Crystals Found in Dino-Era Fossil Bird Complicates Mystery of Its Diet
Quartz crystals found in a fossilized bird complicates the mystery of its diet and what role it played in its ancient habitat.
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fossils
New Clues Emerge in How Early Tetrapods Learned to Live — and Eat — on Land
New evidence from scientists at the University of Chicago shows exactly how the tiktaalik roseae, one of the first semi-aquatic organisms, fed itself using a similar feeding mechanism to modern predatory fish, filling in another blank about early water-to-land evolution.
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Geologists Discover Effects of Climate Change on Life During Paleozoic Era
By analyzing the minerals within a type of limestone, researchers were able to determine how changes in the global temperature linked to different types of flourishing life.
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Strange Magnetic Fossils Offer Peek Into Ancient Climate Change
Magnetic fossils of unknown organisms formed during past periods of global climate change are providing new clues about Earth’s ever-changing climate.
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Fossil Shows Giant Predator Worms Lurked in Deep Sea 20 Million Years Ago
A large, fossilized marine burrow dating to about 20 million years ago was likely home to giant, ambush-predator worms, according to research published Thursday.
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Surprise in 50 Million-Year-Old Bug Fossil: Its Genitals
Though not the first bug fossil with genitals discovered, they were unusually well preserved.
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Ancient Wolf Pup Mummy Uncovered in Yukon Permafrost
For 57,000 years, a wolf pup lay in her collapsed permafrost den in nearly pristine condition. Then climate change brought her out for all the world to see.
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Fossil Reveals ‘Buck-Toothed Toucan’ That Lived With Dinosaurs
The avian fossil, found in what is now Madagascar, offers insight into the evolution of the faces of modern birds.
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Most Dinosaurs Grew Slowly. T. Rexes Grew Like Weeds
Teenage years are often awkward for adolescents, but none more so than the Tyrannosaurus rex, according to research Tuesday that revealed the giant dinosaur had to contend with a sudden and intense growth spurt as it aged into an adult.
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‘Dueling Dinosaurs’ Fossils Donated to North Carolina Museum
The fossil skeletons of two dinosaurs intertwined in what looks like a final death match have been donated to a North Carolina museum.
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Indian Fossils Support New Hypothesis for Origin of Hoofed Animals
After over a decade of research and hundreds of new fossils recovered from the hot mines of India, researchers say they have uncovered new details regarding the evolutionary history of Earth’s most famous hoofed animals.
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Ancient Skeleton Find in Germany Offers Clues on Prehistoric Era
German researchers are piecing together the life of a prehistoric woman who died more than 5,000 years ago in the Neolithic period, after her skeleton was found during excavation works for wind turbines.
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Ancient Amphibian Not a Chameleon, as Previously Thought
Headlines in 2016 declared that the world’s most ancient chameleon was found fossilized in amber 99 million years ago. On Thursday, researchers involved in that discovery amended their claim: that ancient amphibian was no chameleon, but a member of a now-extinct lineage of tiny, salamander-like creatures known as albanerpetontids, or “albies” for short.
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A 520 Million-Year-Old, 5-Eyed Fossil Reveals Origin of Arthropods
An extinct shrimp is set to make a big splash in the world of evolutionary biology.
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Found: 220 Million-Year-Old Rat-Like Fossil, Precursor of Modern Mammals
Scientists on Tuesday announced the discovery of a distant ancestor of modern mammals, a 220-million-year-old rat-like creature found in the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.
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Prehistoric Flying Reptiles Evolved to Become Kings of the Sky
From humble beginnings, the pterosaurs, the first flying vertebrates, evolved to grow as big as 650 pounds with wingspans the size of airplanes. A new study of fossil records shows their flight efficiency improved with changes in their body size.
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Ancient Tiny Teeth Reveal First Mammals Lived More Like Reptiles
Using an examination of their fossilized teeth, scientists on Monday revealed the world’s earliest mammals were seemingly more reptile-like, upending what paleontologists believed about their lifespan and activity levels.
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T-Rex Fossil Sells for Record-Breaking $31.8 Million
One of the most complete specimens of a T-Rex fossil in the world was sold for a record $31.8 million Tuesday by Christie’s in New York, nearly quadrupling the previous highest price for a dinosaur at auction.
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Malta Seeks Shark Tooth Fossil Presented to Prince George
Malta says it will seek to retrieve a shark tooth that was presented to Britain’s Prince George by veteran broadcaster and naturalist David Attenborough, who found the fossil during a holiday on the Mediterranean island in the 1960s.
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Scientists Find World’s Oldest Sperm in Myanmar Amber
An international team of paleontologists uncovered the world’s oldest known sperm cells during an intensive examination of 100-million-year-old small crustaceans preserved in amber in what is now Myanmar.
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