Ancient humans traded dogs for their usefulness
Humans’ oldest companion, the dog, was first domesticated at least 20,000 years ago. The ancient dogs were an essential part of life, and they were used for hunting, herding and sledding among other activities.
Modern snakes evolved from a few survivors of dino-killing asteroid
A new study suggests that all living snakes evolved from a handful of species that survived the giant asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs and most other living things at the end of the Cretaceous.
Thousands of human and animal bones hoarded by hyenas in lava tube system
Archaeologists conducting research in Arabia’s longest lava tube system, has found thousands of bones deposited by hyenas.
DNA from 1,600-year-old Iranian sheep mummy brings history to life
A team of geneticists and archaeologists from Ireland, France, Iran, Germany, and Austria has sequenced the DNA from a 1,600-year-old sheep mummy from an ancient Iranian salt mine, Chehrābād.
Researchers figured out how the ancestors of modern horses migrated
An international research team determined that ancestors of modern domestic horses and the Przewalski horse moved from the territory of Eurasia (Russian Urals, Siberia, Chukotka, and eastern China) to North America (Yukon, Alaska, continental USA) from one continent on another at least twice.
Scientists Pinpoint Our Most Distant Animal Relatives
Scientists from Trinity College Dublin believe they have pinpointed our most distant animal relative in the tree of life and, in doing so, have resolved an ongoing debate. Their work finds strong evidence that sponges - not more complex comb jellies - were our most distant relatives.
Ancient Megafaunal Mutualisms & Extinctions as Factors in Plant Domestication
By clearing forests, burning grasslands, plowing fields and harvesting crops, humans apply strong selective pressures on the plants that survive on the landscapes we use.
Early Neolithic Sheep-Breeders Had High Levels of Mortality Among Young Animals in Their Herds
A study of ancient bones shows that Early Neolithic sheep-breeders were faced with high levels of mortality among young animals in their herds.
Woolly Mammoths May Have Shared the Landscape With First Humans in New England
Woolly mammoths may have walked the landscape at the same time as the earliest humans in what is now New England, according to a Dartmouth study published in Boreas.
How Did Dogs Get to the Americas?
The history of dogs has been intertwined, since ancient times, with that of the humans who domesticated them.
First DNA Extracted from Modern, Ancient and Fossil Tropical Shells
In Wonderland, Alice drank a potion to shrink herself. In nature, some animal species shrink to escape the attention of human hunters, a process that takes from decades to millennia.
Animal Evolution: Glimpses of Ancient Environments
Although amber looks like a somewhat unusual inorganic mineral, it is actually derived from an organic source - tree resins.
Million-year-old DNA Reveals How Mammoths Evolved
An international team led by researchers at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm has sequenced DNA recovered from mammoth remains that are up to 1.2 million years old.
Climate Change Likely Drove the Extinction of North America’s Largest Animals
New research suggests that overhunting by humans was not responsible for the extinction of mammoths, ground sloths, and other North American megafauna.
Scientists Discover Stationary Life Deep Beneath Antarctic Ice Shelf
Far underneath the ice shelves of the Antarctic, there's more life than expected, finds a recent study in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.
