Fossils

Latest about Fossils

an artist's impression of a newly name, snake-like animal called Nagini mazonense. Image shows a blue and yellow, snake-like animal with two, lizard-like back legs crawling over a brown salamander with four limbs

Weird ancient snakelike fossil caught in the act of losing its legs

By Nicoletta Lanese published

The fossil belongs to a newfound genus and species.

Fossils
A Triceratops that died 67 million years in what is now Montana left behind a spectacular fossil that is now the centerpiece of a new exhibit in Australia.

Meet 'Horridus,' one of the most complete Triceratops fossils ever found

By Mindy Weisberger published

A Triceratops skeleton nicknamed "Horridus" is over 85% intact and is one of the most complete Triceratops fossils in the world.

Fossils
illustration of a saber-toothed, cat-like predator in a rainforest

Mysterious 'hypercarnivore' with blade-like teeth roamed California 42 million years ago

By Nicoletta Lanese published

The hypercarnivore may have hunted tapirs and tiny rhinos.

Fossils
An artistic reconstruction of the seiche wave surging into the Tanis river, bringing in fishes and everything in its path — including trees and dinosaurs — while impact spherules rained down from the sky.

'Frozen in place' fossils reveal dinosaur-killing asteroid struck in spring

By Mindy Weisberger published

Around 66 million years ago, springtime in the Northern Hemisphere brought disaster and mass death to Earth in the form of a giant asteroid impact that triggered a global extinction.

Fossils
An artist's rendering of Utaurora feeding in the Cambrian sea.

The 'weirdest wonder' of evolution had an even weirder cousin, new study finds

By Brandon Specktor published

Scientists reexamined the fossil of a strange Cambrian sea creature and found that it is related to the 'weird wonder' Opabinia.

Fossils
A top (a), rear (b), bottom (c) and front (d) view of the vertebra discovered at 'Ubeidiya

1.5 million-year-old fossil rewrites 'Out of Africa' theory

By Charles Q. Choi published

A new analysis of a 1.5 million-year-old human vertebra found in Israel suggests that ancient human relatives dispersed out of Africa in multiple waves.

Fossils
An illustration of the early archosaur Mambawakale ruhuhu, whose name means "ancient crocodile from the Ruhuhu Basin" in Kiswahili. Paleontologists found only its skull, jaw and a few other bones, so the rest of the body — mainly the tail and limbs — are reconstructed based on the anatomy of its close relatives.

240 million-year-old 'crocodile beast' was one of the largest of its kind

By Laura Geggel published

A newly described archosaur that lived 240 million years ago in what is now Tanzania had "'powerful jaws and large knife-like teeth."

Fossils
various fossils of the species Mollisonia symmetrica, a bug-like Cambrian arthropod

500 million-year-old, bug-like fossils have stunningly preserved nervous systems

By Nicoletta Lanese published

The organisms may be related to modern arachnids, scientists say.

Fossils
The fossilized Florigerminis jurassica plant with a defined stem, bulbous fruit and fossilized flower bud (marked by the white arrow).

164 million-year-old plant fossil is the oldest example of a flowering bud

By Harry Baker published

Researchers in China have uncovered the oldest example of a fossilized flower bud ever.

Fossils
This ichthyosaur would have been some 33 feet (10 meters) long when it lived about 180 million years ago.

Enormous sea dragon fossil from 180 million years ago discovered in England

By Patrick Pester published

The remains of a monstrous "sea dragon" that swam in the seas some 180 million years ago have been unearthed in England.

Fossils
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