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334 results for "paleontology"
A forgotten museum fossil sat in storage for 64 years before revealing secrets about a mysterious gap in Earth's animal evolution. Scientists now believe an entire era of ancient life was simply waiting to be rediscovered.
A spiky fossil that sat unnoticed in a museum drawer for 60 years is rewriting what scientists thought was a dark chapter in Earth's history. The discovery suggests ancient oceans teemed with life during a period once believed to be nearly barren.
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A preteen on a 4-H youth program excursion discovered an ancient fossil dating back to the age of dinosaurs. He plans to share his incredible find with his community at the county fair. ---
A 212-million-year-old reptile discovered in New Mexico looked almost exactly like a small dinosaur, but it was actually a crocodile relative that evolved the same body plan over 100 million years earlier. This "witch croc" shows how nature can arrive at the same brilliant solution twice.
A Kansas seventh grader on a 4-H field trip spotted giant vertebrae sticking out of the ground and unearthed a 15-foot tylosaurus fossil. After 30 hours of careful cleaning, he'll share his prehistoric discovery with the community this summer.
A family outing near a shopping center in Mansfield, Texas turned into a paleontological treasure hunt when a curious kindergartener spotted fossils that scientists later identified as a 100-million-year-old nodosaur. What started as a child's innocent curiosity became a scientifically significant discovery of one of North America's rarest armored dinosaurs.
Scientists just discovered a bizarre two-legged, toothless crocodile relative that looks exactly like a dinosaur but isn't. The 200-million-year-old fossil from New Mexico fills a gap researchers knew had to exist.
Scientists used neutron imaging to peek inside an ancient Antarctic fish skull and discovered features that help explain how life first moved from water to land. The find reveals how our distant ancestors began adapting to breathe air and survive near the surface.
Trapped in amber for 100 million years, a bizarre insect with crab-like pincers is rewriting what scientists thought possible in the insect world. This tiny predator represents only the fourth time such claws evolved independently in insects.
After more than a century of debate, researchers have finally cracked the puzzle of why T. rex had such comically small arms. The answer reveals a fascinating trade-off that shaped dinosaur evolution for 180 million years.
A first-year college student on her very first fossil hunt in New Mexico discovered a mammal species unknown to science. The find proved that even well-studied sites can still reveal ancient secrets.
A massive ocean predator named Tylosaurus rex has been hiding in plain sight for decades, misidentified in museum drawers. Paleontologists discovered the 43-foot sea giant by taking a second look at fossils labeled as a different species.
Tiny scratches on fossilized teeth reveal baby duck-billed dinosaurs ate softer, nutrient-rich foods than adults, suggesting bird-like parenting 80 million years ago. The discovery shows Maiasaura parents may have actively fed their helpless young, much like modern birds do today.
Scientists in Canada's Northwest Territories discovered fossils that are 567 million years old, making them the oldest evidence of animal movement and sexual reproduction ever found. The discovery suggests complex life may have begun in deep ocean waters, not shallow coastlines as scientists long believed.
A paleontologist who dreamed of naming a dinosaur as a kid just identified a 27-ton giant from his homeland Thailand. The discovery fulfills a childhood promise and opens new chapters in Southeast Asian prehistory.
Harrison Duran turned his childhood dinosaur obsession into scientific reality when he helped unearth a Triceratops skull just three days into a 2019 university excavation. The fossil, named "Alice," came from one of North America's richest dinosaur sites.
Scientists in France have discovered a tiny jawbone that rewrites the history of an ancient lizard family whose only living relative is on the brink of extinction. The 83-million-year-old fossil pushes back the European presence of these rare reptiles by 30 million years.
Researchers discovered fossilized fish in North Dakota with tiny glass beads from the dinosaur-killing asteroid lodged in their gills, proving they were alive when the impact debris rained down. It's the most direct evidence yet of what happened in the first hour after Earth's most famous catastrophe.
Scientists in China's Ningxia region uncovered 241 dinosaur footprints frozen in time for 110 million years, revealing how giant sauropods moved in herds and gathered at watering holes. The discovery offers a vivid snapshot of life during the Early Cretaceous period.
Paleontologists have uncovered fossils of a massive marine predator that ruled the oceans over 80 million years ago, dwarfing today's great white sharks. The discovery sheds new light on prehistoric ocean ecosystems and the giants that once dominated them.
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