Paleontology

More Stories in Paleontology

  1. Pictures of a fossilized theropod, Ubirajara jubatus
    Paleontology

    Paleontology has a ‘parachute science’ problem. Here’s how it plays out in 3 nations

    When researchers study fossils from lower-income countries, they often engage in dubious or illegal practices that can stifle science.

    By Helen Thompson
  2. An illustration of a Gonkoken nanoi dinosaur walking on the shore of a lake
    Life

    New fossils from Patagonia may rewrite the history of duck-billed dinosaurs

    New findings are adding a wrinkle to researchers’ understanding of how duck-billed dinosaurs conquered the Cretaceous world.

    By Jake Buehler
  3. illustration of Megacerops kuwagatarhinus with small, striped mammals in the foreground and background
    Paleontology

    ‘Thunder beast’ fossils show how some mammals might have gotten big

    Rhinolike mammals called brontotheres repeatedly evolved into bigger and smaller species, a fossil analysis shows. The bigger ones won out over time.

    By Elise Cutts
  4. A photo of a fossilized bat skeleton
    Paleontology

    Newfound bat skeletons are the oldest on record

    The newly identified species Icaronycteris gunnelli lived about 52.5 million years ago in what is now Wyoming and looked a lot like modern bats.

    By Sid Perkins
  5. An illustration of a Tyrannosaurus eating a smaller dinosaur with half of that dino's body visible.
    Life

    T. rex may have had lips like a modern lizard’s

    Dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus have long been portrayed as lipless, but new research suggests this wasn’t so.

    By Jake Buehler
  6. An illustration of several Essexella sitting on the ocean floor.
    Paleontology

    310-million-year-old fossil blobs might not be jellyfish after all

    An ancient animal called Essexella may have been a type of burrowing sea anemone, a new study proposes.

    By Meghan Rosen
  7. A photo of a fossil with two dark brown pieces attached to the shell.
    Paleontology

    520-million-year-old animal fossils might not be animals after all

    Newly described fossils of Protomelission gatehousei suggest that the species, once thought to be the oldest example of bryozoans, is actually a type of colony-forming algae.

    By Sid Perkins
  8. An illustration of a Tillyardembia sitting on a plant.
    Paleontology

    The oldest known pollen-carrying insects lived about 280 million years ago

    Pollen stuck to fossils of earwig-like Tillyardembia pushes back the earliest record of potential insect pollinators by about 120 million years.

    By Sid Perkins
  9. A fossilized leaf of the extinct plant Gigantonoclea guizhouensis, with holes in pairs along the center
    Paleontology

    Insect bites in plant fossils reveal leaves could fold shut millions of years ago

    The 252-million-year-old fossil leaves have symmetrical holes, which suggest an insect bit through the leaves when they were folded.

    By Carolyn Gramling