Paleontology

Paleontology

Scientists are arguing over the identity of a fossilized 10-armed creature

An ancient cephalopod fossil may be the oldest ancestor of octopuses, but the interpretation hinges on the identification of one feature.

Paleontology

The Age of Dinosaurs may have ended in springtime

Fossilized fish bones suggest that the massive asteroid strike at the end of the Cretaceous Period occurred during the Northern Hemisphere’s spring.

Paleontology

Fossils show a crocodile ancestor dined on a young dinosaur

The 100-million-year-old fossil of a crocodile ancestor contains the first indisputable evidence that dinosaurs were on the menu.

Paleontology

Fossils reveal what may be the oldest known case of the dino sniffles

A respiratory infection that spread to air sacs in the vertebrae of a 150-million-year-old sauropod likely led to now-fossilized bone lesions.

Paleontology

Fossils reveal that pterosaurs puked pellets

Fish scale–filled pellets found by two pterosaurs are the first fossil evidence the flying reptiles regurgitated undigestible food, like some modern birds.

Paleontology

See stunning fossils of insects, fish and plants from an ancient Australian forest

Thousands of fossils at an Australian site show a rare glimpse into the continent’s wetter history over 11 million years ago.

Paleontology

This dinosaur had a weapon shaped like an Aztec war club on its tail

The flat and spiky tail club of a newly discovered ankylosaur was unique, even for this often weirdly armored group of dinosaurs.

Paleontology

‘Penis worms’ may have been the original hermits

Soft-bodied critters called penis worms inhabited abandoned shells — a la modern-day hermit crabs — by about 500 million years ago, a study suggests.

Paleontology

Some dinosaurs may have lived in herds as early as 193 million years ago

A fossilized family gathering of long-necked Mussaurus may be the earliest evidence yet of herd behavior in dinosaurs.

Animals

Giant ground sloths may have been meat-eating scavengers

Contrary to previous assumptions, at least one ancient giant ground sloth was a meat eater.

Earth

A volcano-induced rainy period made Earth’s climate dinosaur-friendly

New physical evidence links eruptions 234 million to 232 million years ago to climate changes that let dinosaurs start their climb to dominance.

Paleontology

This is the oldest fossil evidence of spider moms taking care of their young

A spider trapped in amber 99 million years ago guarded her eggs and may have helped raise her young.