Climate change decided who ruled as top predator 35 million years ago
An international team of researchers from Belgium, France, Switzerland, Spain and the U.S. has reconstructed the evolution of body mass in carnivorous mammals during the Paleogene—a crucial window in ...
Tiny Fossil Overlooked for Decades Reveals a New Ice Age Species
A tiny fossil overlooked for decades at La Brea Tar Pits has turned out to belong to a species previously unknown to science. Researchers have identified Spea labreae, a previously unknown extinct spa...
A 236-million-year-old fossil challenges the story of mammalian live birth
Some cynodonts may have been giving birth to live young much sooner in evolutionary history than previously assumed. A new Frontiers in Mammal Science study has offered the first compelling evidence t...
African grasslands expanded 5 million year earlier than previously thought, molecular fossils suggest
The iconic grassland savannas of Africa are geographically extensive and important for both local fauna and the global climate. But where did they come from, and how will they change in the future? On...
Ancient penguin fossils offer new window into Antarctica's changing climate
A team of paleontologists from China University of Geosciences (Beijing) studying penguin fossils from Seymour Island off the Antarctic Peninsula have demonstrated how ancient bird bones can act as ch...
150-million-year-old dinosaur footprints reveal something strange about its walk
A spectacular 150-million-year-old trail of more than 130 footprints captures a giant sauropod making a complete loop before continuing on its way. Its uneven stride hints that the long-necked dinosau...
Progress and future directions in dinosaur palaeontology
Seven New Frog Species Uncovered in Madagascar After 12 Years of Research
Seven newly identified diamond frogs reveal hidden diversity that is already influencing conservation planning in Madagascar. Beneath the leaf litter of Madagascar’s forests, diamond frogs can remain ...
A Rare Look Inside the Dodo’s Skull Challenges Centuries of Myths
CT scans reveal new clues to how the dodo sensed its environment and challenge its reputation as an unintelligent bird. For centuries, one of the world’s only two complete dodo skulls has been preserv...
A new fossil from the Eocene of Iran provides new insights regarding the evolution of the morphologically bizarre tube‐eye fish
Papers in Palaeontology, Volume 12, Issue 4, July/August 2026.
Arctic fossil abandoned in 1948 proves to be record-size Triassic hunter
Nearly 80 years ago, a British expedition discovered the battered remains of a giant fossil on the peak of an Arctic island. Unable to take it with them, they snapped some pictures, took some bones an...
This Fossil Upends a Decades-Old Debate About Snake Evolution
Exceptionally preserved Brazilian fossil reveals early snakes explored several habitats. More than 4,000 snake species live today, yet the evolutionary path that produced their elongated, limbless bod...
240-million-year-old reptile fossil reveals a lost chapter before dinosaurs and crocodiles
A 240-million-year-old reptile discovered in Brazil is revealing what evolution looked like just before the rise of dinosaurs and crocodiles. The small predator had unusually positioned legs that may ...
Early snakes explored life underground, on land and at sea
Snakes are highly modified lizards, with more than 4,000 living species today. The origin of snakes has long been one of evolutionary biology's most debated questions. Their sparse fossil record has m...
Dinosaurs became giants — so why did they never become tiny?
Dinosaurs conquered the land at enormous sizes, but strangely, they almost never evolved into truly tiny animals. New research suggests that physiology alone can’t explain this missing miniature end o...
Scientists rediscover lost Megalodon fossils—and reveal a 79-foot giant
Several enormous Megalodon vertebrae thought to have been destroyed in 1989 were found sitting unnoticed on a museum shelf. Their analysis strengthens evidence that the giant shark could exceed 24 met...
Uberaba Geopark: A time capsule from the Late Cretaceous period nestled in Brazil's tropical savanna
Uberaba Geopark, also known as the "Land of the Giants," is a region in Brazil's Cerrado biome that preserved thousands of prehistoric fossils.
Meet the 30-Million-Year-Old Dog That Climbed Trees Instead of Chasing Sticks
A nearly complete fossil shows that one early dog combined climbing ability with a body unlike those of modern running canids. For more than 30 years, a fossil roughly 30 million years old remained se...
567-million-year-old fossils rewrite the dawn of animal life
A spectacular fossil site in Canada contains 567-million-year-old creatures that may represent some of the earliest animals to move, reproduce sexually, and develop recognizable body plans. The discov...
One of the world's only two complete dodo skulls reveals new clues about the extinct bird
Only two complete dodo skulls are known to exist anywhere in the world: one at the Natural History Museum Denmark and one at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The specimen housed in Cop...