Creatures that patrolled the oceans 3m years ago were about two metres long at birth, researchers find
Enormous megatooth sharks, or megalodons, which patrolled the world’s oceans more than three million years ago, gave birth to babies larger than most adult humans, scientists say.
Researchers made the unsettling discovery when they X-rayed the vertebra of a fossilised megalodon and found that it must have been about two metres (6.5 ft) long when it was born.
Continue reading...Calf carcass from thawing ground in north-east region of Yakutia found with many internal organs intact
A well-preserved ice age woolly rhino with many of its internal organs still intact has been recovered from the permafrost in Russia’s extreme northern region.
Russian media reported on Wednesday that the carcass was revealed by thawing permafrost in Yakutia in August. Scientists are waiting for ice roads in the Arctic region to become passable to deliver the animal to a laboratory for studies in January.
Continue reading...The renowned fossil hunter on the anti-African prejudice in palaeontology, her dream discovery, and bathing her daughter beside a baby hippo
For over 50 years, British-born palaeoanthropologist Meave Leakey has been unearthing fossils of our early ancestors in Kenya’s Turkana Basin. Her discoveries have changed how we think about our origins. Instead of a tidy ape-to-human progression, her work suggests different pre-human species living simultaneously. Leakey’s new memoir, The Sediments of Time: My Lifelong Search for the Past, co-written with her daughter Samira, reflects on her life in science and pieces together what we now understand about the climate-driven evolution of our species.
Leakey is part of a famous family of palaeoanthropologists. Her husband, Richard Leakey, and his parents, Louis and Mary, are known for their discoveries of early hominins.
Continue reading...Attenborough gave seven-year-old a giant shark tooth found on a family holiday
From the world-famous Koh-i-noor diamond to the Rosetta Stone, British royals have long been gifted rare objects that campaigners want repatriated to their rightful lands.
Prince George, it seems, is the latest in the line of fire, after being given a giant prehistoric shark tooth by the environmentalist and national treasure Sir David Attenborough, found on a family holiday to Malta more than 50 years ago.
Continue reading...Experts say discovery of 120,000-year-old prints could shed new light on spread of Homo sapiens out of Africa
A set of seven footprints made at a lake about 120,000 years ago have been hailed as the earliest evidence of modern humans on the Arabian Peninsula – a discovery experts say could shed light on the spread of our species out of Africa.
The path by which Homo sapiens spread around the world was full of twists and turns. Genetic studies suggested it was not until 60,000 years ago that a migration of modern humans out of Africa led to a successful spread across Europe.
Continue reading...Scientists estimate carcass is up to 39,500 years old and hail find as ‘groundbreaking’
Reindeer herders in a Russian Arctic archipelago have found an immaculately preserved carcass of an ice age cave bear, researchers announced on Monday.
The bear, revealed by the melting permafrost, was discovered on the Lyakhovsky Islands with its teeth and even its nose intact. Previously, scientists only had been able to discover the bones of cave bears, that became extinct 15,000 years ago.
Continue reading...Scans suggest Tanystropheus, which lived 242m years ago, had nostrils on top of its snout
The mystery of an ancient reptile with a tremendously long neck has been solved, according to researchers who say the creature lived in the water.
Fossils of the creature, known as Tanystropheus, were first unearthed in Germany around 150 years ago and further specimens have turned up over the decades, largely at Monte San Giorgio on the Swiss-Italian border.
Continue reading...Microbes had lain dormant at the bottom of the sea since the age of the dinosaurs
Scientists have successfully revived microbes that had lain dormant at the bottom of the sea since the age of the dinosaurs, allowing the organisms to eat and even multiply after eons in the deep.
Their research sheds light on the remarkable survival power of some of Earth’s most primitive species, which can exist for tens of millions of years with barely any oxygen or food before springing back to life in the lab.
Continue reading...Discovery of a single vertebra of an elaphrosaur in Victoria hugely expands known range of the group, which had teeth as juveniles but beaks as adults
A dinosaur relative of T. rex and Velociraptor with an unusually long neck, and which may have transitioned from predator to plant-eater as it reached adulthood, has been unearthed in Victoria.
The elaphrosaur was a member of the theropod family of dinosaurs that included all of the predatory species. It stood about the height of a small emu, measuring 2m from its head to the end of a long tail, and had short arms, each ending in four fingers.
