Paleontology

In Some Ways, Human Hands Are More Primitive Than Chimp Hands

Study suggests our common ancestor had humanlike hands

Mosasaur

14 Fun Facts About the Animals of "Jurassic World"

While the lead predator of the film might be a genetically modified fiction, these real fossil species were just as amazing and bizarre

Unearthed at the Cova Negra site in Spain, skull fragments from a Neanderthal child have telltale punctures in the right parietal region.

Ancient Carnivores Had a Taste for Neanderthal Meat

Researchers link bite marks on a Neanderthal skull to the fangs of an ancient big cat

Scientists Clash Over Stegosaurus Sexing

A new paper is causing controversy with claims that dinosaurs’ sex can be determined by their bones

Welcome back, Brontosaurus?

Back to Brontosaurus? The Dinosaur Might Deserve Its Own Genus After All

The popular name could be pulled back out of the scientific wastebasket, based on new analysis of dozens of related dinosaurs

A model of Metoposaurus algarvensis

Hundreds of Car-Sized Fossil Amphibians Found in a Mass Grave

The huge creature is related to modern-day newts, salamanders and frogs

An artist's rendering of what the Aegirocassis benmoulae looked like.

Scary Lobster-Like Fossil Was Once One of the Earth's Largest Animals

One of the earliest arthropods was giant, weird-looking—and played a big role in the course of evolutionary history

Divers Discover Graveyard Filled With Giant Lemur Skeletons

A Madagascar cave is packed with the bones of extinct species

A diverse array of trilobites ruled the seas for almost 300 million years, until they vanished at the end of the Permian period.

Vinegar-Like Acid Rain May Have Fallen During Earth’s Worst Extinction

Vanilla-flavored rocks hint at a planet scoured by intense acid rain during the Great Dying 252 million years ago

Scientists found deliberate scratching on a fossil Pseudodon, likely an engraving made by Homo erectus at Trinil in Indonesia.

Zigzags on a Shell From Java Are the Oldest Human Engravings

The early human <em>Homo erectus</em> also made the oldest known shell tools half a million years ago

Paleontologist Jack Horner served as scientific adviser on all of the films and is believed to have inspired the character of Dr. Alan Grant. Here, Horner in 1998.

The Scientist Behind "Jurassic World", Jack Horner, Breaks Down the Movie's Thrilling Trailer

We spoke with the paleontologist, who was an adviser on the <em>Jurassic Park</em> movies, about the science behind the franchise

An artists' rendition of a different species of Pentaceratops alongside a modern white rhinoceros for scale

Reexamining Fossils Revealed a New Dinosaur Species

A distinct species of Pentaceratops was hiding in a museum's fossil collection

Prehistoric cave painting of a steppe bison from Altamira, Spain

Researchers Are Examining a 9,000-Year-Old Bison Mummy

The well-mummified specimen of a steppe bison, a now-extinct species that lived in the Ice Age, has intact organs

Ten-year-old Noah Cordle visited the National Museum of Natural History on November 3 to donate a Clovis point he found in New Jersey. He and his parents (right) met with the museum's Dennis Stanford (left).

This Fifth Grader Found a 14,000-Year-Old Clovis Point, Likely Unearthed From Hurricane Sandy

Noah Cordle was boogie boarding in New Jersey when he came upon an ancient hunting tool

To be or not to be human? That's a question some scholars still feel is up for debate when it comes to Homo floresiensis.

Ten Years On, the Flores “Hobbit” Remains an Evolutionary Puzzle

Why was the 2004 unveiling of a small hominin dubbed <em>Homo floresiensis</em> such a big deal?

A carrion beetle fossil from the Cretaceous period.

Carrion Beetles Were the First Caring Parents

Flesh-eating beetles that lived 125 million years ago set the stage for modern parenting

A model of Spinosaurus, based on data published in Science today, gets rock star treatment at a National Geographic photo shoot. A feature story, including the image above, will appear in National Geographic's October issue.

Meet the Mighty Spinosaurus, the First Dinosaur Adapted for Swimming

A mysterious mustachioed man helped paleontologists piece together the life story of the long-lost, semi-aquatic “Egyptian spine lizard”

An artist's interpretation of what Hallucigenia sparsa looked like.

This Weird, 500 Million-Year-Old Spiky Worm With Legs Actually Has a Descendant

Modern-day velvet worms' jaws are repurposed former claws

An artist's rendering of Caiuajara dobruskii surrounded by its young in the ancient Brazilian desert.

New Desert-Dwelling Pterosaur Unearthed in Brazil

A massive bone bed is already yielding insights into the flying reptile's lifestyle

The Flores hobbit skull (left) compared to another H. sapiens skull recovered on the island that dates to around 4,000 years ago (right).

The Flores "Hobbit" Might Not Be a New Species at All

A long-standing debate on the original findings has been reignited

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