'Feathered dragon' has some of the longest tail feathers ever found on a fossil bird
Birds have all kinds of fancy decorations for attracting mates—male peacocks have a fan of feathers accented with shimmering blue eye-spots, birds of paradise do courtship dances that highlight their ...
New fossil salamander species related to the famous axolotl is discovered in Mexico
The Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is famous because adults look like overgrown babies, or tadpoles, retaining juvenile features as adults and capable of remarkable regeneration of lost limbs o...
What a toothless, two-legged crocodile cousin reveals about life before dinosaurs dominated
In the Triassic, the modern animals we know were just beginning to diversify into a menagerie of forms and body plans that rhyme with the lifestyles of extinct and living animals better known to the p...
Scientists Discover 43-Foot Sea Reptile Twice the Size of a Great White Shark
A newly identified mosasaur from Texas suggests that some ancient marine predators were larger, more powerful, and possibly more aggressive than previously recognized. Bite marks, broken jaws, and a g...
Payre fossils from Europe's earliest Neanderthals reveal dynamic evolution shaped by climatic oscillations
The Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) has led the international team behind a new study published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences exploring the complex...
Artists reconstruct extinct Sri Lankan megafauna
For animator and academic Dr. Jason Kennedy, palaeoart isn't just a hobby. Creating 3D images of prehistoric animals sits at the intersection of science and art, combining fossil analysis, comparisons...
Palynology of the Cerro de Las Cabras Formation (Middle Triassic) at Estancia La Obligación area, Cuyana Basin, Mendoza, Argentina: systematics, palynostratigraphy, and long‐distance correlations with the northern hemisphere
Papers in Palaeontology, Volume 12, Issue 3, May/June 2026.
How did animals survive the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs?
It helped to have a number of features to aid survival following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.
Tiny fossils found in 1.7-billion‑year‑old mud yield clues to the evolution of complex life
Stored in an open-air warehouse in tropical Darwin, Australia, are dozens of trays containing cylindrical cores of rock. They are from drill holes bored hundreds of meters below the surface by mineral...
Scientists discover giant sea predator Tylosaurus rex that terrorized ancient oceans
A colossal new sea predator named Tylosaurus rex has been identified from fossils found in Texas, revealing a brutal 43-foot-long hunter that ruled ancient oceans 80 million years ago. The discovery n...
Ancient seas get a new T. rex as massive mosasaur emerges from Texas fossils
There's a new T. rex in the fossil record, only this one terrorized the ancient seas. New research led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History, the Perot Museum of Nature and Science i...
There's a new T. rex from the dinosaur age — and it ruled the seas with a skull-crushing bite
The newly described mosasaur Tylosaurus rex spanned up to 43 feet (13 meters) long and may have been one of the fiercest marine predators of the dinosaur age.
Rare 567‑million‑year‑old fossils refine our understanding of early animal evolution
From butterflies to blue whales, corals and worms, Earth is home to an incredible diversity of animals. How all of these animals evolved from earlier, simpler ancestors is one of the most exciting sto...
Exceptional preservation and unexpected diversity of radiolarians in the aftermath of the Permian–Triassic mass extinction
Papers in Palaeontology, Volume 12, Issue 3, May/June 2026.
Early fossil eukaryotes were benthic aerobes
Complex animals evolved up to 10 million years earlier than previously thought, fossil discovery shows
Trove of fossils discovered in Canada sheds light on "when life first became large, complex and unmistakenly animal."
Discovery of new fossils in Northwest Canada changes view of early animal evolution
Researchers have uncovered a remarkable fossil site in a remote part of Canada's Northwest Territories, offering unprecedented insight into the earliest evolution of complex animal life on Earth. Find...
Preservation and palaeobiogeography of dinosaur eggs from the Dadaepo Formation (Upper Cretaceous: Cenomanian), Korea
Papers in Palaeontology, Volume 12, Issue 3, May/June 2026.
Why meat-eating dinosaurs like T. rex evolved tiny arms
The evolution of tiny arms in several groups of meat-eating dinosaurs was likely driven by the development of strong, powerful heads, which were used to attack prey, according to a new study led by re...
Ancient Arctic fossils uncover three mammal species that survived months of darkness
Today's Arctic may feel remote and desolate, but more than 70 million years ago, it was a surprisingly lively place for some of Earth's ancient mammals.