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Fossils

"I’ve never lost the wonder," says Hans-Dieter Sues (above). "To be the first human to find and touch an extinct creature is a singular moment that cannot be easily put into words."

Beyond Dinosaurs: The Secrets of Earth's Past

How Do Paleontologists Find Fossils?

Smithsonian’s Hans-Dieter Sues, who has collected fossil vertebrates in the U.S. and around the world shares some of his tips

The prehistoric school seems to adhere to the laws of attraction and repulsion, with members maintaining enough distance between neighbors without straying too far from the group

Cool Finds

Did This Fossil Freeze a Swimming School of Fish in Time?

The 50-million-year-old slab of limestone suggests that fish have been swimming in unison for far longer than previously realized

Do fungi like this Penicillium mold, which produces the the antibiotic penicillin, trace their origins to an ancestor that lived a billion years ago?

Fossil Discovery Pushes Back the Origin of Fungi by Half a Billion Years

Ancient fungus helps rewrite what we know about evolution and the tree of life

T. rex moves in for the kill on a doomed Triceratops—an herbivore that existed mainly on a diet of palm fronds.

Beyond Dinosaurs: The Secrets of Earth's Past

The ‘Nation’s T. Rex’ Prepares to Make Its Smithsonian Debut

In a new exhibit about “deep time” at the National Museum of Natural History, T. rex is still the king

For the First Time, Researchers Find Color Red Preserved in Fossil

The fossilized rodent, dubbed ‘mighty mouse’, is the first to show chemical traces of a red pigment in soft tissue

Reconstructed color patterns of Sinosauropteryx based on the pigmentation of fossil plumage. The dinosaur is portrayed in the predicted open habitat in which it lived around the Jehol lakes, preying on the lizard Dalinghosaurus.

The Colors of Dinosaurs Open a New Window to Study the Past

Old fossils and new technology are coloring in life’s prehistoric palette

The study's authors outline three possible scenarios for the unusual fossil's formation

Cool Finds

This 100-Million-Year-Old Squid Relative Was Entrapped in Amber

The ancient ammonite was preserved alongside the remains of at least 40 other marine and terrestrial creatures

White-throated rail.

How Evolution Brought a Flightless Bird Back From Extinction

Fossil remains offer rare evidence of a phenomenon known as ‘iterative evolution’

An artist's rendering of how Suskityrannus hazelae may have looked.

When Tyrannosaurs Were Tiny

A new study describes an early T. rex relative that stood about three feet tall and weighed no more than 90 pounds

A new study identifies the remains of two previously mislabeled species: a short-faced bear and wolf-like carnivore

Cool Finds

Divers Find Ice Age Megafauna Remains in Underwater Mexican Cave

The animals include at least seven short-faced bears and one or two wolf-like carnivores

The 8.5-millimeter millipede had five-unit compound eyes and an unusually hairless rear end

Cool Finds

This Petite, 99-Million-Year-Old Millipede Was Entrapped in Amber

The diminutive arthropod represents not only a previously unknown species, but an entirely separate Callipodida suborder

A Tibetan monk came across this mandible in 1980 while praying in the Baishya Karst Cave.

Denisovan Fossil Is Identified Outside Siberia for the First Time

A jawbone discovered in a cave on the Tibetan Plateau shines new light on several mysteries that had surrounded the ancient hominins

The fossil Eremotherium was from south Georgia. And it was an important one, since it firmly establish the presence of the giant ground sloth, which had previously been unknown in the United States.

A Giant Sloth Mystery Brought Me Home to Georgia

A new book from former Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough describes his journey into the collections in search of connections to his heritage

Artistic reconstruction of Callichimaera perplexa, the "strangest crab that has ever lived."

Fossil Discovery Has Scientists Questioning: What Makes a Crab a Crab?

The newly described C. perplexa seems to have retained larval features into adulthood

An artist's rendering of the extinct hypercarnivore

This Toothy Carnivore Was Bigger Than a Polar Bear

Some 22 million years ago, the apex predator ruled the forests of Africa and dined on the ancestors of hippopotamuses and elephants

New Research

New Analysis of Depression-Era Fossil Hunt Shows Texas Coast Was Once a ‘Serengeti’

Over 11 million years ago, the area was full of animals

The 13 bones and teeth were found in a cave on the island of Luzon

Cool Finds

A New Human Ancestor Species Was Discovered in the Philippines

‘Homo luzonensis’ boasted an eclectic mix of features comparable different species of hominins

Conditions were ripe for fossil-making when this tiny dinosaur walked through the mud some 120 million years ago. In the lower right corner of this image, you can even see splash mark from a rain droplet.

‘Exquisitely Preserved’ Skin Impressions Found in Dinosaur Footprints

The fossils were so well-preserved that the researchers could even see marks left by raindrops

Artistic reconstruction of two individuals of Peregocetus, one standing along the rocky shore of nowadays Peru and the other preying upon fish. The presence of a tail fluke remains hypothetical.

How Did Whales Reach the Americas? A Four-Legged Fossil Offers New Clues

Dubbed Peregocetus pacificus, the newly-described species was adapted to life both in and out of the water

New Research

New Type of Arctic Dinosaur Discovered in Alaska

The duck-billed, crested lambeosaurine shows that a diverse array of dinos lived in the warmer but still harsh Arctic 70 million years ago

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