Fossils

A reconstruction of Lokiceratops in the 78-million-year-old swamps of northern Montana—as two Probrachylophosaurus move past in the background.

Why Did Dinosaurs Have Horns? It May Not Have Been Simply for Defense

Triceratops and its relatives may have evolved the structures for fighting, impressing mates, and more

The woolly rhino horn discovered by miners.

Miners Unearth a Mummified Woolly Rhino in Siberia, With an Intact Horn and Soft Tissue

The rare discovery will help scientists find out more about the prehistoric animal’s development, diet and living conditions

A track of dinosaur footprints preserved in floodplain deposits in Brazil. The tracks date to around 120 million years ago.

'Matching' Dinosaur Footprints Discovered in Africa and South America

The fossils show how dinosaurs may have crossed between landmasses around 120 million years ago, when the continents were still connected

Columbian mammoths were larger and less hairy than woolly mammoths.

20,000-Year-Old Columbian Mammoth Bones Discovered in Texas

While fishing at an undisclosed lake, Sabrina Solomon slipped and fell—and came face to face with the remains

A model of the Smilodon fatalis skeleton (right) on display as part of a special exhibition in Schöningen, Germany, on April 12, 2017

‘Fearsome’ Saber-Toothed Cats Needed Their Baby Teeth and Mommies, Too

According to new research, two sets of sabers and unusual lower jaw anatomy show that the saber-toothed cat Smilodon fatalis delayed adulting with a long weaning period

An artist's reconstruction of the two tardigrade species found preserved in a pebble-sized piece of amber in Canada.

Rare Fossils Give Clues to How Tardigrades Survived Mass Extinctions by Hitting the Snooze Button

Scientists have only four known tardigrade fossils, which preserve insights into how the hardy critters evolved their hibernation-like superpower of cryptobiosis

This specimen is the first complete tusk of its kind found in Mississippi.

Rare Seven-Foot Mammoth Tusk Unearthed in Mississippi Creek

The enormous fossil belonged to a Columbian mammoth, a larger relative of the woolly mammoth

At Mata Menge, researchers found a tiny adult upper arm bone that belonged to an individual who lived 700,000 years ago, shedding light on the origins of Homo floresiensis.

Fossils Shed New Light on Small 'Hobbit-Like' Humans That Lived on a Remote Island

Two teeth and a small adult arm bone found in Indonesia suggest the ancestors of Homo floresiensis were even shorter than scientists previously thought

PaleoScan operates at Plácido Cidade Nuvens Museum of Paleontology (known by the Portuguese abbreviation MPPCN) in Brazil. For a typical procedure, multiple fossils are placed together on the calibration board to be scanned simultaneously.

This Innovative Device Allows South American Paleontologists to Share Fossils With the World

PaleoScan offers scientists at far-flung institutions a less expensive way to digitize their collections and preserve at-risk specimens of fish, turtles, pterosaurs and more

Scotty, the largest T. rex specimen on record, is on display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada.

The Largest T. Rex Could Have Been 70 Percent Heavier Than Fossils Suggest

Two scientists used modeling to predict how big the giant carnivores could have really grown, making a point that fossils likely don't represent the largest or smallest individuals of a species

An artist's impression of the shrew-like Krusatodon kirtlingtonensis, which a new study suggests lived long and matured slowly, in contrast to modern small mammals.

Two Rare Jurassic Skulls Could Help Unlock the Secrets of Mammals' Evolutionary Success

Fossils reveal a prehistoric, mouse-like creature matured slower and lived longer than similar mammals of today

Rainforests, like this one in Ecuador, only appeared after the mass extinction that ended the Age of Dinosaurs.

No, Dinosaurs Did Not Trudge Through Thick Rainforests

The first jungles dense with flowering plants only formed after an asteroid impact wiped out the giant creatures

An illustration of the taco-shaped Odaraia, which researchers say likely swam upside-down and trapped prey in its spine-covered legs.

Taco-Shaped Creature Had a 'Major Edge' in Evolution—and 30 Pairs of Spiny Legs

This shrimp-like arthropod was among the first to have a mandible, and it used a complex feeding mechanism during the Cambrian explosion, according to a new study

A reconstruction of a giant armadillo in the collection of paleontology at the Museo de La Plata in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Was This Giant, Armadillo-Like Animal Butchered by Humans in Argentina 21,000 Years Ago?

The creature's bones show evidence of cutting with stone tools, adding to a series of findings that suggest humans were present in the Americas earlier than thought

Prior to the auction, "Apex" was on exhibition at Sotheby’s galleries in New York.

Enormous Stegosaurus Skeleton Called 'Apex' Smashes Auction Records and Sells for $44.6 Million

The 150-million-year-old dinosaur became the most expensive fossil ever sold at auction, raising old questions about whether such specimens should be put up for sale

Asteroid impacts and volcanism have led to mass extinctions on our planet.

Has Life on Earth Survived More Than Five Mass Extinctions?

Scientists aren’t just arguing whether humans are causing a sixth mass extinction event now, but whether many more occurred in the past

The grape family had a complex, tumultuous history of extinction and dispersal in Central and South America.

Did the Extinction of the Dinosaurs Pave the Way for Grapes?

Newly discovered fossils in South America hint at the evolution and proliferation of grapes around the world

An artist’s rendering of the creature called Gaiasia jennyae

Before the Dinosaurs, This Massive Salamander-Like Predator Ruled Earth’s Swamps

Fossils unearthed in present-day Namibia tell an intriguing story of tetrapod evolution

An artist's rendition of the volcanic eruption that preserved several trilobite fossils in ash more than 500 million years ago.

Volcanic Ash Preserved Trilobite Fossils in Surprising Detail at 'Prehistoric Pompeii'

The specimens date to more than 500 million years ago and provide new insights into trilobite anatomy, revealing previously unseen features

Tusks and other fossilized remains are all that's left of the woolly mammoths that lived on Wrangel Island thousands of years ago.

What Killed the Last Woolly Mammoths? Scientists Say It Wasn't Inbreeding

New research suggests some catastrophic event—such as a natural disaster or a virus—killed the world's last known population of mammoths on Wrangel Island

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