Newswise Feature Channel: Paleontology

How Big Brains and Flexible Skulls Led to the Evolution of Modern Birds

University of Chicago Medical Center — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 18:15:37 EST

3D modeling shows how larger brains triggered changes in jaw muscles and joint mechanics that powered a flexible feeding system for modern birds.

Misha Lived in Zoos, but This Elephant's Tooth Enamel Helps Reconstruct Wildlife Migrations

University of Utah — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 20:20:54 EST

Misha lived her whole life in zoos, but this elephant's teeth are now helping scientists reconstruct wildlife migrations. University of Utah geologists show how strontium isotopes found in teeth or tusks reveal where large plant-eating animals may have roamed.

Megalodon's Body Size and Form Uncover Why Certain Aquatic Vertebrates Can Achieve Gigantism

DePaul University — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 10:50:00 EST

A new scientific study provides many new insights into the biology of the prehistoric gigantic shark, Megalodon or megatooth shark, which lived nearly worldwide 15-3.6 million years ago. Paleobiology professor Kenshu Shimada of DePaul University led the study along with 28 other shark, fossil, and vertebrate anatomy experts around the globe.

Bronx Zoo's Dinosaur Safari Is Back! New Animatronics and Hands-On Fun for Dino-Lovers of All Ages

Wildlife Conservation Society — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 07:05:07 EST

Something BIG is coming this spring to New York, as Dinosaur Safari returns with a roar to the Bronx Zoo! Guests will get up close with some of the largest animals to ever walk the Earth, including more than 60 life-size animatronic dinosaurs and pterosaurs, as Dinosaur Safari opens to the public on Saturday, April 12.

New Study Reveals Neanderthals Experienced Population Crash 110,000 Years Ago

Binghamton University, State University of New York — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 09:05:20 EST

A new study by an international team of scholars, including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York, suggests that Neanderthals experienced a dramatic loss of genetic variation during the course of their evolution, foreshadowing their eventual extinction.

Big birds like emus are technical innovators, according to University of Bristol researchers

University of Bristol — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:00:00 EST

Large birds - our closest relations to dinosaurs - are capable of technical innovation, by solving a physical task to gain access to food.

How Dinosaur Extinctions Created an Environment That Contributed to Our Fruit-Eating Primate Ancestors

Northern Arizona University — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 04:00:00 EST

New research from Northern Arizona University shows that the evolution of fruit--and the evolution of fruit-eating primates, the early ancestors of humans--was influenced by the "ecosystem engineering" of large sauropods.

Fossil discovery in the Geiseltal Collection: researchers identify unique bird skull

Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 05:30:05 EST

An international team of researchers reports on unique bird skull in "Palaeontologia Electronica". The flightless bird called Diatryma roamed the Geiseltal region in southern Saxony-Anhalt in Germany around 45 million years ago. The only other place that a similar skull fossil has been found is the USA.

Dinosaurs Roamed the Northern Hemisphere Millions of Years Earlier Than Previously Thought, According to New Analysis of the Oldest North American Fossils

University of Wisconsin-Madison — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 15:10:57 EST

A newly described dinosaur whose fossils were uncovered by University of Wisconsin-Madison paleontologists is challenging the existing narrative, with evidence that the reptiles were present in the northern hemisphere millions of years earlier than previously known.

World's Oldest Lizard Wins Fossil Fight

University of Bristol — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 19:05:00 EST

A storeroom specimen that changed the origins of modern lizards by millions of years has had its identity confirmed.

Reconstructing Ancient Climate Provides Clues to Climate Change

Case Western Reserve University — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 06:00:22 EST

A 15-year study of a site in Bolivia by an international team led by Case Western Reserve University provides a comprehensive view of an ancient ecosystem when the Earth was much warmer than today

Brazilian Fossils Reveal Jaw-Dropping Discovery in Mammal Evolution

University of Bristol — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 11:00:00 EST

The discovery of new cynodont fossils from southern Brazil by a team of palaeontologists from the University of Bristol, alongside colleagues from Argentina and Brazil, has led to a significant breakthrough in understanding the evolution of mammals.

What microscopic fossilized shells tell us about ancient climate change

University of Utah — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 16:05:52 EST

By analyzing foram shells recovered in drill cores, a study led by University of Utah geologists links rapid climate change that led to thermal maxima 50 million years ago to rising CO2 levels.

Research reveals the most complete dinosaur discovered in the UK in a Century

University of Portsmouth — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 11:05:06 EST

The most complete dinosaur discovered in this country in the last 100 years, with a pubic hip bone the size of a 'dinner plate', has been described in a new paper published today.

Life Underground Suited New Dinosaur Fine

North Carolina State University — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 09:05:17 EST

The age of dinosaurs wasn't conducted solely above ground. A newly discovered ancestor of Thescelosaurus shows evidence that these animals spent at least part of their time in underground burrows. The new species contributes to a fuller understanding of life during the mid-Cretaceous - both above and below ground.

Paul Sereno's Fossil Lab moves to Washington Park

University of Chicago Medical Center — Thu, 02 May 2024 11:05:54 EST

The 6,000 square foot facility will feature fossil preparation space, multipurpose areas for community programs, and tons of specimens collected from Sereno's worldwide expeditions.

Scientists CT scanned thousands of natural history specimens, which you can access for free

University of Florida — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 08:00:00 EST

3D reconstructions of thousands specimens are now available online.

Why two prehistoric sharks found in Ohio got new names

Ohio State University — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 09:30:03 EST

Until recently, Orthacanthus gracilis could have been considered the "John Smith" of prehistoric shark names, given how common it was. Three different species of sharks from the late Paleozoic Era - about 310 million years ago - were mistakenly given that same name, causing lots of grief to paleontologists who studied and wrote about the sharks through the years and had trouble keeping them apart.

Mystery solved: the oldest fossil reptile from the alps is an historical forgery

University College Cork — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 22:05:41 EST

A 280-million-year-old fossil that has baffled researchers for decades has been shown to be, in part, a forgery following new examination of the remnants.

New species of Jurassic pterosaur discovered on the Isle of Skye

University of Bristol — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 19:05:00 EST

A new species of pterosaur from specimens found on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, has been announced by scientists from the Natural History Museum, University of Bristol, University of Leicester, and University of Liverpool.