Fossils
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FossilsThere really was a Brontosaurus, study claims
A new analysis finds evidence that the Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus were separate groups of animals, which deserve their own names and places on the dino family tree.
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FossilsSnakes may have slithered amongst Jurassic dinos
Newly analyzed fossils suggest snakes lived at the same time as the golden age of dinosaurs. These early snakes appear to have had flexible skulls and likely also had four small limbs.
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FossilsScientists Say: Coprolite
Every living thing and signs of its existence — right down to their wastes — can fossilize under the right conditions. When poop fossilizes, it gets a special name.
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EarthDino double whammy
Most scientists think an asteroid helped kill off the dinosaurs. But new calculations suggest that asteroid might have gotten some help from a long series of volcanic eruptions in what is now India.
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FossilsDinos: Some were ‘marathoners’
The arrangement of major muscles in a duck-billed dinosaur’s legs would have helped them outrun predators such as T. rex, a new analysis suggests.
By Sid Perkins -
AnimalsTar pit clues provide ice age news
New analyses of insects and mammals trapped in the La Brea Tar Pits point to climate surprises during the last ice age.
By Sid Perkins -
AnimalsWhen life exploded
Life exploded in diversity during the Cambrian Period. Experts are exploring what could account for this sudden change 540 million years ago.
By Beth Geiger -
FossilsSpiked tail to the rescue!
A stegosaur’s bony ‘armor’ didn’t just fend off a predator’s teeth. The tail spikes could gore attackers, ultimately killing them, fossils now show.
By Sid Perkins -
FossilsEarly dino-era start for modern mammals
Fossils of an extinct group of rodent-sized mammals suggest they were related to modern mammals. These ancient remains push back the origin of mammals by many millions of years.
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FossilsBiggest dino ever?
This plant-eater would have towered over even a T. rex. A truly huge brute, Dreadnoughtus means ‘fear nothing.’
By Janet Raloff -
FossilsFeathers: What every dino wore?
A dino discovery in Siberia suggests feathers were common among the ancient ‘lizards.’
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FossilsDinos ‘quickly’ shrunk into birds
Scientists had long known birds descended from dinosaurs. A study now shows that the morphing from dinos into birds went along with a quick and steady shrinking of their body sizes.