Paleontology

Paleontology

Here’s how hefty dinosaurs sat on their eggs without crushing them

Some heavier dinos had a strategy to keep eggs warm without crushing them: sit in an opening in the middle of the clutch instead of on top of them.

Animals

This ancient fowl bit like a dinosaur and pecked like a bird

A new fossil of Ichthyornis dispar helped scientists create a 3-D reconstruction of the ancient bird’s skull, shedding light on early bird evolution.

Animals

These seals haven’t lost their land ancestors’ hunting ways

Clawed pawlike forelimbs help true seals hunt like their land-dwelling ancestors.

Paleontology

Colorful moth wings date back to the dinosaur era

Microscopic structures that scatter light to give color to the wings of modern butterflies and moths date back almost 200 million years.

Life

Fossils sparked Charles Darwin’s imagination

Darwin’s Fossils recounts how finding extinct species in South America helped Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution.

Paleontology

This ancient lizard may have watched the world through four eyes

A lizard that lived 50 million years ago had both a third and a fourth eye.

Paleontology

Readers debate dinosaur designation and more

Readers had questions about the dino family tree and Venus' habitability.

Paleontology

New fossils are redefining what makes a dinosaur

While some researchers question what characteristics define the dinosaurs, others are uprooting the dino family tree altogether.

Paleontology

Fossil footprints may put lizards on two feet 110 million years ago

Fossilized footprints found in South Korea could be the earliest evidence of two-legged running in lizards.

Paleontology

This ancient creature looks like a spider with a tail

A newly discovered ancient creature looks like a spider and has silk spinners and spidery male sex organs.

Paleontology

Tiny scales in ancient lagoon may be the first fossil evidence of the moth-butterfly line

Fancy liquid-sipper mouthparts might have evolved before the great burst of flower evolution

Animals

Ticks had a taste for dinosaur blood

A tick found trapped in amber is evidence the bloodsuckers preyed on feathered dinosaurs, a new study says.