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UrduUsing an exceptionally preserved fossil from South Africa, a particle accelerator, and high-powered x-rays, an international team including a University of Minnesota researcher has discovered that not all dinosaurs breathed in the same way. The findings give scientists more insight…
Tag: PALEONTOLOGY
New species of pseudo-horses living 37 million years ago
Researchers at the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country describe two palaeotheriidae mammals that lived in the subtropical landscape of Alava
Wallonia as an international reference for the timeline
Paleontologists from Univeristy of Liège (Belgium) redefine the geological boundary between the Devonian and Carboniferous periods. A Walloon site could be chosen as a world reference for this boundary.
Fossil shark scales provide a glimpse of reef predator populations before human impact
The results indicate that shark abundance in the region declined roughly three-fold since prehistoric times
New beetle found in fossil feces attributed to dinosaur ancestor
The tiny beetle Triamyxa coprolithica is the first-ever insect to be described from fossil faeces. The animal the researchers have to thank for the excellent preservation was probably the dinosaur ancestor Silesaurus opolensis, which 230 million years ago ingested the small beetle in large numbers.
The rise and fall of elephants
Based on fossil finds, we know that the vast majority of species that once inhabited the earth have become extinct. For example, there are about 5,500 mammal species living on the planet today, but we know of at least 160,000…
Global climate dynamics drove the decline of mastodonts and elephants, new study suggests
Elephants and their forebears were pushed into wipeout by waves of extreme global environmental change, rather than overhunting by early humans, according to new research. The study, published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution , challenges claims that early human…
Digging into the molecules of fossilized dinosaur eggshells
Dinosaurs roamed the Earth more than 65 million years ago, and paleontologists and amateur fossil hunters are still unearthing traces of them today. The minerals in fossilized eggs and shell fragments provide snapshots into these creatures’ early lives, as well…
Decline of dinosaurs underway long before asteroid fell
Ten million years before the well-known asteroid impact that marked the end of the Mesozoic Era, dinosaurs were already in decline. That is the conclusion of the Franco-Anglo-Canadian team led by CNRS researcher Fabien Condamine from the Institute of Evolutionary…
New fossils reveal previously unknown population of archaic hominin from the Levant
In two companion studies, researchers reveal a previously unknown population of archaic hominin- the “Nesher Ramla Homo ” – from a recently excavated site in Israel dated to roughly 140,000 to 120,000 years ago. Analysis of both the fossils and…
The origins of farming insects
A beetle bores a tree trunk to build a gallery in the wood in order to protect its lay. As it digs the tunnel, it spreads ambrosia fungal spores that will feed the larvae.
Did the ancient Maya have parks?
The ancient Maya city of Tikal was a bustling metropolis and home to tens of thousands of people.
When tyrannosaurs dominated, medium-sized predators disappeared
New UMD study suggests that everywhere tyrannosaurs rose to dominance, their juveniles took over the ecological role of medium-sized carnivores
Fossil research shows woodlice cousins roamed Ireland 360 million years ago
The old cousins of the common woodlice were crawling on Irish land as long as 360 million years ago, according to new analysis of a fossil found in Kilkenny.
Fossil research shows woodlice cousins roamed Ireland 360 million years ago
New techniques used to recreate the image of the Oxyuropoda – the cousin of the garden woodlice
Ten years of ancient genome analysis has taught scientists ‘what it means to be human’
A ball of 4,000-year-old hair frozen in time tangled around a whalebone comb led to the first ever reconstruction of an ancient human genome just over a decade ago
Study presents new species of bizarre, extinct lizard previously misidentified as a bird
An international research team has described a new species of Oculudentavis, providing further evidence that the animal first identified as a hummingbird-sized dinosaur was actually a lizard.
Dinosaurs lived in greenhouse climate with hot summers
New climate reconstruction method provides precise picture of climate 78 million years ago
For early amphibians, a new lifestyle meant a new spine
Moving from water to land and back again corresponded with distinct changes in animals’ spinal morphology, according to a new study led by paleontologist Aja Carter
Paleontologists for the first time discover the pierced skull of a Pleistocene cave bear
Russian paleontologists discovered the skull of a Pleistocene small cave bear with artificial damage in the Imanay Cave (Bashkiria, Russia).
Arctic rotifer lives after 24,000 years in a frozen state
Bdelloid rotifers are multicellular animals so small you need a microscope to see them. Despite their size, they’re known for being tough, capable of surviving through drying, freezing, starvation, and low oxygen. Now, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology…
School lesson gone wrong leads to new, bigger megalodon size estimate
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A more reliable way of estimating the size of megalodon shows the extinct shark may have been bigger than previously thought, measuring up to 65 feet, nearly the length of two school buses. Earlier studies had ball-parked…
Meet Australia’s largest dinosaur — Australotitan, the southern titan!
What’s as long a basketball court, taller than a b-double and has just stomped into the record books as Australia’s largest dinosaur? It’s time to meet Australotitan cooperensis – a new species of giant sauropod dinosaur from Eromanga, southwest Queensland.…
10,000-year-old DNA pens the first tales of the earliest domesticated goats
New research has revealed the genetic makeup of the earliest goat herds. The findings, assimilated from DNA taken from the remains of 32 goats that died some 10,000 years ago in the Zagros mountains, provide clues to how early agricultural…
Corals tell Arabian Sea story of global warming
Coral insights into 1,000 years of seasonal changes in the Arabian Sea warn of significant impacts caused by global warming.
