Ichthyosaurs and dolphins are the archetypal examples of convergent evolution in action, in which two completely unrelated species acquire near identical characteristics. The discovery of a new ichthyosaur fossil suggests this Jurassic-era creature was even more dolphin-like than we appreciated, featuring warm-blood, blubber, and even similar camouflage. Read More >>
A museum might wow you with all of its fossil specimens on display, but that’s often just a small part of what’s really there – specimens in the back might lay in drawers or plaster-wrapped in boxes, quietly holding yet-to-be-revealed secrets or further mysteries about the past. Such is the case with an incredible bird fossil, found 25 years ago in Utah but only just described. Read More >>
The winged Archaeopteryx is one of the most famous dinosaurs known to science, yet arguments persist about its place in the evolutionary family tree. The reported discovery of an entirely new species of Archaeopteryx with distinctly bird-like characteristics suggests its relationship to modern birds is more meaningful than we realised. Critics, on the other hand, say it’s premature to designate the fossil specimen as belonging to a new species. Read More >>
What do blind cavefish, dinosaurs, and sunburnt humans have in common? A lot more than you may realise, according to a thought-provoking new study. Read More >>
They don’t look remarkable to the untrained eye. The skull bones are fragmentary, unrecognisable to most. The story of a fearsome tyrannosaur, who lived millions of years before T-Rex, would remain lost to the ages had it not been for the fossil’s discovery in New Mexico by a dedicated team of dinosaur hunters. Read More >>
The discovery of a new Jurassic dinosaur in South Africa shows that the transition from small, two-legged creatures to the thunderously huge long-necked dinosaurs wasn’t a straightforward process. Read More >>
More than 500 different shark species roam Earth’s oceans: from zippy little cookie-cutter sharks, to the iconic great white, to nightmarish goblin sharks, to 25-foot-long, filter-feeding basking sharks. And it seems that the current equilibrium of shark species we see today arose after the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction event 66 million years ago, according to new research. Read More >>
The Black Hills mountain range in the US, which stretches from South Dakota to Wyoming, is known for its lush forests, scenic waterfalls, and dense, intricate cave systems. But 150 million years ago, humongous, long-necked dinosaurs called sauropods roamed there – and scientists just identified one of their colossal, fossilised feet. Read More >>
The gigantic, long-necked sauropods are an iconic group of dinosaurs—and it seems scientists have just discovered a new one. Palaeontologists were able to define the new species, known as Lingwulong shenqi, using seven to 10 partial skeletons from four separate dig sites in China. Read More >>
They’re calling this newly discovered dinosaur “thorny head,” and it’s changing what we know of North American ankylosaurs, the heavily armoured herbivores that had the misfortune of living alongside Tyrannosaurus rex during the Late Cretaceous. Read More >>
Introducing Ingentia prima, a large, four-legged, long-necked dinosaur that lived a whopping 47 million years before giants like Diplodocus and Brontosaurus shook the Earth. Found in Argentina, its fossil is providing important new insights into the evolution of dinosaurs, and how sauropods grew to such colossal sizes. Read More >>
Tens of millions of years ago, after most land-roaming dinosaurs died out in the Cretaceous Period, a hodgepodge of ancient animals started to fill the landscapes the dinos left behind. One such group was the embrithopods: hoofed mammals, now extinct, whose name means “heavy-footed.” Read More >>
With yet another Jurassic Park film out in cinemas, it’s the perfect time for busybody scientists to shatter our conceptions of how dinosaurs looked and acted. The latest dino truth bomb comes courtesy of a new study published Wednesday in PLOS One.It suggests that most dinosaurs, including the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex, couldn’t stick out their tongues the way many modern reptiles and birds do. Read More >>
Beneath the metallic frame of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the fossilised remains of an unknown species of dinosaur sold to an anonymous buyer earlier today for €2 million (£1.75 million). A group of scientists had tried to stop the sale, saying such an important scientific discovery shouldn’t fall to a private collector. Read More >>
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