Paleontology

Paleontology

Dinosaurs died of rickets

After more than 80 years, a theory that too little vitamin D led to the demise of the dinos still awaits a shred of evidence.

Paleontology

Big dinosaurs kept their cool

Body temperature of long-gone beasts resembled that of mammals, study of fossil teeth suggests.

Paleontology

Supersized superbunny

Fossils reveal a non-hopping giant rabbit that lived on the island of Minorca 5 million years ago.

Paleontology

New dinosaur species is titanic

Titanoceratops may be the oldest known member of the triceratops group.

Paleontology

Early meat-eating dinosaur unearthed

Pint-sized, two-legged runner from Argentina dates back to the dawn of the dinos, 230 million years ago.

Paleontology

An ammonite’s last supper

A detailed X-ray image of a fossil reveals an ancient marine creature’s diet.

Paleontology

Oceans may have poisoned early animals

High sulfur and low oxygen produced a deadly brew nearly 500 million years ago that apparently stalled a burst of evolutionary change.

Animals

Island orangs descend from small group

Bornean apes went through a genetic bottleneck when isolated during an ancient glaciation.

Paleontology

Ancient trumpets played eerie notes

Acoustic scientists re-create and analyze sounds from 3,000-year-old shell instruments for insight into pre-Inca civilization.

Paleontology

India yields fossil trove in amber

Insect remains suggest the continent hosted a surprisingly wide variety of creatures 50 million years ago.

Paleontology

The hunchback of central Spain

An exquisitely preserved dinosaur from central Spain has a hump on its back and suggestions of featherlike appendages on its arms. The primitive carnivore lived about 125 million years ago and may push back the first known instance of feathers on the dinosaur family tree.

Earth

Primordial bestiary gets an annex

A classic Canadian fossil trove extends to thinner deposits, geologists find.