Paleontology

Paleontology

A hole in a Triceratops named Big John probably came from combat

The nature of the wound and signs of healing suggest that the dinosaur's bony frill was impaled by a Triceratops rival.

Paleontology

Mammals’ bodies outpaced their brains right after the dinosaurs died

Fossils show that mammals’ brains and bodies did not balloon together. The animals’ brains grew bigger later.

Paleontology

Spinosaurus’ dense bones fuel debate over whether some dinosaurs could swim

New evidence that Spinosaurus and its kin hunted underwater won't be the last word on whether some dinosaurs were swimmers.

Paleontology

A new saber-toothed mammal was among the first hypercarnivores

A 42-million-year-old jawbone with slicing teeth and a gap to fit saberlike teeth is pegged to a new species of the mysterious Machaeroidine group.

Paleontology

Scientists are arguing over the identity of a fossilized 10-armed creature

An ancient cephalopod fossil may be the oldest ancestor of octopuses, but the interpretation hinges on the identification of one feature.

Paleontology

The Age of Dinosaurs may have ended in springtime

Fossilized fish bones suggest that the massive asteroid strike at the end of the Cretaceous Period occurred during the Northern Hemisphere’s spring.

Paleontology

Fossils show a crocodile ancestor dined on a young dinosaur

The 100-million-year-old fossil of a crocodile ancestor contains the first indisputable evidence that dinosaurs were on the menu.

Paleontology

Fossils reveal what may be the oldest known case of the dino sniffles

A respiratory infection that spread to air sacs in the vertebrae of a 150-million-year-old sauropod likely led to now-fossilized bone lesions.

Paleontology

Fossils reveal that pterosaurs puked pellets

Fish scale–filled pellets found by two pterosaurs are the first fossil evidence the flying reptiles regurgitated undigestible food, like some modern birds.

Paleontology

See stunning fossils of insects, fish and plants from an ancient Australian forest

Thousands of fossils at an Australian site show a rare glimpse into the continent’s wetter history over 11 million years ago.

Paleontology

This dinosaur had a weapon shaped like an Aztec war club on its tail

The flat and spiky tail club of a newly discovered ankylosaur was unique, even for this often weirdly armored group of dinosaurs.

Paleontology

‘Penis worms’ may have been the original hermits

Soft-bodied critters called penis worms inhabited abandoned shells — a la modern-day hermit crabs — by about 500 million years ago, a study suggests.