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Fossils

New research suggests early humans hunted and ate mammoths, as well as elk and bison, to a lower degree.

An Ice Age Infant’s Bones Reveal Early Americans Ate Woolly Mammoths as a Protein Staple

New research examines chemical signatures to determine the diet of a prehistoric boy and his mother, suggesting the Clovis people relied on mammoths for a large portion of their menu

The Stegosaurus named Apex is on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

You Can Now See Apex, the World’s Most Expensive Dinosaur Fossil, on Display at a New York City Museum

The largest and most complete Stegosaurus specimen sold for a record-setting price in July, and it is currently on loan to the American Museum of Natural History for four years

An artist's depiction of two sauropodomorphs in a wet Early Jurassic environment, eating the newly evolved plants.

The Secret to the Rise of Dinosaurs Could Be Hidden in an Unlikely Place: Their Poop

In a new study, scientists examined bromalites, including fossilized feces and vomit, to reveal prehistoric diets and reconstruct the timeline of how dinosaurs established dominion over the world

Researchers hypothesize that this footprint was made by a member of the hominin species Paranthropus boisei.

Footprints Reveal Two Early Human Species Walked the Same Lakeshore in Kenya 1.5 Million Years Ago

A new, “mind-blowing” discovery reveals evidence that Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei stepped at the same site within days—or hours—of each other

A sculptor's rendering of "Lucy," Australopithecus afarensis, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science on August 28, 2007.

What ‘Lucy,’ One of the World’s Most Important Fossils, Has Taught Scientists in the 50 Years Since Her Discovery

The famous early human is still providing lessons to anthropologists about prehistoric Earth and its inhabitants

An illustration of two Skiphosoura bavarica in flight shows how the reptiles might have appeared in Jurassic skies.

Paleontologists Discover a New Pterosaur, Filling a Key Gap on the Evolutionary Timeline for These Flying Reptiles

Revealed by a German fossil, the newly described species sheds light on questions that scientists have been puzzling over for nearly two centuries

Manatees have rebounded since the 1970s but still face myriad threats.

Archaeologists Piece Together the Origin Story of Florida’s Manatees, Revealing They Were Once Tourists

A new study suggests manatees weren’t permanent residents in the Sunshine State until around the 20th century, drawn in by a warming climate and construction of power plants

This rock contains the first of the newly discovered fossils: It is a portion of a fossil lake shore that preserves very fine details of ripples produced by waves, on which a small reptile left behind footprints of its legs and tail.

Cool Finds

Italian Hiker Discovers Animal Tracks From a Time Before Dinosaurs, Hinting at a Prehistoric Ecosystem

Revealed by melting snow in the Alps, the imprints in rock were left by reptiles and amphibians during the Permian period, which ended with the world’s largest mass extinction

The cub belongs to the species, Homotherium latidens, and was unearthed from the Badyarikha River in Yakutia, Siberia.

A 35,000-Year-Old Saber-Toothed Cub Was Unearthed in Siberia—and It Still Had Its Whiskers and Claws

The frozen kitten, discovered in 2020, has stunned scientists with its remarkably well-preserved body

A 3D reconstruction of the fossil skull of a youth of an early Homo species from Dmanisi, Georgia. The green, orange and red colors represent the preserved teeth, while the blue represent missing ones and the purple teeth have not been recovered.

New Research

These Fossil Teeth From an 11-Year-Old Reveal Clues to Why Humans Developed an Unusually Long Childhood

Roughly 1.77-million-year-old teeth show that slow development in hominids may have had an earlier start than previously thought, according to a new study

By examining the fossils of ancient creatures, scientists are able to see the origins of features that make mammals different from other animals.

How to Make a Mammal in Nine Evolutionary Steps

From the formation of inner ear bones to the rise of hair to cover our bodies, these developments made us distinct from other animals

This fragment of a terror bird’s left tibiotarsus, a lower leg bone in birds equivalent to that of a human tibia or shin bone, dates to around 12 million years ago during the Miocene epoch.

New Research

Rare ‘Terror Bird’ Fossil Found in Colombia Reveals the Enormous Size of a Prehistoric Predator

The bone, described two decades after its discovery, suggests the species might have grown up to 20 percent bigger than other terror birds

Silesaurids—including Silesaurus opolensis (pictured above) and the newly described fossil from Brazil (not pictured)—are usually considered non-dinosaurs. Some researchers are suggesting they might be more closely related to certain dinosaurs than previously thought.

A Rare Triassic Fossil Found in Brazil Could Shed Light on the Origin of Dinosaurs

The 237-million-year-old remains are among the oldest silesaurid fossils ever found, adding to paleontologists’ understanding of this still-mysterious group of prehistoric reptiles

The arthropod fossil used to describe a new species (left) and CT scans of the specimen (right)

Cool Finds

Scientists Reveal Rare 450-Million-Year-Old Arthropod Fossil Preserved in Glittering Fool’s Gold

The critter found in New York represents a new, extinct species of arthropod that could shed light on the evolution of today’s insects, crustaceans and spiders

An artist depicts the tadpole and frog individuals of the Notobatrachus degiustoi species. The oldest known tadpole fossil, which belongs to this species, was found in the Patagonia region of Argentina.

New Research

Scientists Unearth the Oldest Tadpole Fossil Ever Found, and It’s a 161-Million-Year-Old ‘Giant’

Found in a rock in Argentina, the six-inch-long tadpole sheds light on the history of frog metamorphosis

The first dinosaur fossils discovered in Hong Kong went on display last week.

Cool Finds

Paleontologists Discover Dinosaur Fossils in Hong Kong for the First Time

The metropolis is an important center for paleontological research, but until now, fossils of plants and fish were the only remains of dinosaur-era life found there

Allosaurus

This Captivating Guide Uncovers the History and Mystery of Dinosaurs in 50 Fossils

A paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London chronicles the age of the famous and fascinating massive reptiles

A 2007 illustration of Arthropleura, the largest known arthropod, which grew nearly as large as a car. New research suggests previous visualizations of the animal's head were incorrect.

Fossils Reveal the Face of an Extinct Nine-Foot-Long ‘Millipede,’ the Largest Arthropod to Ever Live

Scientists in France solved the evolutionary mystery of this prehistoric monster, which resembles both the centipedes and millipedes of today

The free museum is located in Williams, Arizona, about an hour south of the Grand Canyon.

Admire the World’s Largest Collection of Fossilized Poop at the New ‘Poozeum’ in Arizona

Owner George Frandsen has some 8,000 coprolites from dinosaurs, sharks and other creatures

Massive columns and karst formations decorate the vast chamber of Cenote Xulo.

Divers in Mexico’s Underwater Caves Get a Glimpse of Rarely Seen Artifacts, Fossils and Human Remains

Cenotes in the Yucatán Peninsula are time capsules preserving remnants of Maya culture and fossils of extinct megafauna

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