Paleontology
- Paleontology
Giant armored dinosaur may have cloaked itself in camouflage
An armored dinosaur the size of a Honda Civic also wore countershading camouflage, a chemical analysis of its skin suggests.
- Paleontology
New fossils shake up history of amphibians with no legs
The oldest near-relative of today’s snake-shaped caecilians could have an unexpected backstory.
- Paleontology
Ancient attack marks show ocean predators got scarier
Killer snails and other ocean predators that drill through shells have grown bigger over evolutionary time.
- Paleontology
New dinosaur resurrects a demon from Ghostbusters
The most complete skeleton of an ankylosaur shows an armored, club-tailed dinosaur with a head like a Ghostbusters demon.
- Paleontology
Primitive whales had mediocre hearing
Fossils suggest that early whale hearing was run-of-the-mill, along the same line as that of land mammals.
- Paleontology
Sea scorpions slashed victims with swordlike tails
Ancient sea scorpion used a flexible, swordlike tail to hack at prey and defend against predators.
- Paleontology
Ancient whale tells tale of when baleen whales had teeth
A 36 million-year-old whale fossil bridges the gap between ancient toothy predators and modern filter-feeding baleen whales.
- Paleontology
‘Baby Louie’ dinosaur identified as a new species
A fossil embryo known as Baby Louie has been identified as a new species of dinosaur called Beibeilong sinensis.
- Animals
Beetles have been mooching off insect colonies for millions of years
The behavior, called social parasitism, has been going on for about 100 million years.
- Paleontology
Early dinosaur relative sported odd mix of bird, crocodile-like traits
Teleocrater rhadinus gives researchers a better picture of what early dinosaur relatives looked like.
- Paleontology
Bedbugs bugged prehistoric humans, too
Scientists have found the oldest known specimens of bedbug relatives in an Oregon cave system where ancient humans once lived.
- Science & Society
‘Specimens’ goes behind the scenes of Chicago’s Field Museum
The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago puts seldom-seen specimens on display in a new exhibit to highlight the crucial role of museum objects in scientific research.
