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Paleontologists

Regaliceratops peterhewsi, the “Hellboy Dinosaur”

New Research

Dinosaur Horns Were For Making Love, Not War

The elaborate horns and frills were more likely for attracting mates than fighting off enemies

The handbones seen in the whale model in the center of this image tell the curious story of how whales went from land to water.

Ask Smithsonian

What’s a “Missing Link”?

While some still use the term, experts abhor it because it implies that life is a linear hierarchy

An endocast revealing the brain of an Iguanodon, an herbivorous dinosaur of the early Cretaceous period. This was the first fossilized dinosaur brain found by modern scientists, announced in 2016.

Women Who Shaped History

The Woman Who Shaped the Study of Fossil Brains

By drawing out hidden connections, Tilly Edinger joined the fields of geology and neurology

This dinosaur footprint was found in sandstone at Dinosaur Track at Hackberry Canyon in Grand Staircase-Escalante National. A proclamation recently signed by President Trump would reduce the protected area by half.

What Shrinking Fossil-Rich National Monuments Means for Science

Smithsonian.com asks paleontologists how their work will change after the decision to slash Bears Ears and Grand Staircase

What's a dinosaur, anyways? The answer is in the evolutionary tree.

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What Makes a Dinosaur a Dinosaur?

The question may sound like a “duh,” but it gets to the heart of how we categorize and define nature

Hundreds of pterosaur eggs were found, 16 of which contained partial embryonic remains.

Cache of 120-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Pterosaur Eggs Found in China

Some of the eggs contained embryonic remains, offering unprecedented insight into the pterosaur’s early life phases

A new depiction of Anchoirnis and its contour feather.

New Research

This Dinosaur Was Much Fuzzier Than Scientists Once Thought

A new analysis shows the extent of ancient bird-like dino’s fluff

Decennatherium rex

New Research

Four-Horned Giraffe Ancestor Unearthed in Spain

The fossil is an unusually complete individual of an ancient giraffid species

An illustration of the raccoon-like Sinosauropteryx, which lived 130 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous.

New Research

This Adorable Bandit-Faced Dinosaur Will Steal Your Heart

Some dinos were small, fluffy and frankly adorable, a new analysis shows

Jennifer Zetlan who plays Rhoda in "Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt"

Family Travel

Watch a Dinosaur Opera at New York’s American Museum of Natural History

Sink your teeth into the family friendly “Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt”

Agnostus pisiformes

Cool Finds

Look Into the Creepy-Cute Eyes of This Reconstructed, 500-Million-Year-Old Creature

The depictions of Agnostus pisiformis are part of comprehensive review of the Cambrian-era arthropod

Tyler Lyson at the site for the Hadrosaur femur

The Ultimate Summer Camp Activity: Digging for Dinosaurs

Meet the intrepid teenagers and teenagers-at-heart who swelter in the heat hunting for fossils

Inostrancevia, devouring a Pareiasaurus, Alexei Petrovich Bystrow, 1933

Cool Finds

Two Centuries of Dinosaur Art Come Alive in This Gorgeous New Book

Paleoart traces historic depictions of T. rex, mastodons and other ancient creatures through an artistic lens

Maiopatagium furculiferum fossil found in China

New Research

Exceptional Fossils Show Ancient Winged Mammals May Have Glided Above the Dinosaurs

The discovery of two flying squirrel-like fossils suggest mammal diversity began earlier than previously thought

An artist's illustration of Patagotitan mayorum, the latest and possibly most gargantuan in a series of recent giant dino finds.

New Research

Did Scientists Just Unveil the Biggest Dinosaur of All Time?

The jury’s still out—but if you can get over the size contest, far more fascinating patterns about these giants emerge

New Research

What Is the Key to Predict Animal Speed?

The biggest animals aren’t always the fastest

Clayton Phipps looks over the massive ceratopsian fossil. The ancient creature’s rib cage is on the left and the pelvis on the right.

Will the Public Ever Get to See the “Dueling Dinosaurs”?

America’s most spectacular fossil, found by a plucky Montana rancher, is locked up in a secret storage room. Why?

The El Graeco jawbone

New Research

Controversial Study Claims Apes and Human Ancestors Split in Southern Europe

Researchers believe these 7.2-million-year-old teeth have a lot to say about human evolution

Illustration of Mystacodon selenensis

New Research

This 36-Million-Year-Old Fossil Is a “Missing Link” in Whale Evolution

Discovered in Peru, the new fossil has tiny remnants of hind limbs

An illustration of the spiky new dinosaur Zuul.

New Research

Introducing ‘Zuul,’ an Ankylosaur That Could Really Make Your Ankles Sore

A finely preserved fossil sheds new light on the curious tail of armored dinos

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