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Paleontology

Illustration of Smilodon fatalis cubs playing together.

The Softer Side of Sabercats

The iconic fanged predators may have raised their young for years—dragging baby mastodon bones home for them and slowly teaching them how to hunt

The Irish elk, or Megaloceros giganteus, ranged across northern Eurasia from Siberia to Ireland and shed its giant antlers every year. It is on display in the David H. Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

Beyond Dinosaurs: The Secrets of Earth's Past

Biggest. Antlers. Ever. Meet the Irish Elk

On view at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum, this specimen of the extinct species unlocks an evolutionary mystery

An illustration of Shuvuuia deserti shows the long-legged dinosaur hunting an insect at night.

New Research

Big Eyes and Long Inner Ears Helped This Tiny, Owl-Like Dinosaur Hunt at Night

The chicken-sized Shuvuuia dinosaur had a fragile, birdlike skull, one-clawed hands and long skinny legs

Edmontasaurus, a duckbilled creature weighing around 7,000 pounds that could walk on two or four legs, was an average-sized dinosaur.

An Ode to the World’s Most Average Dinosaurs

They lacked the gargantuan size and spikes of the species museums often celebrate, but these species are how paleontologists learn about the Mesozoic

“We think of fire often as this destructive tool,” says lead author Jessica Thompson. “That doesn’t have to be the case.”

Cool Finds

Did Stone Age Humans Shape the African Landscape With Fire 85,000 Years Ago?

New research centered on Lake Malawi may provide the earliest evidence of people using flames to improve land productivity

The first bones that the workers uncovered were buried between four and five feet underground, under ancient, compressed vegetation, per KTNV.

Cool Finds

Las Vegas Residents Discover Ice Age Animal Bones While Building a Swimming Pool

The paleontologist studying the bones estimates they are between 6,000 and 14,000 years old

The shark fossil is nearly seven feet long, with two 2.5-foot-long fin spines on its back.

New Research

New Mexico’s ‘Godzilla’ Shark Fossil Gets an Official Name

The prehistoric beast’s scientific name is Dracopristis hoffmanorum

To calculate how the tail propelled the T. rex, the researchers scanned and modeled an adult T. rex specimen at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden known as "Trix," pictured here.

New Study Finds T. Rex Walked at a Slow Pace of Three Miles Per Hour

Dutch researchers calculated the surprising speed of the dinosaur based on 3-D reconstructions of its lengthy tail

A mounted specimen of the type of tyrannosaur at the heart of new research that suggests these predators may have lived in groups. These skeletons are from a species named Teratophoneus curriei, and show an adult (left) and juvenile (right) at the Natural History Museum of Utah.

New Research

New Fossils Suggest Tyrannosaurs May Have Hunted in Packs

Researchers say the trove of four or five specimens found in southern Utah challenges the assumption that these predators were solitary

Researchers discovered 87 Neanderthal footprints, as well as a number of tracks left by prehistoric animals.

Cool Finds

100,000-Year-Old Fossilized Footprints Track Neanderthals’ Trip to Spanish Coast

Some of the imprints appear to have been left by a child “jumping irregularly as though dancing,” researchers say

An artist's rendering of a newly described species of flying reptile named Kunpengopterus antipollicatus. The Jurassic-era pterosaur may be the earliest animal known to possess opposable thumbs.

New Research

A Prehistoric Flying Creature Nicknamed ‘Monkeydactyl’ May Have Climbed Trees Using Opposable Thumbs

The newly described Jurassic pterosaur may be the oldest animal known to possess opposable thumbs

The largest pterosaurs had wingspans like small aircraft and longer necks than giraffes.

New Research

Unique Bone Structure Helped Long-Necked Pterosaurs Fly

Bicycle wheel-like spokes connected the vertebrae’s central column to its outer surface, offering serious strength

These polished stones collected in Wyoming may have been carried some 600 miles from Wisconsin inside the stomachs of sauropods.

New Research

Stones Hint at Possible 600-Mile Dinosaur Migration From Wisconsin to Wyoming

Some 150 million years ago, prehistoric plant-eaters may have carried the rocks in their bellies to aid digestion

An illustration of the ancient shark Edestus heinrichi preying on a fish. Many ancient sharks had different jaws than modern sharks.

These Prehistoric Sharks Had Jaws Shaped Like Circular Saws and Sawtoothed Scissors

CT scans and visualization tools are now allowing scientists to recreate the weird cartilaginous structures of ancient predators

A new study suggests the lush, hyper-diverse rainforests of South America were shaped by the asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs.

How the Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Spurred the Evolution of the Modern Rainforest

New evidence from fossil plants shows today’s South American rainforests arose in the wake of Earth’s fifth mass extinction

The eagle shark's long, slender side fins are one of its "most striking features," says first author Romain Vullo.

New Research

Discovery of a 95-Million-Year-Old ‘Eagle Shark’ Fossil Makes Waves

The ancient creature likely used its six-foot-wide wingspan to move with ‘underwater flight’

The recently recovered oviratorosaur fossil found in southern China is missing its skull and part of its vertebrae, but remarkably, the nest of 24 oval-shaped eggs were well-preserved.

For the First Time, Paleontologists Unearth Fossil of Non-Avian Dinosaur Incubating a Nest of Eggs

The find is the first evidence that oviraptorosaurs—also called ‘egg thief lizards’—were nurturing to their young

Juveniles from species of massive carnivorous dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, may have out-competed species that would have otherwise succeeded as medium-sized adults, according to new research.

New Research

Why Medium-Sized Dinosaurs Are Often Missing From the Fossil Record

Study suggests huge carnivores like T. rex may have occupied the ecological roles of medium-sized predators as juveniles

Sauropodomorphs are a group of massive, long-necked dinosaurs that are the largest dinosaurs and land animals that ever lived, and later evolved into Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus.

Climate Change May Have Aided Dinosaurs’ Journey From South America to Greenland

A shift in CO2 levels millions of years ago made conditions on Earth milder, allowing herbivores, like sauropodomorphs, to migrate to Greenland

Steppe mammoths evolved shaggy coats over a million years ago, a trait inherited by woolly mammoths.

Oldest DNA Sequenced Yet Comes From Million-Year-Old Mammoths

Genetic material from three ancient molars reveals secrets of about how the Ice Age elephants evolved

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