Corals tell Arabian Sea story of global warming
Coral insights into 1,000 years of seasonal changes in the Arabian Sea warn of significant impacts caused by global warming. Every year, the southwesterly winds of the summer monsoon sweep down the Arabian Peninsula, pushing the surface waters of the…
Evidence for a previously unknown extinction event that decimated ocean shark species
Nineteen million years ago, sharks nearly disappeared from Earth’s oceans, according to a new study, which provides evidence for a previously unknown mass ocean extinction event. Sharks as a species never recovered from this, the study’s authors say; their diversity…
The DNA of three aurochs found next to the Elba shepherdess opens up a new enigma for palaeontology
Research involving scientists from the University of A Coruña has succeeded in sequencing the oldest mitochondrial genome of the immediate ancestor of modern cows that has been analysed to date. The remains, some 9,000 years old, were found next to…
Young T. rexes had a powerful bite, capable of exerting one-sixth the force of an adult
Jack Tseng loves bone-crunching animals — hyenas are his favorite — so when paleontologist Joseph Peterson discovered fossilized dinosaur bones that had teeth marks from a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, Tseng decided to try to replicate the bite marks and measure how hard those kids could actually chomp down.
Fossil secret may shed light on the diversity of Earth’s first animals
A large group of iconic fossils widely believed to shed light on the origins of many of Earth’s animals and the communities they lived in may be hiding a secret. Scientists, led by two from the University of Portsmouth, UK,…
Chimaeroid from Early Cretaceous reassessed in light of new data
A paper went out in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
A non-invasive procedure allows obtaining archaeological information without excavating
The research, led by members of the CaSEs research group and published in PLOS ONE, represents the first application of pXRF (portable X-ray fluorescence analysis), combined with geostatistical data analysis, to anthropogenic sediments in Africa.
Jebel Sahaba: A succession of violence rather than a prehistoric war
Since its discovery in the 1960s, the Jebel Sahaba cemetery (Nile Valley, Sudan), 13 millennia old, was considered to be one of the oldest testimonies to prehistoric warfare.
Report reveals impact of over £1.8 billion on UK science and economy by Diamond
Invite to Launch webinar of Diamond’s Socio-Economic Impact Study: 26 May 2021 14:00-16:00 BST
A plant-fungus partnership is at the origin of terrestrial vegetation
A long-standing theory assumes that terrestrial plants could only have developed by entering into a symbiosis with fungi, whereby the two organisms exchange resources in a mutually beneficial way. A new study by an international group of scientists has now…
Study reveals new details on what happened in the first microsecond of Big Bang
About 14 billion years ago, our universe changed from being a lot hotter and denser to expanding radically – a process that scientists have named ‘The Big Bang’.
Study reveals new details on what happened in the first microsecond of Big Bang
Researchers from University of Copenhagen have investigated what happened to a specific kind of plasma – the first matter ever to be present – during the first microsecond of Big Bang.
Egyptian fossil surprise: Fishes thrived in tropics in ancient warm period, despite high ocean tempe
Photos and Map The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, was a short interval of highly elevated global temperatures 56 million years ago that is frequently described as the best ancient analog for present-day climate warming. Fish are among the organisms…
Dental crowding: Ancient baleen whales had a mouth full
A strange phenomenon happens with modern blue whales, humpback whales and gray whales: they have teeth in the womb but are born toothless.
Dental crowding: Ancient baleen whales had a mouth full
CT scans of a 25 million year-old fossil skull show the Aetiocetus weltoni had both teeth and baleen, unlike modern whales
Dental crowding: Ancient baleen whales had a mouthful
CT scans of a 25 million year-old fossil skull show the Aetiocetus weltoni had both teeth and baleen, unlike modern whales
Scientists discover a new feature that distinguishes modern humans from Neanderthals
Skoltech scientists and their colleagues from Germany and the United States have analyzed the metabolomes of humans, chimpanzees, and macaques in muscle, kidney, and three different brain regions. The team discovered that the modern human genome undergoes mutation which makes…
Microscopic fossils record ancient climate conditions
Fifty-six million years ago, as the Earth’s climate warmed by five to eight degrees C, new land mammals evolved, tropical forests expanded, giant insects and reptiles appeared and the chemistry of the ocean changed. Through it all, bacteria in the…
Pandemic-era paleontology: A wayward skull, at-home fossil analyses and a first for Antarctic amphibians
Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered the first fossil evidence of an ancient amphibian, Micropholis stowi, from Antarctica. Micropholis lived in the Early Triassic, shortly after Earth’s largest mass extinction. It was previously known only from fossils in South Africa.
Pandemic paleo: A wayward skull, at-home fossil analyses, a first for Antarctic amphibians
Paleontologists had to adjust to stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many had to postpone fossil excavations, temporarily close museums and teach the next generation of fossil hunters virtually instead of in person. But at least parts of the show…
New 96 million-year-old fossil represents oldest side-necked turtle in north america
The discovery of a new species of ancient turtle is shedding light on hard-to-track reptile migrations about 100 million years ago. Pleurochayah appalachius, a bothremydid turtle adapted for coastal life, is described in a new paper published by a multi-institution…
Global pollen samples reveal vegetation rate of change
Ancient pollen samples and a new statistical approach may shed light on the global rate of change of vegetation and eventually on how much climate change and humans have played a part in altering landscapes, according to an international team…
Palaeontology: Ancient turtle from Texas yields evolutionary insights
The discovery of the oldest known North American species of side-necked turtle — turtles that withdraw their necks sideways into their shells when threatened — is reported in Scientific Reports this week. The findings suggest that side-necked turtles may have…
How a small fish coped with being isolated from the sea
The last ice age ended almost 12 000 years ago in Norway. The land rebounded slowly as the weight of the ice disappeared and the land uplift caused many bays to become narrower and form lakes.
How a small fish coped with being isolated from the sea
12000-year-old fish bones shed light on evolutionary processes.