paleontology

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Fossilized Poop Offers Clues to Dinosaurs' Rise
Dinosaur Dung, Vomit
Offers Clues to Their Rise
NEW STUDY
Nov 28, 2024 10:30 AM CST

Dinosaur Dung, Vomit Offers Clues to Their Rise

As opportunistic eaters, they were well-suited to environmental change, researchers say

(Newser) - Much attention has been paid to the question of what killed the dinosaurs. But how did they arise in the first place? And how did they come to dominate the planet? A new 10-year analysis of dinosaur poop moves us closer to the answers, per CNN . Paleontologist Martin Qvarnström...

Hiker's Find Leads to Trove of Fossils Predating Dinosaurs

Hundreds of imprints of plants, animals, even raindrops discovered in northern Italian Alps

(Newser) - Claudia Steffensen was hiking in the Italian Alps last summer when she stepped on a rock that caught her eye. "It seemed more like a slab of cement" with "these strange circular designs with wavy lines," Steffensen tells the Guardian. "I took a closer look and...

Mastodon Unearthed in Iowa Possibly Eaten by Humans
Mastodon Bones
Unearthed in Iowa
Aug 19, 2024 7:06 AM CDT

Mastodon Bones Unearthed in Iowa

Scientists hope to find 'identifiable cut marks' made by humans on the 13,600-year-old bones

(Newser) - The well-preserved skull of an extinct mastodon has been discovered in Iowa. Officials from the University of Iowa's Office of the State Archaeologist said a 12-day excavation yielded "several mastodon bones," largely from the skull of the massive animal, belonging to the same order as elephants and...

In Prehistoric Fossils, a Surprising Find on Aging
In Prehistoric Fossils,
a Surprising Find on Aging
NEW STUDY
Jul 26, 2024 12:20 PM CDT

In Prehistoric Fossils, a Surprising Find on Aging

Mouselike mammals lived a lot longer than modern-day counterparts, say scientists

(Newser) - Two sets of fossils found 40-something years apart suggest that small mammals who lived during the mid-Jurassic period had a longer "childhood" and a more stretched-out life span than their contemporary counterparts. The new research published Wednesday in the journal Nature examined the fossilized remains of Krusatodon kirtlingtonensis, a...

New Dinosaur Species Named After Norse God
New Dinosaur Species
Named After Norse God
new study
Jun 21, 2024 1:35 PM CDT

New Dinosaur Species Named After Norse God

Lokiceratops had massive, blade-like horns

(Newser) - A dinosaur that researchers say is new to science has been named after the Norse god Loki not because of any mischievous tendencies, but because of its massive, blade-like horns. In a study published in the journal PeerJ , researchers say Lokiceratops rangiformis was one of many ancestors of Triceratops that...

Scientists Find Evidence of 'Age of Monotremes'
Scientists Find Evidence
of 'Age of Monotremes'
NEW STUDY
May 28, 2024 10:50 AM CDT

Scientists Find Evidence of 'Age of Monotremes'

A diversity of platypus-like creatures roamed Australia some 100M years ago

(Newser) - There are exactly five existing egg-laying mammals, or monotremes: the platypus and four echidna species, all native to Australia and New Guinea. According to new research, they're the last survivors of a diverse set of species that roamed the southern continents during the time of the dinosaurs. The Lightning...

Girl, 11, Helps Discover Largest Ever Reptile
Girl, 11, Helps Discover
Largest Ever Reptile
NEW STUDY
May 11, 2024 1:50 PM CDT

Girl, 11, Helps Discover Largest Ever Reptile

Ichthyotitan severnensis estimated at 82 feet long, with a 7-foot-long jawbone

(Newser) - It was the largest reptile to ever prowl Earth's oceans. At some 82 feet, this giant ichthyosaur would've been nearly as large as a blue whale, a marine mammal and the largest animal known to exist at any point in the planet's history. Yet the ichthyosaur, dubbed...

Dino 'From Hell' Suggests There Was No Decline
Dino 'From Hell' Suggests
There Was No Decline
NEW STUDY
Feb 1, 2024 12:50 PM CST

Dino 'From Hell' Suggests There Was No Decline

New caenagnathid species, and a possible second, suggest this dino family was doing fine

(Newser) - Paleontologists have been debating whether the asteroid that killed non-avian dinosaurs took out a varied group of thriving reptiles or one already in decline . Now, researchers say they've discovered a new dinosaur species whose very existence disputes the latter argument. The argument is largely based on apparent declines in...

This Modern-Looking Reptile Skin Is Nearly 300M Years Old
This Skin Is Nearly
300M Years Old
NEW STUDY
Jan 12, 2024 9:21 AM CST

This Skin Is Nearly 300M Years Old

Fossilized sample predating the dinosaurs represents oldest epidermis ever found

(Newser) - It looks a lot like crocodile skin, with a pebblelike texture someone might desire for a purse. But for the small sample size, you'd never guess it's 289 million years old, dating to the late Paleozoic Era, when many species were just beginning to venture from water to...

In Birdlike Tracks, an Evolution Mystery
'We're Pretty Sure
It's Not a Bird'
NEW STUDY
Dec 5, 2023 12:53 PM CST

'We're Pretty Sure It's Not a Bird'

But what made bird-like tracks before birds existed isn't clear

(Newser) - The earliest known fossils attributed to ancestors of modern birds date to around 160 million years ago, which is why birdlike tracks discovered in southern Africa and dated to tens of millions of years earlier have become a fascinating topic of discussion for paleontologists. In reviewing 163 tracks found across...

