A new study challenges the view that ammonites declined before their extinction 66 million years ago, showing instead that they remained globally diverse and robust. The research highlights that their extinction was influenced by a range of geographic and environmental factors, rather than an inevitable outcome. Ammonites bask in the Late Cretaceous sun. Credit: Artwork … Read more
Painting of a griffin, a chimera of a lion bird of prey, next to the fossils of Protoceratopesa horned dinosaur. The latter would have influenced the lore and appearance of the former, but our study suggests there is no compelling connection between dinosaurs and griffins. Credit: Dr Mark Witton A new study refutes the theory … Read more
Researchers identified a prehistoric marine reptile found in 1935 as a thalattosaur and not a choristodere, using CT scans and a new specimen. Reconstruction of Pachystrofeus rhaeticuspictured next to a hybodont shark feeding on a Birgeria fish. Credit: James Ormiston Scientists have reclassified a prehistoric marine reptile discovered in 1935 as one of the last … Read more
Woolly rhinos were once widely distributed across northern and central Eurasia before becoming extinct about 10,000 years ago. Credit: Mauricio Anton Advanced computer modeling shows that persistent human hunting contributed to the extinction of the woolly rhino by blocking their migration to new habitats during post-ice age warming. This underlines the continued impact of human … Read more
Fifty thousand years ago, North America was home to megafauna such as mammoths and sabre-tooth tigers. Their extinction, possibly due to the arrival of humans or climate change, remains unsolved. Using ZooMS technology, researchers analyzed ancient bones from the Smithsonian Museum, highlighting the importance of preserving archaeological collections for future discoveries. USNM 23792, Mammuthus primigenius … Read more
Scientists have discovered that a river comparable in size to the Rio Grande once dominated West Antarctica, offering a rare glimpse of the continent’s land covered in ice today. It is believed that the 900-mile-long waterway flowed about 44 to 34 million years ago, shortly before the continent’s immensely thick ice sheets began to build … Read more
Recent research indicates that some dinosaurs may have evolved the ability to regulate their body temperature internally during the Early Jurassic period, allowing them to adapt to colder climates and survive environmental challenges. The artist’s impression shows a dromaeosaur, a type of feathered theropod, in the snow. This group of dinosaurs is popularly known as … Read more