleontologists have teamed up with a...
When snow began melting on Isua island off the...
VIDEO: In Hell Creek Formation, Montana, paleontologists have uncovered a 66.3-million-year-old T-rex fossil with the skull still intact.
A new kind of dinosaur has the same type...
VIDEO: Paleontologists have discovered the first saber-toothed tiger paw prints.
It's 65 million years ago. You're...
The prehistoric asteroid that destroyed the...
Our prehistoric cousins, the Neanderthals, were...
VIDEO: Jack Tseng, a paleontologist from the American Museum of Natural History, explains that the dire wolves featured in the show are based on reality.
When we think about dinosaurs, we mostly...
When South African spelunkers Rick Hunter and...
On September 10, scientists announced the truly...
The recent discovery of bones from a previously...
A trove of bones found deep inside an...
Deep inside the Rising Star cave system, 30...
VIDEO: The American Museum of Natural History is one of the largest museums in the world. Tucked into its 1.6 million square feet of space are several secrets.
Paleontology may be one of the coolest careers...
As you may have heard, the park is open.And...
Sneaky creatures.
Extinction is a scary word and a scary topic.
The creatures died off at the end of the last Ice Age.
Paleontologists have discovered nearly 50...
The first non-insect animal to evolve powered...
About a 107 million years ago a dinosaur from...
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