Cat-Sized Koala Could Be Marsupials' Missing Link
There Was No Record
of Koalas Here. Until Now
NEW STUDY
Sep 14, 2023 12:20 PM CDT

There Was No Record of Koalas Here. Until Now

Cat-sized 'Lumakoala' could be marsupials' missing link in Australia's Northern Territory

(Newser) - The modern koala is a well-known and well-loved marsupial, but researchers know surprisingly little about its evolution. Indeed, they describe an "approximately 30-million-year-gap" in the fossil record of Australian marsupials, or diprotodontians, a group including kangaroos, wallabies, and wombats. That gap may be closing, however. Researchers say they've...

This Guy Might've Been the Heaviest Animal Earth's Seen

Meet the long-extinct Perucetus colossus

(Newser) - There could be a new contender for heaviest animal to ever live. While today's blue whale has long held the title, the AP reports that scientists have dug up fossils from an ancient giant that could tip the scales. Researchers described the new species—named Perucetus colossus, or "...

Before Dinosaurs, These Guys Had a Serious Eating Flaw

Rhynchosaurs had a single set of teeth they wore down to nubs, may have starved to death in old age

(Newser) - In the age before the towering dinosaurs we know so well from textbooks and Jurassic Park movies, an ugly-cute creature about the size of a pig called the rhynchosaur roamed the Earth, chomping on tough plants with a single row of teeth. As the New York Times reports, they were...

Dino Claims Longest Neck Known to Man
Dino Claims Longest
Neck Known to Man
NEW STUDY
Mar 16, 2023 7:44 AM CDT

Dino Claims Longest Neck Known to Man

M. sinocanadorum had a 50-foot-long neck, made up of mostly hollow vertebrae: study

(Newser) - Think giraffes have long necks? Paleontologists say a dinosaur that roamed northwest China some 162 million years ago had a neck eight times as long, making it the "longest-known neck in the animal kingdom," per IFL Science . Partial remains of the dinosaur, Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum, were discovered in the...

Ancient Marine Graveyard May Have Been Maternity Ward
Fossil Site May Be
'Ancient Maternity Ward'
NEW STUDY
Dec 20, 2022 1:17 PM CST

Fossil Site May Be 'Ancient Maternity Ward'

Researchers describe how ancient ichthyosaurs traveled to Nevada site to give birth

(Newser) - Scientists have uncovered new clues about a curious fossil site in Nevada, a graveyard for dozens of giant marine reptiles. Instead of the site of a massive die-off as suspected, it might have been an ancient maternity ward where the creatures came to give birth, per the AP . The site...

A New 'Swimming' Dinosaur Emerges
You've Never Known a
Dinosaur Like This Before
NEW STUDY
Dec 2, 2022 9:16 AM CST

You've Never Known a Dinosaur Like This Before

'Natovenator polydontus' is first found with streamlined ribcage for swimming and diving

(Newser) - Paleontologists have discovered a dinosaur unlike any other known so far. Its Latin and Greek name, Natovenator polydontus, means "swimming hunter with many teeth." Yes, swimming. "I think like a swimming Velociraptor is a pretty good characterization," Philip Currie of the University of Alberta, co-author of...

This May Be 'Missing Link' in T. Rex Evolution
This May Be
'Missing Link'
in T. Rex Evolution
NEW STUDY
Nov 29, 2022 10:05 AM CST

This May Be 'Missing Link' in T. Rex Evolution

Ancestor 'Daspletosaurus wilsoni' offers further evidence of linear evolution

(Newser) - Paleontologists have uncovered a new species of tyrannosaur that they say serves as a "missing link" in the evolution of Tyrannosaurus rex. Experts from the Badlands Dinosaur Museum in North Dakota were digging at the Judith River Formation in Montana in 2017 when paleontologist Jack Wilson spotted a flat...

Fossil Discovery Spurs Believers in Nessie
Fossil Discovery Spurs
Believers in Nessie
NEW STUDY
Aug 5, 2022 1:39 PM CDT

Fossil Discovery Spurs Believers in Nessie

Study suggests ancient plesiosaurs lived in freshwater bodies of water, though not Loch Ness

(Newser) - A new study offering some of the best evidence yet for ancient long-necked reptiles living in freshwater lakes has been seized upon by believers in the Loch Ness Monster. Plesiosaurs, small-headed beasts with flippers that disappeared from the fossil record 66 million years ago, certainly inhabited Earth's oceans. There...

Paleontologist Calls Gorgosaurus Sale a 'Disaster'

Rare skeleton was sold for $6.1M

(Newser) - A rare and exquisite Gorgosaurus skeleton sold for $6.1 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York City Thursday—but since the anonymous buyer apparently wasn't a museum or an unusually wealthy paleontologist, scientists say they find the sale concerning. Gorgosaurus was a distant—and faster—relative...

This Could Change Theory on the Origin of Humankind

Australopithecus africanus fossils in South Africa are a million years older than we thought

(Newser) - The earliest species of human is thought to have evolved from East Africa based on fossil findings, including that of the famous Lucy, an Australopithecus afarensis who lived in what is now Ethiopia some 3.2 million years ago. But that theory might now be shifting thanks to new findings...

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