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Fossils

Newly discovered fossils indicate the Asio ecuadoriensis owl hunted and ate various smaller species of owl.

This Giant Prehistoric Owl Was an Actual Cannibal

Fossils found in the Ecuadorian Andes suggest the creature was a formidable predator

A plant press used by researchers in the Hengduan Mountains

How Ancient Monsoons and Tectonic Shifts Shaped This Flowering Mountain Hotspot

The stunning biodiversity of alpine plants in China’s Hengduan Mountains can be traced back 30 million years, according to a new study

The Crocodylus checchiai skull analyzed in the new paper came from an approximately 10-foot-long reptile.

New Research

New Evidence Suggests Ancient Crocodiles Swam From Africa to America

The prehistoric reptiles would have gotten some help from ocean currents

Reconstruction of Batrachopus trackmaker from the Lower Cretaceous Jinju Formation of South Korea

New Research

Fossil Footprints Suggest Ancient Crocodile Walked on Two Legs

The lumbering crocodylomorph lived during the early Cretaceous period, about 106 million years ago

A great white shark pictured off the coast of Mexico in 2006

Prehistoric Great White Shark Nursery Discovered in Chile

Young sharks grew up here millions of years ago, scientists say

An artist's rendering shows the armored dinosaur Borealopelta markmitchelli eating ferns, which new research shows made up the majority of its diet.

New Research

Exquisitely Preserved ‘Mona Lisa’ of Dinosaur Fossils Reveals Prehistoric Creature’s Last Meal

Fossil plant matter found in the gut of the exquisitely preserved herbivore reveals its diet and even the season of its death

As erosion reshapes England’s Jurassic Coast, ancient fossils are revealed.

Virtual Travel

Why the Jurassic Coast Is One of the Best Fossil-Collecting Sites on Earth

Along a famed stretch of English coastline, amateurs and professionals collect 200-million-year-old treasures before they are reclaimed by the waves

Scientists discovered the remains of some 60 mammoths during excavations for a new airport in Mexico.

Remains of 60 Mammoths Discovered in Mexico

Archaeologists found the trove of bones just six miles from recently discovered human-made ‘mammoth traps’

An artist’s rendering of what an elaphrosaur may have looked like.

Rare ‘Light-Footed’ Dinosaur Discovered in Australia for the First Time

A single vertebra spotted by a dig volunteer was identified as a strange, slender-necked dinosaur called an elaphrosaur

The full fossil with the body of the squid on the left and the fish to the right.

Cool Finds

200-Million-Year-Old Fossil Captures Squid Viciously Entangled With Its Prey

The specimen may be the earliest known example of a squid-like creature on the attack

Peale’s mastodon returns to the U.S. as part of this year's upcoming exhibition “Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Alexander von Humboldt

The Story of Charles Willson Peale’s Massive Mastodon

When a European intellectual snubbed the U.S., the well-known artist excavated the giant fossil as evidence of the new Republic’s strength and power

The Fox tunnel is one of only two underground facilities dedicated exclusively to the scientific study of permafrost where a visitor can actually walk around inside the frozen earth.

In a Tunnel Beneath Alaska, Scientists Race to Understand Disappearing Permafrost

What lies inside the icy cavern seems more and more like a captive, rare animal, an Earth form that might soon be lost

Adalatherium hui's strange teeth made it especially difficult to classify.

New Research

66-Million-Year-Old ‘Crazy Beast’ Finds a Taxonomical Home

The opossum-sized mammal lived in Madagascar at the end of the age of the dinosaurs

An artist's reconstruction of Spinosaurus, showing a paddle-like tail that would have helped it swim.

Groundbreaking Fossil Suggests Spinosaurus Is First Known Swimming Dinosaur

Its paddle-like tail, unearthed in Morocco, suggests the Cretaceous carnivore ventured into the water to hunt

An artist's rendering of a fossil frog found on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Cool Finds

Paleontologists Find Antarctica’s First Frog Fossil

The find could help pin down when the South Pole turned icy

Cricosaurus suevicus is an ancient relative of modern crocodiles that spent its life in the ocean.

New Research

Like Dolphins and Whales, Ancient Crocodiles Evolved to Spend Their Time at Sea

Researchers tracked changes in the crocodilian creatures’ inner ears to learn how they moved into the sea

Researchers recently scanned some of the oldest dinosaur embryos in the world

Digital Reconstructions Reveal 200-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Embryo’s Unusual Teeth

New scans suggest unhatched dinosaurs reabsorbed a set of teeth during development

Paleontologists crossing the Rio Yurúa in Amazonian Perú, with the Santa Rosa fossil site in the background.

More Than 30 Million Years Ago, Monkeys Rafted Across the Atlantic to South America

Fossil teeth uncovered in Peru reveal that an extinct family of primates, thought to have lived only in Africa, made it across the ocean

Sometimes, love lasts a lifetime—and then some.

Researchers Find Two Fornicating Flies Enshrined in 41-Million-Year-Old Amber

A treasure trove of new fossils unearthed in Australia reveals some raunchily-positioned bugs

This illustration is an artist's interpretation of what a toothed pterosaur may have looked like 100 million years ago.

Four New Species of Prehistoric Flying Reptiles Unearthed in Morocco

These flying reptiles patrolled the African skies some 100 million years ago

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