A newly discovered sauropodomorph dinosaur named Musango matusadonaensis lived approximately 210 million years ago near Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, according to paleontologists. Discovered on the Zimbabwean shores of the manmade reservoir, the fossil sheds new light on the diversity of Triassic and Jurassic ecosystems in southern Africa, as detailed in a paper published in the … Read more
Baby Tyrannosaurus rex hatchlings weighed just 5.5 pounds and hunted like miniature apex predators right out of the shell, according to a study published in the journal Biology. Paleontologists analyzing newly examined fossils from T. rex and its close cousin Gorgosaurus libratus found dental and vascular evidence showing that infant tyrannosaurids were active and lethal … Read more
The Permian-Triassic extinction, known as the “Great Dying,” eliminated 96% of marine species 252 million years ago due to rapid ocean warming and oxygen depletion. According to a Stanford-led study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the event favored mobile, high-metabolism animals like mollusks over stationary, low-metabolism groups like brachiopods, permanently reshaping … Read more
Fossils of Spriggina floundersi from South Australia may provide the oldest known evidence of population-wide “handedness” in the animal kingdom, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. Researchers found that these 550-million-year-old organisms exhibited a statistically significant preference for turning in one direction over the other, suggesting a complex nervous system existed long before … Read more
A rare 450-million-year-old fossil of the crinoid Dendrocrinus simcoensis, recently rediscovered in a Montreal museum collection, has provided scientists with the second-ever known example of preserved soft tissue in an ancient crinoid. According to a study published in Royal Society Open Science, the specimen’s preserved tube feet offer a rare window into how these early … Read more
Evolutionary biologists are moving past the traditional “obstetrical dilemma” to explore how primate pelvic anatomy, bipedalism, and brain size interact. Recent research indicates that the tension between narrow birth canals and large-headed infants is managed through diverse biological and social strategies, rather than a simple evolutionary conflict. Is the “obstetrical dilemma” still the standard model? … Read more
Asexual reproduction kept Earth’s earliest animals in an evolutionary stalemate for millions of years, according to research published in Nature Ecology and Evolution. A study by the University of Cambridge suggests that because these organisms cloned themselves via runners, they avoided the competitive pressures that typically drive rapid adaptation and biodiversity. It was only when … Read more
Hominins living in South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave utilized fire as early as 1.8 million years ago, according to a study published in the journal PLOS One. Researchers led by M. Dolores Marin-Monfort confirmed the presence of burned animal bones in the cave’s deepest archaeological layer, extending the known timeline of human fire usage by hundreds … Read more
The Ghost Ranch Discovery: Why This “Ostrich-Crocodile” Changes Everything In the high deserts of New Mexico, the fossil-rich soil of Ghost Ranch continues to rewrite the history of the Late Triassic. Paleontologists have recently unveiled Labrujasuchus expectatus, a creature that challenges our traditional understanding of evolution. At first glance, this two-legged, toothless reptile looks remarkably … Read more
The Muddy Origins of Evolution: Rewriting New Zealand’s Avian History For decades, the story of New Zealand’s wildlife was framed by a simple narrative: isolation. We assumed that species evolved in a bubble, untouched for millions of years. However, a remarkable discovery in the fossil-rich beds of Central Otago is turning that theory on its … Read more