First-ever look at complete skeleton of Thylacoleo, Australia’s extinct ‘marsupial lion’
Thyalacoleo carnifex, the "marsupial lion" of Pleistocene Australia, was an adept hunter that got around with the help of a strong tail, according to a
Category : Natural History
HeritageDaily – Natural history news and press releases from across the globe
4,000-year-old termite mounds found in Brazil are visible from space
Researchers have found that a vast array of regularly spaced, still-inhabited termite mounds in northeastern Brazil--covering an area the size of Great Britain--are up to
Mammoth Discovery on UK Road
The remains of a woolly mammoth from the ice age are among the latest remarkable finds on the £1.5 billion A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon project.
Tortoise evolution: How did they become so big?
Tortoises are a group of terrestrial turtles globally distributed in habitats ranging from deserts to forests and include species such as the Greek and the
Extensive trade in fish between Egypt and Canaan already 3,500 years ago
Some 3,500 years ago, there was already a brisk trade in fish on the shores of the southeastern Mediterranean Sea.
Did the ancestors of mammals live underground?
The UV radiation contained in sunlight can damage cells and genetic material. Nature has therefore provided a set of repair systems, a particularly efficient one
Ice-free corridor sustained Arctic marine life during last Ice Age
Scientists from Norway and the UK have shown that, 20.000 years ago, Arctic sea ice in the winter covered more than twice the area than
Ancient bird bones redate human activity in Madagascar by 6,000 years
Analysis of bones, from what was once the world's largest bird, has revealed that humans arrived on the tropical island of Madagascar more than 6,000
Researchers study how wolf predation shapes elk antler evolution
What happens when you mix a biologist who studies beetle horns with scientists who spend their time exploring predator-prey dynamics?
Coastal strip in Brazil sheds new light on early farming
Humans may have been cultivating plants on a narrow coastal strip in Brazil as far back as 4,800 years ago, according to a new study.
Ancient livestock dung heaps are now African wildlife hotspots
Often viewed as wild, naturally pristine and endangered by human encroachment, some of the African savannah's most fertile and biologically diverse wildlife hotspots owe their
Eastern European Woolly Mammoths changed their diet shortly before becoming extinct
Senckenberg scientists, together with an international team, studied the potential cause of extinction of the Woolly Mammoth 18,000 years ago.
99-million-year-old beetle trapped in amber served as pollinator to evergreen cycads
Flowering plants are well known for their special relationship to the insects and other animals that serve as their pollinators.
Dating the ancient Minoan eruption of Thera using tree rings
New analyses that use tree rings could settle the long-standing debate about when the volcano Thera erupted by resolving discrepancies between archaeological and radiocarbon methods
Corals and algae go back further than previously thought, all the way to Jurassic Period
Algae and corals have been leaning on each other since dinosaurs roamed the earth, much longer than had been previously thought, according to new research
Montane pine forests reached the northeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula 50,000 years ago
A study conducted by the UAB and the IPHES confirms a continuous presence of montane coniferous forests from the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean coast from
Ancient genome analyses reveal mosaic pattern of goat domestication thousands of years ago
An international team of scientists, led by geneticists from Trinity College Dublin, have sequenced the genomes from ancient goat bones from areas in the Fertile
New study questions when the brown bear became extinct in Britain
New research provides insights into the extinction of Britain's largest native carnivore.
Oldest evidence of horse veterinary care discovered in Mongolia
A team of scholars, led by William Taylor of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, analyzed horse remains from an ancient
The lady’s ape: Extinct gibbon discovered in royal ancient Chinese tomb
A new genus and species of gibbon has been identified in the most unexpected of places - interred in the tomb of an ancient Chinese
In the gaping mouth of ancient crocodiles
The mouth of today's crocodilians inspires fear and awe, with their wide gape and the greatest known bite force in the vertebrate animal kingdom. However,
Large-scale whaling in north Scandinavia may date back to 6th century
The intensive whaling that has pushed many species to the brink of extinction today may be several centuries older than previously assumed. This view is