Paleontologists | smithsonianmag.comhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/paleontologists/RSS feed for PaleontologistsenWed, 16 Sep 2026 18:45:02 +0000A 66-Million-Year-Old Feather Trapped in Dinosaur Poop Might Help Explain Why Some Birds Survived Mass Extinctionhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-66-million-year-old-feather-trapped-in-dinosaur-poop-might-help-explain-why-some-birds-survived-mass-extinction-180989496/Discovered in Montana in 2016, the cherry-size coprolite contains feathers, bones and evidence of the bird's last meal before the creature was eaten by a theropodWed, 16 Sep 2026 18:45:02 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-66-million-year-old-feather-trapped-in-dinosaur-poop-might-help-explain-why-some-birds-survived-mass-extinction-180989496/These Four Giant Dinosaur Footprints Discovered in North Dakota Might Represent the First Trackway Made by an Adult T. Rex Ever Foundhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-four-giant-dinosaur-footprints-discovered-in-north-dakota-might-represent-the-first-trackway-made-by-an-adult-t-rex-ever-found-180989481/A high school teacher first spotted the remarkable trail while volunteering on a paleontological dig. Researchers suspect a hulking, full-grown dinosaur marched through the then-swampy landscape roughly 66.5 million years agoTue, 15 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-four-giant-dinosaur-footprints-discovered-in-north-dakota-might-represent-the-first-trackway-made-by-an-adult-t-rex-ever-found-180989481/For Decades, Scientists Thought an 'American Cheetah' Once Roamed North America. Turns Out the Extinct Cat Wasn't a Cheetahhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/for-decades-scientists-thought-an-american-cheetah-once-roamed-north-america-ancient-turns-out-the-extinct-cat-wasnt-a-cheetah-180989465/Ancient DNA from fossils found in Wyoming and Canada's Yukon Territory suggests the wild cat more closely resembled modern pumas than modern cheetahsFri, 11 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/for-decades-scientists-thought-an-american-cheetah-once-roamed-north-america-ancient-turns-out-the-extinct-cat-wasnt-a-cheetah-180989465/To Researchers' Surprise, This Giant Dinosaur Laid Eggs in a Cold Climatehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/to-researchers-surprise-this-giant-dinosaur-laid-eggs-in-a-cold-climate-180989474/A new study suggests that titanosaurs used rotting vegetation to keep their eggs warm much like crocodiles do todayWed, 09 Sep 2026 20:29:56 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/to-researchers-surprise-this-giant-dinosaur-laid-eggs-in-a-cold-climate-180989474/This Ancient Insect Had 24 Legs—and Could Help Explain How the Ancestors of Modern-Day Bugs Took Over the Landhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-ancient-insect-had-24-legs-and-could-help-explain-how-the-ancestors-of-modern-day-bugs-took-over-the-land-180989420/A previously undescribed critter that lived 324 million years ago appears to have been a transitional species that lived between land and sea. It could help researchers fill an 80-million-year gap in the fossil record of how crustaceans evolved into insectsTue, 01 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-ancient-insect-had-24-legs-and-could-help-explain-how-the-ancestors-of-modern-day-bugs-took-over-the-land-180989420/An 11-Year-Old Boy in a Small Midwestern Town Just Became the Guinness World Record Holder for Being the Youngest Museum Curatorhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/an-11-year-old-boy-in-an-illinois-small-town-just-became-the-guinness-world-record-holder-for-being-the-youngest-museum-curator-180989313/Four years after Anderson Taylor began collecting specimens, he opened the Cambridge Natural History Museum in Cambridge, Illinois, offering school tours and attracting visitors from across the regionTue, 11 Aug 2026 17:53:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/an-11-year-old-boy-in-an-illinois-small-town-just-became-the-guinness-world-record-holder-for-being-the-youngest-museum-curator-180989313/