Collaborate Disseminate
Although adult stegosaurs reached lengths of up to 9 m (30 ft) they still started out as small as a cat, if a recently-found footprint is anything to go by. And what’s more, they may have walked differently as babies.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, … Continue reading Fossil footprint from “cat-sized” baby stegosaur surprises scientists
While dinosaurs roamed the Earth, flying reptiles called pterosaurs ruled the skies above. These included the largest animals to ever take flight, and a new study has uncovered some of the biological secrets that helped them grow so large. CT scans hav… Continue reading Bizarre bones helped giant pterosaurs straighten up and fly light
It’s a common view that opposable thumbs are a key feature that distinguishes us from most other species, but a flying reptile that clambered through the trees 160 million years ago isn’t one of them, according to analysis of a newly discovered species… Continue reading Ancient “Monkeydactyl” bears the oldest known opposed thumbs
Trilobites are one of the most common creatures found in the fossil record, but now some particularly well-preserved specimens have revealed some intriguing new details. It turns out that trilobites breathed oxygen – through their legs.Continue Reading… Continue reading “Fool’s gold” fossils reveal trilobites breathed through their legs
Australian scientists have studied the biggest bird-brains in history for the first time. Paleontologists examined the brain cases of extinct flightless birds in the dromornithidae family – including some of the largest birds that ever existed – and fo… Continue reading Giant extinct bird brains reveal “extreme evolutionary experiments”
The whale shark and the manta ray are perhaps two of the ocean’s most fascinating large fishes. Well, scientists have now announced the discovery of a prehistoric ancestor of both, that looked like a cross between the two.Continue ReadingCategory: Biol… Continue reading Prehistoric “eagle shark” combined traits of sharks and rays
For the past 150 years or so, scientists have theorized that the life cycle of the present-day lamprey mirrors the evolution of all fish – and thus of all vertebrates. Newly analyzed fossils, however, indicate that such is not the case.Continue Reading… Continue reading Fossil analysis reveals that lampreys are not “swimming time capsules”
While we’ve seen fossilized dinosaur eggs and embryos before, paleontologists have now discovered an unprecedented three-for-one – a fossilized dinosaur parent sitting on a nest of eggs, in which embryos are present.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, S… Continue reading Fossilized dinosaur found sitting on eggs – with embryos inside
Researchers have identified the oldest known fossils of primates, dating them to around 65.9 million years ago. That’s just after one of Earth’s biggest mass extinction events, and it suggests that the ancestor of all primates originally lived alongsid… Continue reading Oldest primate fossils indicate our ancestors walked with dinosaurs
We know that humans have been sharing their lives with dogs for thousands of years, but there remain plenty of blanks to fill in regarding this relationship and the way it spread throughout the world. Scientists at the University of Buffalo have found … Continue reading Oldest dog remains in Americas tell a tale of ancient canine migration