Category Archives: Fossils

Fossil of ‘largest snake to have ever existed’ found in western India

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Scientists estimate Vasuki indicus was up to 15m long, weighed a tonne and would have constricted its prey

Fossil vertebrae unearthed in a mine in western India are the remains of one of the largest snakes that ever lived, a monster estimated at up to 15 metres in length – longer than a T rex.

Scientists have recovered 27 vertebrae from the snake, including a few still in the same position as they would have been when the reptile was alive. They said the snake, which they named Vasuki indicus, would have looked like a large python and would not have been venomous.

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Fossils found in Somerset by girl, 11, ‘may be of largest-ever marine reptile’

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Experts believe remains belong to a type of ichthyosaur that roamed the seas about 202m years ago

Fossils discovered by an 11-year-old girl on a beach in Somerset may have come from the largest marine reptile ever to have lived, according to experts.

The fossils are thought to be from a type of ichthyosaur, a prehistoric marine reptile that lived in the time of dinosaurs. The newly discovered species is believed to have roamed the seas towards the end of the Triassic, about 202m years ago.

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Scientists name newly discovered ancient amphibian species after Kermit the Frog

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Kermitops gratus are thought to be among first true amphibians and a key step in transition of life from water to land

After achieving worldwide fame through numerous hit films and TV shows, leading to a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, Kermit the Frog has another accolade: a 270m-year-old fossil named after him.

Scientists have discovered a species of an ancient amphibian ancestor, which they have named Kermitops gratus because of its resemblance to the bright green star of The Muppet Show.

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Scientists find skull of enormous ancient dolphin in Amazon

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Fossil of giant river dolphin found in Peru, whose closest living relation is in South Asia, gives clues to future extinction threats

Scientists have discovered the fossilised skull of a giant river dolphin, from a species thought to have fled the ocean and sought refuge in Peru’s Amazonian rivers 16m years ago. The extinct species would have measured up to 3.5 metres long, making it the largest river dolphin ever found.

The discovery of this new species, Pebanista yacuruna, highlights the looming risks to the world’s remaining river dolphins, all of which face similar extinction threats in the next 20 to 40 years, according to the lead author of new research published in Science Advances today. Aldo Benites-Palomino said it belonged to the Platanistoidea family of dolphins commonly found in oceans between 24m and 16m years ago.

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Ancient ‘chewing gum’ sheds light on stone age teenagers’ diet

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Traces of DNA found on lumps of tree resin suggest trout and hazelnuts were popular 10,000 years ago

DNA from a type of “chewing gum” used by teenagers in Sweden 10,000 years ago is shedding new light on the stone age diet and oral health, according to research.

The wads of gum are made from pieces of birch bark pitch, a tar-like black resin, and carry clearly visible teethmarks.

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Plant fossils turn out to be turtles in ‘unusual misidentification’

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Re-examination finds what were taken to be veins of leaves are actually bone growth patterns

Two small, oval fossils thought to be prehistoric plants are actually the remains of baby marine turtles, researchers have revealed.

The fossils, found in rocks dating to between 132 and 113 million years ago, were discovered in Colombia in the middle of the 20th century by Padre Gustavo Huerta, a priest with a penchant for fossil plants.

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‘Extremely rare’ Jurassic-era fossils discovered in Lake Powell

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Tritylodonts, mid-sized mammal-related herbivores, roamed the area’s deserts 200m years ago

Scientists have discovered an “extremely rare” set of fossils at Lake Powell that the National Park Service (NPS) is calling one of the most important vertebrate discoveries in the US this year.

The findings, revealed this week, include skulls and teeth from dozens of mid-sized, mammal-related herbivores called tritylodonts that once roamed the region’s vast desert. The bones lay hidden in the sandstone walls of the reservoir for roughly 180m years before a lucky discovery in March.

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New Mexico footprints are oldest sign of humans in Americas, research shows

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Fossil footprints date back to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago, upending previous theory that humans reached continent later

New research confirms that fossil human footprints in New Mexico are probably the oldest direct evidence of human presence in the Americas, a finding that upends what many archaeologists thought they knew.

The footprints were discovered at the edge of an ancient lakebed in White Sands national park and date back to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago, according to research published on Thursday in the journal Science.

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UK experts fear losing access to ice age mammoths Cotswolds site to UAE

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Archeologists and palaeontologists say legislation needed to protect major finds championed by David Attenborough

Leading British archaeologists and palaeontologists are warning that one of the nation’s most significant palaeolithic sites is under threat because there is not enough legislation to protect it.

They are calling for changes to the law amid fears that crucial evidence at a site in the Cotswolds could be lost to the UK for ever.

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Newly discovered whale species could have been heaviest animal ever

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Fossils found in Peru from extinct species show it may have had body mass of 85-340 tonnes – heavier than blue whales

The fossilised bones of an ancient creature that patrolled coastal waters 40m years ago belong to a newly discovered species that is a contender for the heaviest animal ever to have existed on Earth.

Fossil hunters discovered remnants of the enormous and long-extinct whale in a rock formation in the Ica desert of southern Peru. Fully grown adults might have weighed hundreds of tonnes, researchers believe.

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‘Not always king’: fossil shows mammal sinking teeth into dinosaur

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Discovery in China challenges view of early mammals as ‘fodder’ for dinosaurs, say researchers

Whether they had sharp teeth, vicious claws or were simply enormous, dinosaurs were creatures to be feared. But a newly identified fossil shows that, at least sometimes, the underdog bit back.

