Fossils

Researchers have discovered a new species of marine lizard, Khinjaria acuta, from the late Cretaceous period, showcasing the diversity of marine ecosystems before the dinosaur extinction. This species, part of the mosasaur family, highlights a time when the oceans teemed with a variety of giant predators, unlike today’s ecosystems dominated by a few apex predators. Credit: Andrey AtuchinSixty-six million years ago, the oceans were full of large apex predators, unlike now.Paleontologists have discovered a strange new…

Minqaria bata was around the size of a pony (3-4 meters long) and closely resembles the European species of duckbill dinosaur. Credit: Raul MartinFossils of pony-sized duckbill dinosaurs from Morocco have been discovered by an international team of scientists. Their analysis reveals a surprising connection between the dinosaurs of Europe and Africa.How did duckbill dinosaurs, a group that evolved in North America, end up in Morocco? At the end of the Cretaceous period, 66 million years ago, high sea levels and the breakup…

An artist’s interpretation of the newly identified aetosaur Garzapelta mueller. Credit: Márcio L. CastroResearchers identified a new aetosaur species, Garzapelta muelleri, offering insights into the Triassic era’s armored creatures and the challenges of deciphering their evolutionary history.Dinosaurs get all the glory. But aetosaurs, a heavily armored cousin of modern crocodiles, ruled the world before dinosaurs did. These tanks of the Triassic came in a variety of shapes and sizes before going extinct around 200 million…

The discovery of the world’s oldest fossilized forest in South West England, dating back 390 million years, provides crucial insights into the early forms of tree life and their impact on Earth’s landscapes during the Devonian Period. This groundbreaking research emphasizes the significant role of early trees in stabilizing environments and shaping the evolution of river systems. A forest of Calamophyton trees. Credit: Peter Giesen/Chris BerryThe oldest fossilized forest ever discovered on Earth, dating back 390 million…

Artistic reconstruction of a late Triassic undersea scene before (left) and after (right) a climate change-related extinction event. Credit: Maija KaralaA recent study has leveraged the fossil record to gain insights into the characteristics that render animals more susceptible to extinction due to climate change. This research aims to pinpoint the species currently most endangered by anthropogenic climate change. The findings have recently been published in the journal Science.Past climate change (often caused by natural…

Quirks and Quarks17:24How documenting the disappearance of the great auk led to the discovery of extinctionWhen species cease to exist, we often say they went "the way of the dodo." But it might be more fitting to say they went "the way of the great auk" because it was the Icelandic bird's disappearance that led to the discovery that humans activities could make a species go extinct.In his book The Last of Its Kind: The Search for the Great Auk and the Discovery of Extinction, Gísli Pálsson retraces a 1858 trip two…

Walking your dog is a pretty mundane task. One that many of us partake in several times throughout the day. For Damien Boschetto, a paleontology enthusiast, though, it turned out to be one of the most significant things he would ever do, as Boschetto discovered nearly intact dinosaur bones, including Titanosaurus fossils, while walking his dog back in 2022.Boschetto, a member of the Association of Culture, Archeology, and Paleontology (ACAP) at France’s Cruzy Museum, says that he was walking his dog, Muffin, in…

Scientists have discovered a new species of fossil bird, Imparavis attenboroughi which is the first of its kind to have evolved toothlessness. Illustration showing the fossil skeleton of Imparavis attenboroughi, alongside a reconstruction of the bird in life. Credit: Ville Sinkkonen.No birds alive today have teeth. But that wasn’t always the case– many early fossil birds had beaks full of sharp, tiny teeth. In a paper in the journal Cretaceous Research, scientists have described a new species of fossil bird that was the…

Dimetrodon, an early predatory synapsid from the early Permian (~298-272 Million years ago). (Display at the Royal Tyrell Museum, Canada). Credit: Suresh A. Singh.Researchers from the University of Bristol and the Open University propose that the evolutionary success of the earliest large land predators was fueled by their need to improve as killers.The forerunners of mammals ruled the Earth for about 60 million years, long before the origin of the first dinosaurs. They diversified as the top predators on land between 315…

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Many museums and other cultural institutions in the West have faced, in recent years, demands for artistic repatriation. The Elgin Marbles, currently housed in the British Museum, are perhaps the most prominent subject of this charge, with numerous appeals having been made for their return to their original home in Greece. …