Paleontology

Paleontology

Fossil leaves yield extinction clues

Analyses of fossil leaves provide more evidence that the mass extinctions that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago were sudden and probably brought about by an extraterrestrial impact.

Paleontology

Into the Gap: Fossil find stands on its own four legs

A fossil originally misidentified as an ancient fish turns out to be the nearly intact remains of a four-limbed creature that lived during an extended period noted for its lack of fossils of land animals.

Paleontology

Rain Forest Primeval? Colorado fossils show unexpected diversity

The size, shape, and riotous variety of fossil leaves unearthed at a site in central Colorado suggest that the region may have been covered with one of the world's first tropical rain forests just 1.4 million years after the demise of the dinosaurs.

Paleontology

All mixed up over birds and dinosaurs

A bit of fossil fakery snookered a team of paleontologists

Paleontology

Ancient Whodunit: Scientists indict wee suspects in ancient deaths

Evidence locked in 180,000-year-old sediments suggests that a toxic algae bloom was the cause of death for a large group of mammals that were fossilized intact on an ancient lake bottom.

Paleontology

Older Ancestors: Primate origins age in new analysis

A controversial new statistical model concludes that the common ancestor of primates lived 81.5 million years ago, about 16 million years earlier than many paleontologists have estimated.

Paleontology

Old Frilly Face: Triceratops’ relative fills fossil-record gap

Fossils of a creature the size of a Texas jackrabbit cast new light on the early evolution of a group of horned dinosaurs that include the 8-meter-long Triceratops.

Paleontology

Early hunters are guilty as charged

Scientists find that hunting is the likely cause of New Zealand's prehistoric bird extinctions rather than habitat destruction or pest introduction.

Paleontology

Did Mammals Spread from Asia? Carbon blip gives clue to animals’ Eden

A new dating of Chinese fossils buttresses the idea than an Asian Eden gave rise to at least one of the groups of mammal species that appeared in North America some 55 million years ago.

Paleontology

Duck-faced croc had a gap-toothed grin

Paleontologists have unearthed fossils of a tiny crocodile that boasted a smile like no other: The animal had no teeth across the entire front of its mouth.

Paleontology

No Olympian: Analysis hints T. rex ran slowly, if at all

Tyrannosaurus rex, a bipedal meat eater considered by many to be the most fearsome dinosaur of its day, may not have been the swift Jeep-chaser portrayed by Hollywood.

Paleontology

Dinosaur tracks show walking and running

A single trail of dinosaur footprints found in a British limestone quarry preserves a record of two different walking styles in the same animal, a tantalizing clue that some types of lumbering, bipedal dinosaurs could also run if the need arose.