Experts revealed the 125m-year-old fossil that froze in time after being taken on by a small mammal a third of its size. They are tangled together, the mammal’s teeth sunk into the beaked dinosaur’s ribs, its left paw clasping the beast’s lower jaw.

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Giant sloth pendants indicate humans settled Americas much earlier than thought

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Scientists studied jewelry made from now extinct creatures and theorize that humans arrived in Americas 27,000 years ago

New research suggests humans lived in South America at the same time as now extinct giant sloths, bolstering evidence that people arrived in the Americas earlier than once thought.

Scientists analyzed triangular and teardrop-shaped pendants made of bony material from the sloths. They concluded that the carved and polished shapes and drilled holes were the work of deliberate craftsmanship.

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New analysis of ancient human protein could unlock secrets of evolution

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The technique – known as proteomics – could bring new insights into the past two million years of humanity’s history

Tiny traces of protein lingering in the bones and teeth of ancient humans could soon transform scientists’ efforts to unravel the secrets of the evolution of our species.

Researchers believe a new technique – known as proteomics – could allow them to identify the proteins from which our predecessors’ bodies were constructed and bring new insights into the past 2 million years of humanity’s history.

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‘Charmouth crocodile’ identified as new genus of croc-like creature

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Remains of 2-metre-long animal were discovered in 2017 by two fossil hunters for whom it has been named

Scientists have identified a new genus of fearsome crocodile-like creature that once hunted off what is now Dorset’s Jurassic Coast.

The remains of the 2-metre-long animal were discovered by fossil hunters after a series of landslips on to a beach in 2017, and the newly recognised beast has been named Turnersuchus hingleyae in honour of the finders, Paul Turner and Lizzie Hingley.

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Queensland graziers unearth 100m-year-old plesiosaur remains likened to Rosetta Stone

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Amateur fossil hunters find skull connected to body of marine giant elasmosaur for the first time in Australia

A group of female graziers from outback Queensland who hunt fossils in their downtime have uncovered the remains of a 100m-year-old creature that palaeontologists are likening to the Rosetta Stone for its potential to unlock the discovery of several new species of prehistoric marine giant.

One of the “Rock Chicks” – as the amateur palaeontologists call themselves – uncovered the fossilised remains of the long-necked plesiosaur, known as an elasmosaur, while searching her western Queensland cattle station in August.

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‘The sheer scale is extraordinary’: meet the titanosaur that dwarfs Dippy the diplodocus

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One of the largest creatures to have walked the Earth is to become the Natural History Museum’s new star attraction

It will be one of the largest exhibits to grace a British museum. In spring, the Natural History Museum in London will display the skeleton of a titanosaur, a creature so vast it will have to be shoehorned into the 9-metre-high Waterhouse gallery.

One of the most massive creatures ever to have walked on Earth, Patagotitan mayorum was a 57-tonne behemoth that would have shaken the ground as it stomped over homelands which now form modern Patagonia. Its skeleton is 37 metres long, and 5 metres in height – significantly larger than the museum’s most famous dinosaur, Dippy the diplodocus, which used to loom over its main gallery.

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Christie’s cancels T rex skeleton auction after doubts raised

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Sale of 1,400kg skeleton withdrawn after New York Times reported claims of similarities to T rex sold in 2020

The British auction house Christie’s has been forced to call off the £20m auction of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton just days before it was due to go under the hammer after a well-known paleontologist raised concerns that parts of it looked similar to another dinosaur.

Christie’s said on Monday that the 1,400kg (3,100lb) skeleton – nicknamed Shen – had been withdrawn from the auction in Hong Kong on 30 November, when it was set to be the star lot.

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‘Alien goldfish’ may have been unique mollusc, say scientists

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Researchers think they may have solved enduring mystery of where Typhloesus wellsi sits on tree of life

The mystery of a bizarre creature dubbed the “alien goldfish”, which has baffled fossil experts for decades, may have been solved, according to scientists who say the animal appears to have been some sort of mollusc.

Typhloesus wellsi lived about 330m years ago and was discovered in the Bear Gulch Limestone fossil site in Montana in the late 1960s, with the remains of other species subsequently identified.

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Discovery of small armoured dinosaur in Argentina is first of its kind

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Jakapil kaniukura was about 5ft long and probably walked upright in then-steamy Patagonian landscape about 100m years ago

Palaeontologists have announced the discovery of a previously unknown small armoured dinosaur in southern Argentina, a creature that probably walked upright on its back legs roaming a then-steamy landscape about 100m years ago.

The Cretaceous period dinosaur, named Jakapil kaniukura, would have been well-protected with rows of bony disc-shaped armour along its neck and back and down to its tail, they said. It measured about 5ft (1.5 meters) long and weighed only 9-15lb (4-7kg), similar to an average house cat.

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Rare collection of bird fossils from 55m years ago donated to Scottish museum

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Collection bequeathed to National Museums Scotland includes species that are unknown to science

A remarkable collection of fossilised birds that lived 55 million years ago has been bequeathed to the National Museums Scotland (NMS) in Edinburgh and includes dozens of species that are unknown to science.

Dating from the beginning of the Eocene epoch, they represent the early stages in the evolution of modern birds.

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