Fossils
- Animals
Flower loss doomed the mammoths
Woolly mammoths roamed the Arctic until about 10,000 years ago. Why they died out may trace to the vanishing of the mostly flowering plants on which they had been dining.
- Fossils
Early tyrannosaurs would have feared this predator
A newfound dinosaur fossil appears to explain why ancestors of T. rex didn’t begin their growth in size — and dominance — any earlier than they did.
- Fossils
King of Gore
Paleontologists debut the oldest T. rex ancestor. Weighing as much as a car and longer than a two-story building is tall, this meat eater would have been one fierce predator.
- Fossils
Where do humans come from?
Some scientists propose a newfound South African species as the most likely ancestor of the line that led to humans. But not everyone accepts that this is where it all began.
- Fossils
How sharks survived the ‘Great Dying’
By abandoning their coastal homes, some sharks survived an event that caused mass extinctions of other species.
- Fossils
Tar pit bones yield climate clues
During the last ice age, more than 12,000 years ago, many unusual creatures wandered Southern California. Some got trapped in tar pits there. Now, their preserved remains are providing scientists with clues about summer weather during that bygone era.
- Fossils
Dino-sized poop
Ewww: Scientists use poop from living animals to estimate the size of dung dropped by T. rex and other dinos.
- Fossils
Shoulder bones fuel debate
Fossil shoulder blades suggest an ancient humanlike species may have been at home in the trees as well as on the ground.
- Fossils
A fishy mammal ID
For more than a century, the fossilized skull of an ancient fish was misidentified as a primate.
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- Fossils
Tiny fossil tells big tale
Scientists use a single finger bone from ancient, humanlike Denisovans to study their connection to modern people and Neandertals.
- Fossils
New Jurassic flier
Amazingly well-preserved fossil depicts a novel flying reptile from the age of dinosaurs.
