Filter-Feeding "Giant Lobster"

Paleontologists have discovered a previously unknown giant fossil (Aegirocassis benmoulae) of the anomalocaridids group living about 480 million years ago that used tiny spines on appendages to filter-feed much like modern-day whales, providing insight into that early marine environment.

Long-Necked Dinosaur Found

A previously unknown species of long-necked dinosaur (Qijianglong) has been discovered in China belonging to the group known as mamenchisaurids, characterized by extremely long and relatively lightweight necks measuring up to half their total body length.

Fossil Ichthyosaur Live Birth

Scientists have discovered a rare 248 million-year-old fossil in China of an ichthyosaur (Chaohusaurus) that died during labor and the oldest embryonic fossils yet found, revealing that the ancient sea reptile bore live young head-first as the former land species once evolved to do.

T. rex Larger Than Fossils Suggest

Examining layers of bone within fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex collections, paleontologists have found indications most museum specimens were still growing at the time of their death and that the adult animals were more massive and bulkier than current remains suggest.

Australian Fossil Field Discovered

Paleontologists have discovered a fossil-rich deposit near the Riversleigh fossil field in northwest Queensland, Australia, densely packed with previously unknown species dating from between 13 million and 5 million years ago and providing a rare fossil record for the period of Australia's transition from a tropical to an arid climate.

Fossil Soft Tissue Reconstructed

Scientists have reconstructed the neck and abdominal muscles of rare, well-preserved 380 million-year-old early jawed fish (placoderm) fossils from the Gogo Formation of northwestern Australia using high-contrast x-ray beams to image the soft-tissue impressions without damage to the fossil.

Oldest Primate Fossil Found

Scientists have discovered the near-complete fossil remains of a tiny ancestor (Archicebus achilles) of the tree-dwelling primates called tarsiers that lived 55 million years ago, providing the earliest evidence of the split of the tarsier and anthropoid groups and the earliest primate fossil yet recorded.

Earliest Bird Ancestor Found

A 150 million-year-old fossil found in China's Liaoning Province and left unidentified in a local museum has been classified as the earliest known bird ancestor (Aurornis xui), with implications that flight evolved in dinosaurs only once in the lineage leading to modern birds.

Well-Preserved Mammoth Found

Scientists have excavated a female woolly mammoth carcass from sub-freezing temperatures in Siberia between 10,000 and 15,000 years old that is well-preserved enough to have flowing liquid blood and muscle tissue the color of fresh meat, provoking theories that the species' blood possessed cryoprotective properties.

Spider Attack Caught in Amber

A newly discovered fossilized piece of amber from the Hukawng Valley in Myanmar dated between 97-110 million years old displays a spider attack on a parasitic wasp caught in its web, the first and only evidence of such an interaction between these types of species.

Advanced Dinosaur Teeth

Paleontologists and engineers studying the fossilized teeth of duck-billed dinosaurs (hadrosaurids) have found them to be more complex than modern grazers such as cows and horses with an amazing capacity to chew tough and abrasive plant matter.

Second of Two Extinction Events

New evidence shows an extinction event occurring 200,000 to 300,000 years before the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, an extended period of huge volcanic eruptions causing extinctions of life on the ocean floor and potentially compromising land-based species prior to the larger event.

Mammoths Went Extinct Slowly

Tracking the pattern of woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) populations over 45,000 years, researchers have discovered the species survived the Pleistocene extinction that wiped out other megafauna and disappeared about 4000 years ago after a long, slow decline in numbers with no single or specific cause.

Fossilized Ink Sac

Researchers have identified the pigment called eumelanin, a type of melanin, present in 160-million-year-old fossil ink sacs from a cuttlefish-like animal, with chemical similarities to modern animals suggesting this defensive device has not changed much at all.

Geologic Cause for Cambrian Life

New research suggests a dramatic sedimentary boundary named the "Great Unconformity" of about 600 million years ago represents a shift in geologic conditions resulting in continental weathering of rock exposed by retreating seas, leading to biomineralization and the sudden great diversity of life known as the Cambrian Explosion and the emergence of hard shells and skeletons.

Mammoth Butchered by Humans

The remains of a woolly mammoth discovered on the Siberian plains estimated at 10,000 years old show evidence of human butchering after death, including removal of internal organs, the skull, pelvis, ribs and other bones and then the burial of the remaining carcass, presumably an early effort at preservation.

Largest Feathered Dinosaur

Newly discovered fossils from northwestern China have revealed the largest feathered animal yet known, a 30-foot long dinosaur predator (Yutyrannus huali) that lived about 125 million years ago.

Oldest Chordate Determined

Analysis of 114 fossils of the eel-like creature Pikaia gracilens discovered in Canada since 1911 show that it is the oldest known chordate, a "missing link" common ancestor of all creatures with a backbone from fish to humans that lived about 505 million years ago.

Horses Shrank as Planet Warmed

New research shows that an ancestor to the modern horse (Sifrhippus sandrae) living 56 million years ago shrank in size with the warming of Earth's climate over the 175,000-year Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, the first data to confirm Bergmann's rule applies to changes over time as well as location.

Prehistoric Elephant Tracks

An aerial study of 7-million-year-old tracks from prehistoric elephants (Stegotretabelodon) preserved in the desert of the United Arab Emirates reveals a herd of elephants walking together, one of the longest trackways in the world.