Paleontology

Ancient Ape Was Just the Size of a House Cat

12.5 million-year-old teeth found in Kenya belonged to a species that ate leaves, but was likely outcompeted by an explosion of monkeys

Assortment of bird eggs and a fossil theropod egg

Dinosaurs May Have Given Birds Their Colorful, Speckled Eggs

A new analysis of fossilized eggshells suggests diversely patterned eggs evolved much earlier than previously believed

Khoikhoi of South Africa dismantling their huts, preparing to move to new pastures—aquatint by Samuel Daniell (1805). Pastoralism has a rich history in Africa, spreading from the Saharan region to East Africa and then across the continent.

Ritual Cemeteries—For Cows and Then Humans—Plot Pastoralist Expansion Across Africa

As early herders spread across northern and then eastern Africa, the communities erected monumental graves which may have served as social gathering points

The 28 footprints capture an early reptile-like creature's unusual diagonal gait

The Grand Canyon’s Oldest Footprints Are 310 Million Years Old

Researcher Stephen Rowland says the creature that left the tracks was "doing a funny little side-walking step, line-dance kind of thing"

This Little Fish Was Nomming on Flesh 150 Million Years Ago

The Jurassic-era species found in southern Germany had jaws and teeth like a piranha and likely nipped off the fins of other fish

A Case of Mistaken Sea Monster Identity

Re-analysis of Kansas fossils show they come from a newborn Tylosaurus, which were born without their tell-tale toothy snouts

The Diplodocus dinosaurs were some of the largest to walk the planet.

Tiny Skull Illuminates the Lives of Giant Dinosaurs

The skull of a juvenile <i>Diplodocus</i> is one of the youngest of these dinosaurs ever found

Dynamoterror was about 30 feet long, hunting prey during the Late Cretaceous.

Newly Discovered Tyrant Dinosaur Stalked Ancient New Mexico

The <i>Dynamoterror</i>, a relative of <i>Tyrannosaurs rex</i>, lived millions of years before other known species of tyrannosaur

Comparison of Modern Human and Neanderthal skulls from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Ancient Teeth With Neanderthal Features Reveal New Chapters of Human Evolution

The 450,000-year-old teeth, discovered on the Italian Peninsula, are helping anthropologists piece together the hominid family tree

New Fossil Dubbed 'Giant Thunderclap at Dawn' Shows How Big Dinos Went From Two Legs to Four

A new species discovered in South Africa shows how dinosaurs went from bipedal beasts to four-legged giants like brontosaurus

Researchers first discovered Dickinsonia fossils back in 1946.

The World's Earliest Known Animal May Have Been a Blob-Like Undersea Creature

Traces of fat found on a 558-million-year-old fossil suggest <em>Dickinsonia</em> was an animal rather than fungus, plant or single-celled protozoa

A photograph of the fossil turtle Eorhynchochelys sinensis, which lived about 228 million years ago and sported a beak but no shell.

Newly Discovered Turtle Ancestors Chomped With Beaks But Bore No Shells

A 228-million-year-old fossil fills gaps in the tale of turtle evolution—and raises a few questions

Two-horned Diceratherium rhinos

When Rhinos Once Roamed in Washington State

Road-tripping through prehistoric times on the West Coast

Caelestiventus hanseni.

Rare Desert Pterosaur Fossil Discovered in Utah

The rare Triassic fossil is the most complete early pterosaur ever found, and gives new insight into the evolution of the first flying vertebrates

An Ediacaran fossil from the National Earth Science Museum, Namibia.

Mysterious, Plant-Like Fossil May Have Been One of the Earliest Animals

New research suggests that soft-bodied organisms called Ediacarans may have been related to an animal of the Cambrian era

More like not-so-great white shark. Like today's sharks, prehistoric sharks sported a vast array of body sizes, shapes, and ornamentations.

Megalodon Wasn't the Only Impressive Shark in the Prehistoric Seas

No longer thought of as "living fossils," ancient sharks sported a crazy amount of variety

An artist's rendering of the Lingwu Amazing Dragon

‘Amazing Dragon’ Fossils Unearthed in China Rewrite Story of Long-Necked Dinosaurs

The dino family emerged 15 million years earlier than previously thought

Study Suggests Neanderthals Sparked Their Own Fire

Hand-axe wear suggests our hominid cousins used flint and pyrite to unleash Prometheus' gift

The display will eventually yield a formidable and fully-formed beast standing at about 15 feet tall and 40 feet long, poised to glut on the body of an unlucky Triceratops.

Homecoming King: The Nation’s T. rex Returns to the Smithsonian

The fully assembled skeleton will be displayed for the first time at the National Museum of Natural History in June 2019.

Oldest Stone Tools Outside Africa Unearthed in China

Six artifacts date to 2.1 million years ago, potentially rewriting what we know about which species led the migration out of Africa

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