Paleontologists

Paleontologists discovered Oda's remarkably intact fossilized skeleton in Svalbard in 2008.

Unraveling the Mysteries of Oda the Ichthyosaur

Paleontologists used X-rays to identify the 240-million-year-old creature's flattened and fossilized remains

Mammoth and elephant tusks are elongated incisors, so they're made of the same materials as other teeth.

Male Woolly Mammoths Had Testosterone-Fueled Aggressive Episodes

By studying preserved tusks, scientists suggest the mammals experienced a yearly condition known as musth, like male elephants do today

Fossils in Wales reveal a glimpse into marine life 462 million years ago. In this illustration based on the new finds, the tall sponge in the foreground is less than one inch in height.

This Trove of Fossils in Wales Is Revealing Secrets of Early Animal Life

Scientists have uncovered 170 species from around 462 million years ago, unveiling surprises about when tiny marine creatures evolved and disappeared

One of the many Edicaran biota fossils within the bounds of Nilpena Ediacara National Park, which is now open in South Australia.

The World's Newest National Park Protects 550-Million-Year-Old Fossils

The 148,000-acre Nilpena Ediacara National Park in South Australia is helping scientists unravel the mysteries of life's evolution on Earth

Many giant animals roamed the Earth after non-avian dinosaurs went extinct.

After Dinosaurs Went Extinct, These Ten Giant Creatures Roamed the Earth

Though we often think of the “terrible lizards” as behemoths, many later reptiles and mammals also grew to massive sizes

The fossil of Icaronycteris gunnelli

Paleontologists Discover 52-Million-Year-Old Bat

The fossil represents the earliest-known species of the flying mammal

Though this particular Arctic ground squirrel died during the Ice Age, these rodents still live in the Yukon Territory and Alaska today.

Cool Finds

This Mummified Ice Age Squirrel Was Found Frozen in Canada

Scientists identified the curled-up creature as an Arctic ground squirrel that likely died while hibernating some 30,000 years ago

The Tyrannosaurus rex may have had lips.

T. Rex Had Lips That Concealed Its Teeth, Study Says

Paleontologists say popular, toothy depictions of the dinosaur may have missed the mark

An artist’s reconstruction of Rhinesuchus, a rhinesuchid temnospondyl

Paleontologists Uncover Fossil Impressions of Giant, Alligator-Like Amphibians

The find reveals how the creatures swam and relaxed in prehistoric waterways

Many of the reptiles that thrived during the Triassic were crocodile relatives that dinosaurs would later mimic through evolutionary happenstance, such as Postosuchus (back) and Desmatosuchus (front).

Dinosaurs Were Evolutionary Copycats of These Long-Lost Look-Alikes

Before T. rex and ankylosaurus ruled the Earth, a host of similar Triassic reptiles reigned

Adam Driver stars in the new movie 65.

What Earth Would Have Really Looked Like in Adam Driver's '65'

If you were to travel back in time you’d find a mix of the familiar and strange on our planet

Scientists at North-Eastern Federal University in Russia conducted a necropsy, or animal autopsy, of the bear in late February.

Researchers Examine 3,500-Year-Old Brown Bear Preserved in Siberian Permafrost

Found in 2020, the animal was originally declared to be a cave bear from the Ice Age

Stories of the enslaved people who helped kick-start paleontology and the Native American guides who led naturalists to fossils around the continent have long been suppressed.

The First Fossil Finders in North America Were Enslaved and Indigenous People

Decades before paleontology’s formal establishment, Black and Native Americans discovered—and correctly identified—millennia-old fossils

An artist's representation of the dinosaur that left the footprint

Cool Finds

Squatting Dinosaur Left Behind a Huge Footprint in England

An archaeologist accidentally came across the fossil that was preserved for 166 million years

An artist’s reconstruction of Ignacius dawsonae surviving in the warm but dark forests of Ellesmere Island

Primate-Like Critters Survived in the Arctic When It Was a Lush, Warm Swamp

Even as darkness gripped the forests for months, two small species made it home

Tyrannosaur fossils show the animals squared off and bit each other in the face.

Busted and Broken Fossils Show How Dinosaurs Fought

From locking horns to biting each other in the face, this is how dinos of the same species battled

The flower measures roughly an inch across and is at least three times larger than all other known amber-encased blossoms.

See the Largest Known Flower Preserved in Amber

Aided by modern technology, researchers discovered the prehistoric blossom was a case of mistaken identity

The small mammal's foot in the fossil of the microraptor.

This 120-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Fossil Had a Mammal Hiding in Its Stomach

The finding represents only the second recorded instance of a dinosaur consuming a mammal

A reconstruction of adult and newly born Triassic ichthyosaurs Shonisaurus

Paleontologists May Have Solved the Mystery Behind a Prehistoric Reptile Graveyard

Ichthyosaur mothers likely migrated to the site to give birth

The year was filled with major discoveries about a number of species.

The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2022

From scientists uncovering the first dinosaur built to swim to finding a new species that looked a lot like T. rex, these were the year's biggest stories

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