Paleontology

Paleontology

The big fish that went away . . .

Fossils found near Charleston, S.C., suggest that an extinct species of billfish related to today's swordfish and marlin would easily exceed the lengths documented for world-record specimens of those oft-sought sports fish.

Paleontology

Dino Dwarf: Island living may have led to ancient downsizing

Fossils unearthed at a German quarry hint that members of one species of dinosaur that lived in the region about 152 million years ago evolved to be abnormally small because of the constraints of its island ecosystem.

Paleontology

Irish elk survived after ice age ended

New fossil finds indicate that the so-called Irish elk, previously thought to have died out at the end of the last ice age, survived in some spots for several millennia more.

Paleontology

Fossil birds sport a new kind of feather

Two fossil specimens of a primitive, starling-size bird that lived about 125 million years ago have tail feathers that may hold the clues to how feathers originated.

Paleontology

Early Bird: Fossil features hint at go-get-’em hatchlings

A well-preserved, 121-million-year-old fossilized bird embryo has several features that suggest that the species' young could move about and feed themselves very soon after they hatched.

Paleontology

Big Gulp? Neck ribs may have given aquatic beast unique feeding style

The fossilized neck bones of a 230-million-year-old sea creature have features suggesting that the animal's snakelike throat could flare open and create suction to pull in prey.

Paleontology

Growth Spurt: Teenage tyrannosaurs packed on the pounds

Detailed analyses of tyrannosaur fossils suggest that the creatures experienced an extended growth spurt during adolescence.

Paleontology

Fossil find extends ants’ ancient lineage

The recently described, 92-million-year-old fossil of a primitive worker ant pushes back the first record of its particular subfamily by 40 million years, forcing researchers to reevaluate their ideas about the early evolution of these insects.

Paleontology

Bird Brain? Cranial scan of fossil hints at flight capability

Detailed computerized tomography scans of the fossilized braincase of an Archaeopteryx show that several flight-related regions of the feathered creature's brain were highly developed.

Paleontology

Early life forms had a modular structure

Fossils recently discovered in northeastern Newfoundland reveal that some of Earth's earliest large organisms had modular body plans whose main architectural element was a branching, frondlike structure.

Paleontology

Chipmunks in Wisconsin toughed out ice age

Analyses of DNA from chipmunks in parts of the U.S. Midwest hint that some populations of the creatures stayed in northern refuges rather than migrating south at the beginning of the last ice age.

Paleontology

Neck Bones on the Menu: Fossil vertebrae show species interaction

Three fossil neck bones from an ancient flying reptile—one of them with the broken tip of a tooth embedded in it—indicate that the winged creatures occasionally fell victim to meat eaters.