Science & Technology - Jul 21, 2010 14:17 - 4 Comments

Early primate skull found in Saudi Arabia

U. MICHIGAN (US)—A paleontologist searching for dinosaur fossils has found the skull of an ancient primate. The discovery offers new insights into what the last common ancestor of apes and monkeys may have looked like and when the two lineages went their separate ways. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jul 8, 2010 15:50 - 1 Comment

New ‘mojo’ dinosaur named for ‘frill’

YALE (US)—When Nicholas Longrich discovered a new dinosaur species with a heart-shaped frill on its head, he wanted to come up with a name just as flamboyant as the dinosaur’s appearance. Over a few beers with fellow paleontologists one night, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind: Mojoceratops. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jun 18, 2010 12:46 - 0 Comments

Ancient bite marks reveal taste for bones

YALE (US)—Prehistoric mammals likely gnawed on bare bones for minerals, rather than meat, according to paleontologists who have discovered the oldest mammalian tooth marks yet on bones of ancient animals, including several large dinosaurs. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jun 17, 2010 10:50 - 0 Comments

Jurassic reptiles stayed warm in chilly seas

UC DAVIS (US)—Reptiles roaming the oceans at the time of the dinosaurs were able to maintain a constant body temperature well above that of the surrounding water. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jun 16, 2010 11:17 - 2 Comments

34-million-year-old fig wasp fossil found

U. LEEDS (UK)—The world’s oldest known example of a fig wasp has been found on the Isle of Wight. The fossil wasp is almost identical to the modern species, proving that this tiny but specialized insect has remained virtually unchanged for more than 34 million years. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jun 1, 2010 9:57 - 0 Comments

New ‘wrinkle eye’ dino species confirmed

PENN (US)—A team of paleontologists has described a new species of dinosaur based upon an incomplete skeleton found in western New Mexico. (more…)

Earth & Environment - May 13, 2010 12:13 - 0 Comments

Morocco’s swimming in ancient sea creatures

YALE (US)—Paleontologists have discovered a rich array of exceptionally preserved fossils of marine animals that lived between 480 million and 472 million years ago. The specimens are the oldest yet discovered soft-bodied fossils from the Ordovician, which was marked by intense biodiversification. (more…)

Science & Technology - May 6, 2010 17:10 - 0 Comments

Prehistoric fish leaves behind squiggles

EMORY (US)—The wavy lines etched into a slab of limestone found near Fossil Butte National Monument are prehistoric fish trails, made by Notogoneus osculus as it fed along a lake bottom. (more…)

Science & Technology - Apr 29, 2010 11:39 - 0 Comments

Dino ecosystem as big as a continent

MCGILL (CAN)—New evidence suggests the entire western interior of North America was likely once populated by a single community of dinosaurs thanks to a warm and moderate climate. (more…)

Science & Technology - Apr 20, 2010 11:40 - 0 Comments

Dog-sized dino species discovered in Texas

YALE (US)—Paleontologists have discovered a new species of dinosaur with a softball-sized lump of solid bone on top of its skull. (more…)

Science & Technology - Apr 6, 2010 10:09 - 0 Comments

Fossil record offers mixed bag of information

U. CHICAGO (US)—Paleontologists can’t always get what they want, to paraphrase the Rolling Stones, but sometimes they can get what they need. The fossil record captures both the broad sweep of evolutionary changes in life on earth as well as ecological responses to shorter–term local and regional environmental shifts. (more…)

Earth & Environment - Mar 11, 2010 11:11 - 0 Comments

How early humans adapted to climate change

U. BUFFALO (US)—Siberia’s remote Kamchatka peninsula, a rough and extremely volcanic wilderness region the size of California, is the current site of an international effort to understand how humans living 4,000 to 6,000 years ago reacted to climate changes. (more…)

Science & Technology - Mar 4, 2010 13:28 - 1 Comment

Dino-cousin stars in Triassic prequel

U. TEXAS (US)—The discovery of a dinosaur-like animal living 10 million years earlier than the oldest known dinosaurs has researchers asking if dinosaurs and other close relatives such as pterosaurs (flying reptiles) might have lived much earlier than previously thought. (more…)

Science & Technology - Mar 3, 2010 11:13 - 1 Comment

Snake caught in the sauropod-eating act

U. MICHIGAN (US)—The remains of an extraordinary fossil unearthed in 67-million-year-old sediments from Gujarat in western India provide a rare glimpse at an unusual feeding behavior in ancient snakes. (more…)

Science & Technology - Jan 22, 2010 18:35 - 0 Comments

Alfred Hitchcock meets ‘Jurassic Park’

U. KANSAS—As if the infamous Velociraptor wasn’t vicious enough. A new discovery reveals that a closely related cousin killed by injecting shock-inducing venom into its prey. (more…)

Science & Technology - Dec 16, 2009 4:47 - 0 Comments

Sea cow fossil hints to Madagascar’s past

MCGILL (CANADA)—An ancient little sea cow now has a name. This primitive “dugong” is among the world’s first fully aquatic sea cows, having evolved from terrestrial herbivores that began exploiting coastal waters. (more…)

Earth & Environment, Science & Technology - Dec 10, 2009 16:43 - 3 Comments

Meat-eating dino alters evolutionary tree

TEXAS-AUSTIN (US)—Discovery of a nearly complete skeleton of a previously unknown meat-eating dinosaur may answer questions about early dinosaur evolution and a period of explosive diversification when dinosaurs spread across the supercontinent Pangaea. (more…)

Best of 2009 - Nov 19, 2009 16:08 - 9 Comments

BEST OF 2009: Bizarre band of paleo-crocs

U. CHICAGO (US)/MCGILL (CANADA)—A suite of five ancient crocs, including one with teeth-like boar tusks and another with a snout like a duck’s bill, have been discovered in the Sahara. (more…)

Posts Tagged ‘paleontology’