A new look at the diets of ancient African hominids shows a “game changer” occurred about 3.5 million years ago when some members added grasses or sedges to their menus, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder. High-tech tests on tooth enamel by researchers indicate that prior to about 4 … Read more
Researchers Barry W. M. van Bakel from Utrecht University and Àlex Ossó, an independent enthusiast of ancient crustaceans, have unearthed a remarkable fossil claw belonging to what is now recognized as the largest known crab species in history. Their findings, documented in the prestigious pages of the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, shed … Read more
A 30 million year-old fossil whale may not be the heaviest animal of all time after all, according to a new analysis by paleontologists at UC Davis and the Smithsonian Institution. The new analysis puts Perucetus colossus back in the same weight range as modern whales and smaller than the largest blue whales ever recorded. … Read more
After decades of puzzling researchers, a 280-million-year-old fossil known as Tridentinosaurus antiquus has been revealed, in part, to be a forgery, casting doubt on its significance for understanding early reptile evolution. Led by Dr. Valentina Rossi of University College Cork, Ireland (UCC), a team of scientists has uncovered the truth behind this enigmatic specimen, cautioning … Read more
The evolution of bipedalism in fossil humans can be detected using a key feature of the skull—a claim that was previously contested but now has been further validated by researchers at Stony Brook University and The University of Texas at Austin. Compared with other primates, the large hole at the base of the human skull … Read more
In the fossil record, trees typically are preserved with only their trunks. They don’t usually include any leaves to show what their canopies and overall forms may have looked like. But now, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology describe fossilized trees from New Brunswick, Canada with a surprising and unique three-dimensional crown shape. “The … Read more
Vertebrates are defined as all animals that possess a vertebral column, or backbone. Most living vertebrates also possess jaws, teeth and paired fins or limbs. Fossils of the earliest vertebrates help us understand not only how these features originated, but also how they evolved and diversified over time. Our study, published in Royal Society Open Science, … Read more
Humans and our closest relatives, living apes, display a remarkable diversity of types of locomotion—from walking upright on two legs to climbing in trees and walking using all four limbs. While scientists have long been intrigued by the question of how humans’ bipedal stance and movement evolved from a quadrupedal ancestor, neither past studies nor … Read more
An international research team has retraced the astonishing lifetime journey of an Arctic woolly mammoth, which covered enough of the Alaska landscape during its 28 years to almost circle the Earth twice. Scientists gathered unprecedented details of its life through analysis of a 17,000-year-old fossil from the University of Alaska Museum of the North. By … Read more
The unique underwater kelp forests that line the Pacific Coast support a varied ecosystem that was thought to have evolved along with the kelp over the past 14 million years. But a new study shows that kelp flourished off the Northwest Coast more than 32 million years ago, long before the appearance of modern groups … Read more
In a groundbreaking revelation, the earliest evidence of photosynthetic structures has emerged within a collection of microfossils dating back a staggering 1.75 billion years, as detailed in a recent Nature paper. This discovery offers a crucial glimpse into the evolutionary history of oxygenic photosynthesis. Oxygenic photosynthesis, a process unique to cyanobacteria and certain eukaryotic organelles, … Read more
An international research team has examined unusual skeletal structures of various European bird fossils from the Eocene. The bone surfaces of the approximately 40- to 50-million-year-old cervical vertebrae show conspicuous tubercles, whose origin as yet remained elusive. In their study, recently published in the Journal of Anatomy, the scientists conclude on the basis of micro-computed … Read more
A groundbreaking study published on Nov. 22, 2023, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Beniamino Mecozzi and colleagues from Sapienza University of Rome reveals fascinating details about the origin and dispersal of modern hippos in Europe. The study focuses on the hippopotamus species Hippopotamus amphibius, which evolved from African ancestors during the Quaternary period—a … Read more
Insects, those delicate and soft-bodied creatures, pose a significant challenge for preservation in the fossil record. Typically, when we find fossils of ancient insects, it’s often their wings that have endured the test of time. Bodies, if present, are often fragmented, making it a puzzle for scientists to study them effectively. To uncover the secrets … Read more
A recent study has unveiled fascinating insights into the evolution of vertebrates’ brain protection mechanisms, thanks to the discovery of a 455-million-year-old fossil fish. Published in Nature on September 20, the research was a collaborative effort between the University of Birmingham, Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, Netherlands, and the Natural History Museum. The study centers … Read more
In a recent study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, a team of international researchers has unveiled an astonishing discovery: the exquisitely preserved fossil of a 265-million-year-old creature known as Pampaphoneus biccai. This remarkable find was made in the rural area of São Gabriel, Southern Brazil. The fossil is nothing short of … Read more
In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists have unveiled a missing piece of the evolutionary puzzle hidden within 130-million-year-old rock formations. This remarkable revelation comes as the result of a global collaborative effort, with the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Sciences playing a vital role. While vertebrates are now a prominent feature of contemporary deep-sea ecosystems, the … Read more
The fossil in question belongs to an oviraptorosaur, a group of bird-like theropod dinosaurs that thrived during the Cretaceous Period, the last era of the Mesozoic Era, spanning from 145 to 66 million years ago. This remarkable specimen was unearthed from rocks dating back approximately 70 million years in Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, in southern … Read more
A recent study conducted by Dr. Thomas A. Stidham, Dr. LI Zhiheng from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Jingmai O’Connor from the Field Museum of Natural History in the U.S. has shed light on the historical presence of ravens in Beijing’s western region. These … Read more
A groundbreaking study published recently delved into 430,000-year-old fossils found in northern Spain, shedding light on the evolution of the human body’s size and shape. The research, led by anthropologist Rolf Quam from Binghamton University, involved an international team studying the human fossil collection from Sima de los Huesos, a site with the world’s largest … Read more