paleontology

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47M-Year-Old Fossil Evolutionary 'Aunt' to Humans

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered the oldest intact primate fossil on record, ABC News reports. Nicknamed “Ida,” the 47-million-year-old lemur-like creature had opposable thumbs, fingernails instead of claws, and legs that could have evolved to walk upright. Scientists don’t think Ida is a direct ancestor of humans, though. “...

Scientists Find Fossil of 'Mother of All Primates'

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered a 47 million-year-old primate fossil that they believe represents the common ancestor of all later monkeys, apes, and humans, reports the Wall Street Journal. The find supports a theory that humans' ancient ape-like ancestor was an adapid, which is also believed to be linked to lemurs. The...

Dinos Evolved Wings to Lure Opposite Sex

Feathered displays may have been about finding mates, not climbing trees

(Newser) - Among paleontologists, one of the big battles has long been over why dinosaurs originally evolved wings: Did they start gliding down from trees, or need extra propulsion when running? According to a new study, the first wings were all about impressing the ladies—it was sexual selection that let bigger-winged...

Fossil Discovery Hints Dinos Were Warm and Fuzzy

Feathers may have arisen with the earliest dinosaurs

(Newser) - The evolutionary history of feathers just got a whole lot fuzzier, reports the BBC. A 130-million-year-old fossil has been found in China with “protofeathers,” leading scientists to believe that one of the two main families of dinosaurs—previously thought to have had scaly hides—may in fact have...

North America's Tiniest Dino Found
North America's
Tiniest Dino Found
Mar 17, 2009 4:16 AM CDT

North America's Tiniest Dino Found

Chicken-sized predator roamed Canada 75M years ago

(Newser) - Scientists have identified the remains of the smallest dinosaur species ever found in North America, reports National Geographic. Hesperonychus elizabethae was a Cretaceous-era carnivore no bigger than a chicken, according to researchers. Scientists believe the existence of the Velociraptor cousin helps confirm that dinosaurs, not mammals, filled the role of...

LA Unearths Mammoth Fossil Stash

Giant cache of Ice Age fossils unearthed from under city park

(Newser) - Workers digging up an underground Los Angeles parking garage have unearthed the biggest cache of fossils from the last Ice Age ever discovered, including a nearly intact mammoth skeleton, reports the Los Angeles Times. Researchers have lifted huge chunks of earth from the site adjacent to the La Brea tar...

Meet Titanoboa, 45-Foot Snake
 Meet Titanoboa, 45-Foot Snake 
Feb 5, 2009 11:32 AM CST

Meet Titanoboa, 45-Foot Snake

(Newser) - A 45-foot, 1.25-ton snake stalked the jungles of South America in the period shortly after dinosaurs went extinct, the Times of London reports. Researchers have found 28 individual “Titanoboas” in Colombia’s Cerrejon Coal Mine; with every specimen at least 40 feet long, scientists say it’s likely...

Comet Crash Created Diamonds, Death

'Nanodiamond' discovery points to species-destroying collision 13,000 years ago

(Newser) - Newly discovered microscopic diamonds suggest that a comet crashed into North America 13,000 years ago, triggering devastating floods and fires that killed 35 species and wiped out human communities, reports the Los Angeles Times. Layers of "nanodiamonds," found in a number of regions in the country, were...

Dino Dads: Original Mr. Mom
 Dino Dads: Original Mr. Mom
Dec 19, 2008 7:43 AM CST

Dino Dads: Original Mr. Mom

Male raptors sat on the eggs while females went out foraging

(Newser) - Some of the fearsome birdlike predators of the Cretaceous and Jurassic ages had a softer side as stay-at-home dads, a team of paleontologists says. The researchers analyzed leg bones found on nests of unhatched eggs and concluded that in at least three dinosaur genuses, it was the males who guarded...

Fossil of Giant Flying Reptile Found

Newly discovered species had car-sized wingspan

(Newser) - Scientists have uncovered a new species of gigantic reptile that flew the skies over Brazil 115 million years ago, the BBC reports. The reptile, by far the largest of its kind ever found, had a wing span of over 16 feet. Lacusovagus—meaning lake wanderer—had a huge jaw, suggesting...

Sorry, Chicken; Fossil Proves Egg Came First

(Newser) - The contents of a fossilized dinosaur nest may help resolve the age-old chicken-and-egg question, LiveScience reports. That birds evolved from dinosaurs is no secret, but the new discovery shows that the pointy-ended bird egg developed before the bird itself, paleontologists say. The nest is believed to have belonged to one...

Sahara Yields Ancient Cemetery
 Sahara Yields Ancient Cemetery 
Aug 15, 2008 2:13 PM CDT

Sahara Yields Ancient Cemetery

Find shows desert was once lush, green, populated

(Newser) - Explorers hunting for dinosaur bones have found a Stone Age cemetery deep in the Sahara desert, National Geographic reports. The team of paleontologists discovered bones from two separate ancient human cultures that lived in the region as long as 10,000 years ago, when monsoon rains turned parts of the...

'Frog From Hell' Fossil Turns up in Madagascar

'Beelzebufo' munched on baby dinosaurs

(Newser) - Fossil hunters digging in Madagascar have discovered a 70 million-year-old, 10 pound ancestor of the horned frog. Over twice as large as its modern-day descendants, the  "slightly squashed beach-ball" shaped creature probably lunched on small lizards and baby dinosaurs, and has earned the charming nicknames "frog from hell"...

Arachnophobia! 8-Foot Fossil Scorpion Is Biggest Bug

Creepy swam sea with other giant crawlies

(Newser) - Scientists digging in Germany have found the fossilized claw of what is thought to be the largest bug ever to roam the earth—or, in the case of this 400-million-year-old scorpion, to navigate the seas. The eight-foot-long arachnid is an "amazing discovery" that highlights the remarkable sizes of ancient...

Long-Necked Dinosaur Grazed Like a Cow

Study finds plant-eater munched on ferns

(Newser) - The long-necked plant-eating dinosaur Nigersaurus ate its meals off the ground rather than reaching into trees, National Geographic reports. Fossils of the 30-foot-long creature reveal that the animal probably nibbled on plants such as ferns and horsetails. “We have seen nothing like this dinosaur,” said a paleontologist at...

Chinese Make Dino Soup
Chinese Make Dino Soup
Jul 4, 2007 7:48 AM CDT

Chinese Make Dino Soup

(Newser) - Chinese villagers in Henan province dug up a ton of fossilized dinosaur bones, using them to make traditional medicines, including soup and poultices. The villagers, not entirely inaccurately, believed that they were ‘dragon bones’ from flying dragons. Once they learned of their value to paleontologists, the villagers donated the...

Giant Penguin Fossils Found in Peruvian Desert

Spearfishing birds waddled the earth 36 million years ago

(Newser) - Penguins haven't always lived on ice, scientists have concluded after unearthing fossils of giant penguins in Peru's Atacama desert. The penguins, nearly human-sized at 4.5 feet tall, had extraordinarily long beaks apparently used for spearfishing, and waddled the earth some 36 million years ago, the National Geographic News reports....

Big Bird Dazzles Paleontologists
Big Bird Dazzles Paleontologists
Jun 14, 2007 2:27 PM CDT

Big Bird Dazzles Paleontologists

Fossil unearthed in Gobi desert reveals record of 26-foot-long 'gigantic chicken'

(Newser) - The largest birdlike creature on record stood over 16 feet tall, weighed a ton and a half, and had sharp claws but no teeth. The Chinese paleontologist who unearthed the creature's thigh bone wasn't sure what it was, he tells the San Francisco Chronicle, but as he listed the possibilities...

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