Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Paleontology

A gharial has the same skull shape as some extinct crocodiles. This skull shape has likely evolved three different times during the history of crocodiles.

Modern Crocodiles Are Evolving at a Rapid Rate

Despite their reputation as “living fossils,” crocodiles have changed dramatically in the last two million years

Scientists first spotted the tracks, including this one from a calf, after storms in 2020 swept away several feet of sand in Spain.

Fossilized Footprints Reveal an Ancient Elephant Nursery in Spain

Straight-tusked elephants as young as two months old trampled around the area with their mothers

The dig site at Castel di Guido in Italy featured numerous skeletons of straight-tusked elephants, from which many of the bone tools were produced.

New Research

Hand-Carved, 400,000-Year-Old Bone Tool Used for Smoothing Leather Found in Italy

Found near Rome, the utensil is 100,000 years older than previous finds of this kind

T. gainesi was enormous compared to other ocean creatures living during the Cambrian era, measuring almost 2 feet or half a meter long when most other species measured about the size of a pinky finger.

Ancient Predator With Massive Helmet-Like Shell Unearthed in Canada

The creature was one of the earliest known large predators on Earth

The apex predator Ulughbegsaurus was much larger than the contemporaneous tyrannosaur Timurlengia.

Beyond Dinosaurs: The Secrets of Earth's Past

New, Giant Carnivorous Dinosaur Was a Terror to Smaller Tyrannosaurs

A fossil jaw reveals the large predator lived 90 million years ago

An adult male woolly mammoth navigates a mountain pass 17,100 years ago.

Beyond Dinosaurs: The Secrets of Earth's Past

Woolly Mammoths Roamed Far and Wide Just Like Living Elephants

A new analysis of a mammoth tusk tracks the movements of an Ice Age icon

In addition to its school-bus-length wingspan, the creature had a three-foot-long skull with a pointed snout and around 40 sharp teeth.

Giant, Dragon-Like, Flying Reptile Fossil Discovered in Australia

A rare specimen reveals a new species of pterosaur with a staggering 23-foot wingspan

None

Smithsonian Voices

Drop in Greenhouse Gas Caused Global Cooling 34 Million Years Ago

A new study confirms that carbon dioxide plays a significant role in any climate change

Paleontologist François Therrien measures the jaws of a Gorgosaurus.

Tyrannosaurs Dominated Their Cretaceous Ecosystems

Studies of body size and bite force show that the predators, from babies to adults, filled many niches in their environment

The megaripple features have average wavelengths of 1,968.5 feet and average wave heights of almost 52.5 feet, making them the largest ripples documented on Earth.

Mile-High Tsunami Caused by Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Left Behind Towering ‘Megaripples’

Seismic imaging data depicts 52-feet high waves 5,000 feet below Louisiana

The ancient mammal Gobioconodon (right) squabbles with a therian mammal over a meal in the Late Cretaceous.

Other Mammals, Not Dinosaurs, Kept Our Ancestors Down

The asteroid impact that ended the Cretaceous gave our mammalian ancestors, the therians, an edge over their mammalian competitors

An illustration depicting some of the dinosaurs that roamed the Earth during the Late Cretaceous.

New Research

Dinosaurs May Have Been Declining Before the Asteroid Struck Earth

The researchers say the cataclysmic impact may have simply been the final nail in the dinos’ coffin

Scientists reconstructed a new beetle species in 3-D thanks to X-ray scans of fossilized poop.

New Species of Beetle Found in 230-Million-Year-Old Feces

The insect is older than any amber-encased specimen, and may inspire scientists to look for more insects in fossilized dung

A recreation of Dragon Man

A 146,000-Year-Old Fossil Dubbed ‘Dragon Man’ Might Be One of Our Closest Relatives

A mysterious Middle Pleistocene skull from a Chinese well has inspired debate among paleoanthropologists

The tyrannosaur Nanuqsaurus with its young

Beyond Dinosaurs: The Secrets of Earth's Past

Dinosaurs Nested in the High Arctic

Tiny fossils of polar dinosaurs suggest that the reptiles stayed year-round

Based on the size of the skull, the research team also found that the rhino had a long thick neck, a short trunk similar to that of a modern-day tapir, and a deeper nasal cavity.

This Prehistoric Giant Rhino Was ‘Taller Than a Giraffe’

The prehistoric mammal had a 3.8-foot-long head and stood at about 16 feet tall

An artist's rendering of Gunggamarandu maunala.

New Research

23-Foot ‘River Boss’ Croc Fossil Found in Australia

Slender-nosed extinct reptile would have patrolled freshwater ecosystems between two and five million years ago

An artist’s rendering of Oculudentavis naga

World’s ‘Smallest Dinosaur’ Revealed to Be a Mystery Reptile

Paleontologists analyzed two skulls and made the call, but aren’t sure about the exact type of animal they’ve discovered

It took over a decade to identify the dinosaur bones because of the remote location of the bones, the fragile state they were in, and their massive size and weight that at times require a forklift to move.

Two Farmers Found the Largest Dinosaur Ever Unearthed in Australia

The long-necked herbivore’s length measured the span of a basketball court, stood at two stories, and weighed an estimated 70 tons

A Microraptor, a small four-winged dinosaur that could fly, eats a fish.

Dinosaurs Evolved Flight at Least Three Times

A new study finds that many feathered dinosaurs were more aerodynamic than previously thought

Page 18 of 40