Paleontology

  1. Paleontology

    This giant marsupial was a seasonal migrant

    The giant, extinct marsupial Diprotodon optatum migrated seasonally, the first marsupial shown to do so.

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  2. Paleontology

    Shhhh! Some plant-eating dinos snacked on crunchy critters

    Scientists studying dinosaur poop found that some duck-billed dinos cheated on their vegetarian diets by snacking on crustaceans.

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  3. Animals

    3-D scans of fossils suggest new fish family tree

    Analysis of specimens from China implies ray-finned fishes evolved later than previously thought.

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  4. Paleontology

    Like sea stars, ancient echinoderms nibbled with tiny tube feet

    An ancient echinoderm fossil preserves evidence of tube feet like those found on today’s sea stars.

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  5. Paleontology

    Woolly rhinos may have grown strange extra ribs before going extinct

    Ribs attached to neck bones could have signaled trouble for woolly rhinos, a new study suggests.

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  6. Paleontology

    This ancient sea worm sported a crowd of ‘claws’ around its mouth

    A newly discovered species of arrow worm that lived over half a billion years ago had about twice as many head spines as its modern kin.

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  7. Anthropology

    Infant ape’s tiny skull could have a big impact on ape evolution

    Fossil comes from a lineage that had ties to the ancestor of modern apes and humans, researchers argue.

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  8. Animals

    Fossil find suggests this ancient reptile lurked on land, not in the water

    An exquisitely preserved fossil shows that an ancient armored reptile called Eusaurosphargis dalsassoi wasn’t aquatic, as scientists had suspected.

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  9. Paleontology

    Giant armored dinosaur may have cloaked itself in camouflage

    An armored dinosaur the size of a Honda Civic also wore countershading camouflage, a chemical analysis of its skin suggests.

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  10. Paleontology

    New fossils shake up history of amphibians with no legs

    The oldest near-relative of today’s snake-shaped caecilians could have an unexpected backstory.

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  11. Paleontology

    Ancient attack marks show ocean predators got scarier

    Killer snails and other ocean predators that drill through shells have grown bigger over evolutionary time.

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  12. Paleontology

    New dinosaur resurrects a demon from Ghostbusters

    The most complete skeleton of an ankylosaur shows an armored, club-tailed dinosaur with a head like a Ghostbusters demon.

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