Continue reading...Research on Massospondylus carinatus embryos sheds new light on animals’ development
The fossilised skulls of dinosaur embryos that died within their eggs about 200m years ago, have been digitally reconstructed by scientists, shedding new light on the animals’ development, and how close they were to hatching.
The rare clutch of seven eggs, some of which contain embryos, was discovered in South Africa in 1976, with the developing young found to be a species of dinosaur called Massospondylus carinatus.
Continue reading...Ikaria wariootia is half the size of a grain of rice and an early example of a bilateral organism
It might not show much of a family resemblance but fossil hunters say a newly discovered creature, that looks like a teardrop-shaped jellybean and is about half the size of a grain of rice, is an early relative of humans and a vast array of other animals.
The team discovered the fossils in rocks in the outback of South Australia that are thought to be at least 555m years old.
Continue reading...Tiny creature, half the size of a mallard, found in rocks dating back to dinosaur age
Experts have discovered a fossil of the world’s oldest known modern bird – a diminutive creature about half the size of a mallard duck.
Dubbed the Wonderchicken, the remains were found in rocks dating to about 66.8m to 66.7m years ago, revealing that the bird was active shortly before the asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs 66m years ago.
Continue reading...Species is thought to be the oldest member of the T rex family yet discovered in northern North America
Scientists in Canada have announced the discovery of a new species of dinosaur closely related to Tyrannosaurus rex that strode the plain of North America about 80m years ago.
Related: Dinosaurs had feathers ruffled by parasites, study finds
Continue reading...Carbon emissions make sea more acidic, which wiped out 75% of marine species 66m years ago
Ocean acidification can cause the mass extinction of marine life, fossil evidence from 66m years ago has revealed.
A key impact of today’s climate crisis is that seas are again getting more acidic, as they absorb carbon emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas. Scientists said the latest research is a warning that humanity is risking potential “ecological collapse” in the oceans, which produce half the oxygen we breathe.
Continue reading...Researchers are building a picture of palorchestids, which had tapir-like skulls and large scimitar-like claws
The “strange” anatomy of a family of giant marsupials that roamed eastern Australia and Tasmania for much of the past 25m years has been revealed in a new study.
Scientists had already figured out that palorchestids had tapir-like skulls and large “scimitar-like claws”, but little was known about the limbs of one of the “strangest marsupial lineages to have existed”, according to the paper published by a group of Australian researchers.
Continue reading...Scientists believe dinosaur dates back to 168m years ago during the middle Jurassic period
A new species of one of the most recognisable types of dinosaur is also the oldest of its kind ever discovered, British scientists believe.
Remains of a stegosaurus, an armoured dinosaur instantly recognisable by the plate-like bones protruding from its spine and spikes on its tails, were studied by a team from the Natural History Museum and belong to a new genus that walked the earth around 168m years ago.
Continue reading...Giant bird estimated to have weighed about 7kg has been named Heracles inexpectatus
Fossils of the largest parrot ever recorded have been found in New Zealand. Estimated to have weighed about 7kg (1.1st), it would have been more than twice as heavy as the kākāpo, previously the largest known parrot.
Palaeontologists have named the new species Heracles inexpectatus to reflect its unusual size and strength and the unexpected nature of the discovery.
Continue reading...Ancient bird’s foot is so distinctive palaeontologists declare it a new species
The fossilised remains of a bizarre, ancient bird that had middle toes longer than its lower legs have been found in a lump of amber from Myanmar.
The elongated toe resembles those seen on lemurs and tree-climbing lizards, and suggests an unusual lifestyle for some of the earliest birds that lived alongside the dinosaurs, researchers said.
Continue reading...Huge thigh bone in Crimean cave belonged to largest bird found in northern hemisphere
Giant flightless birds that dwarfed modern ostriches and weighed nearly half a tonne roamed Europe when the first archaic humans arrived from Africa, scientists say.
Researchers unearthed the fossilised thigh bone of one of the feathered beasts while excavating a cave on the Crimean peninsula on the northern coast of the Black Sea. It is the first time such a massive bird has been found in the northern hemisphere.
Continue reading...Homo luzonensis fossils found in Luzon island cave, dating back up to 67,00 years
A new species of ancient human, thought to have been under 4ft tall and adapted to climbing trees, has been discovered in the Philippines, providing a twist in the story of human evolution.
The specimen, named Homo luzonensis, was excavated from Callao cave on Luzon island in the northern Philippines and has been dated to 50,000-67,000 years ago – when our own ancestors and the Neanderthals were spreading across Europe and into Asia.
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