Early dinosaurs were sociable
New research on a vast fossil site in Patagonia shows that some of the earliest dinosaurs lived in herds and suggests that this behaviour may have been one of the keys to the success of dinosaurs.
Researchers uncover a previously unknown mass extinction event in Africa
Sixty-three percent. That’s the proportion of mammal species that vanished from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula around 30 million years ago, after Earth’s climate shifted from swampy to icy. But we are only finding out about it now.
Oldest theropod dinosaur in the UK discovered in southern Wales
Scientists from the Natural History Museum and the University of Birmingham have described a new species of dinosaur from specimens found in a quarry in Pant-y-ffynnon in southern Wales.
Researchers find a ‘fearsome dragon’ that soared over outback Queensland
Australia’s largest flying reptile has been uncovered, a pterosaur with an estimated seven-metre wingspan that soared like a dragon above the ancient, vast inland sea once covering much of outback Queensland.
New species of pseudo-horses living 37 million years ago
Although hypomorph mammals (or equids) are currently represented by only one genus ('Equus') and just a handful of species of horses, donkeys and zebras, they were more diverse during the Eocene epoch (between 56 and 33.9 million years ago).
Paleonursery offers rare, detailed glimpse at life 518 million years ago
All life on Earth 500 million years ago lived in the oceans, but scientists know little about how these animals and algae developed.
Footprints discovered from the last dinosaurs to walk on UK soil
Footprints from at least six different species of dinosaur - the very last dinosaurs to walk on UK soil 110 million years ago - have been found in Kent, a new report has announced.
Huge prehistoric croc ‘river boss’ prowled SEQ waterways
A new species of large prehistoric croc that roamed south-east Queensland's waterways millions of years ago has been documented by University of Queensland researchers.
Biodiversity devastation: Human-driven decline requires millions of years of recovery
A new study shows that the current rate of biodiversity decline in freshwater ecosystems outcompetes that at the end-Cretaceous extinction that killed the dinosaurs: damage now being done in decades to centuries may take millions of years to undo.
Mammals in the time of dinosaurs held each other back
A new study has used new methods to analyse the variability of mammal fossils, revealing extraordinary results: it was not dinosaurs, but possibly other mammals, that were the main competitors of modern mammals before and after the mass extinction of dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs that hunted in the dark
Today's 10,000 species of birds live in virtually every habitat on Earth, but only a handful have adaptations enabling them to hunt active prey in the dark of night.
Extinct ‘horned’ crocodile gets new spot in the tree of life
A study led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History has resolved a long-standing controversy about an extinct "horned" crocodile that likely lived among humans in Madagascar.
Palaeontologists find duckbilled hadrosaurid species
An international team of paleontologists has identified a new genus and species of hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaur, Yamatosaurus izanagii, on one of Japan's southern islands.
Study suggests tyrannosaurs were social animals
The fearsome tyrannosaur dinosaurs that ruled the northern hemisphere during the Late Cretaceous period (66-100 million years ago) may not have been solitary predators as popularly envisioned, but social carnivores similar to wolves, according to a new study.
Tiny cat-sized stegosaur leaves its mark
A single footprint left by a cat-sized dinosaur around 100 million years ago has been discovered in China by an international team of palaeontologists.
