Ruairidh Duncan
A detailed study of ornithopod jawbones from a single site reveals a high dinosaur diversity in Victoria during the late Early Cretaceous.
Tyrannosaurus rex was a relentless predator who lived during the Cretaceous Period more than 65 million years ago.
Roger Harris/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
Ever since moviegoers saw the first ‘Jurassic Park,’ millions have wondered if scientists could make a dinosaur in the lab.
Javier Ortega-Hernández
Researchers have found a new way by which the brains of ancient animals can be preserved.
A reconstruction of face-biting gorgonopsian skulls.
Sophie Vrard, Creaphi
Finding a fossil tooth embedded in bone is always great news for palaeontologists, as it is the gateway to some otherwise out-of-reach understanding of the behaviour of extinct animals.
What our relative may have looked like.
CREDIT Chuang Zhao
A new analysis of a ‘lost’ skull rewrites the recent family tree of the human species, showing our closest relatives lived in China.
Fossil of the skull and.
mandibles of the new species.
Alberto Valenciano
Jackals appeared and established themselves in Africa in at least the last five million years. These animals have evolved and adapted to the changing environment, allowing them to survive.
Massospondylus fossils help researchers develop a full picture of this dinosaur species.
Dorling Kindersley ltd / Alamy Stock Photo/Not for re-use
This is a crucial dinosaur for palaeontologists; the variety of fossils available means researchers can study the species’ growth through its whole life span.
Peter Trusler
Ancient climate change doomed the monk seals that lived in Australian waters millions of years ago.
With the evidence uncovered by paleontologists, an artist sketched El Bosque Petrificado Piedra Chamana as it might have looked long before humans.
Mariah Slovacek/NPS-GIP
Using remnants of fossilized trees, scientists and an artist figured out what the forest looked like long before humans existed.
George Aldridge
Very few bilby and bandicoot fossils have ever been found. Four new discoveries help fill in the picture of how these elusive animals evolved.
A piece of a Priosphenodon lower jaw found in the field in Argentina.
(Aaron LeBlanc)
The recent discovery of fragments of a jaw fossil show that at one point, herbivorous reptiles evolved highly complex and efficient teeth.
Fossils of Shuvuuia deserti depict a small predatory creature with exceptional night vision and hearing.
Mick Ellison/American Natural History Museum
By looking at the eye bones and ear canals of extinct dinosaurs, researchers show that a small ancient predator likely hunted at night and had senses as good as a modern barn owl.
Today the shoreline of Lake Malawi is open, not forested the way it was before ancient humans started modifying the landscape.
Jessica Thompson
Combining evidence from archaeology, geochronology and paleoenvironmental science, researchers identified how ancient humans by Lake Malawi were the first to substantially modify their environment.
Artwork by José Vitor Silva.
So how accurate is the T. rex’s running speed in that famous Jurassic Park jeep-chase scene?
This pair of curled-up Diictodon skeletons tell a story of male parental care.
Authors supplied
These new finds indicate that Diictodon was burrowing and giving some parental care to its young. This was long thought to be unique to mammals.
Tyrannosaurus rex spanned all of ancient North America, and about 20,000 lived at once.
Roger Harris/Science Photo Library vie Getty Images
Using the incredible wealth of fossil data and a modern ecological theory, researchers estimated population density for the extinct apex predator.
The world’s first flowers provided a sumptuous new banquet for beetles.
Artwork by Mr Jie Sun
Preserved in amber, a tiny beetle has shed light on the moment the world first burst into bloom.
The azhdarchid pterosaur, the largest flying animal ever known.
Davide Bonadonna
Gigantic flying reptiles had impressive wingspans of up to 12 metres – and a special trick in their necks.
Ga-Mohana Hill in South Africa’s Northern Cape province.
Benjamin Schoville
People were drawn to Ga-Mohana for many reasons. Surface water was likely among them.
Amy Tschirn
The environmental, cultural and scientific sensitivity of some sites, and rarity of some fossils, means amateur fossil collecting comes with huge risks.