Tag Archives: Fossil

A fossilized dragonfly wing unearthed in Alberta’s Dinosaur Provincial Park has been identified as a brand-new species, marking the first dragonfly fossil ever found in Canada’s dinosaur-aged rocks. Credit: Alex Anderson Discovery reveals a previously undocumented 30-million-year gap in dragonfly evolution. For the first time in Canadian paleontology, a fossilized dragonfly wing from the Cretaceous period has been identified as …

“We just couldn’t believe how weird it was and how unlike any other dinosaur, or indeed any other animal we know of, alive or extinct,” said Richard Butler, project co-lead and a paleontologist at the University of Birmingham in England. The chance to see and study the Spicomellus fossils was “spine-tingling,” said Butler. It wasn’t just those involved in the …

Tank-like physique, bristling with body armour and a collar of spikes the length of golf clubs, Spicomellus afer looks more like a Pokémon creation than a living creature. This bizarre dinosaur roamed the flood planes of what is now north Africa 165m years ago, palaeontologists have revealed. The fossil, the oldest known ankylosaur specimen, was unearthed near the central Moroccan …

In a groundbreaking discovery reported by CGTN, paleontologists in Zhucheng, China, have unearthed a massive tyrannosaur fossil that could rival “Sue,” the largest T. rex. The find, including a giant thigh bone and vertebra, suggests a creature over 12 meters long, potentially reshaping our understanding of dinosaur origins. The Zhuchengtyrannus Magnus Discovery The recent fossil discovery includes a remarkable thigh …

The Permian period, spanning from 299 to 252 million years ago, marked a crucial era in Earth’s history. The end of this period witnessed the most devastating mass extinction, known as the Great Dying, which wiped out nearly 70% of land-dwelling species and a much larger proportion of marine life. Recent findings in southern Africa have started to illuminate the …

The skull of Skhul I child showing cranial curvature typical of Homo sapiens. Credit: Tel Aviv University Scientists have uncovered the world’s oldest evidence of human-Neanderthal interbreeding: a 140,000-year-old child from Israel’s Skhul Cave. The fossil shows a unique blend of traits, revealing that humans and Neanderthals were mixing tens of thousands of years earlier than once believed. Fossil Discovery …

A team of international scientists has discovered new fossils at a field site in Africa that indicate Australopithecus, and the oldest specimens of Homo, coexisted at the same place in Africa at the same time — between 2.6 and 2.8 million years ago. The paleoanthropologists discovered a new species of Australopithecus that has never been found anywhere. The Ledi-Geraru Research …

A fresh look at early members of our lineage suggests that males and females were not built alike. The size gap was wide, and it likely shaped daily life in ways we do not see in people today. That conclusion comes from a new comparison of two classic Pliocene species that many readers know by name, but not by their …

A groundbreaking discovery in Israel reveals the first evidence of biological and social ties, including interbreeding, between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, dating back 140,000 years. The find, a five-year-old child’s skeleton unearthed 90 years ago in Sefunim Cave on Mount Carmel, shows a blend of Neanderthal and Homo sapiens traits, marking it as the world’s oldest human fossil with such …

Donald Trump has made several unusual moves to elongate the era of coal, such as giving the industry exemptions from pollution rules. But the gambit to keep one Michigan coal-fired power station running has been extraordinary – by forcing it to remain open even against the wishes of its operator. The hulking JH Campbell power plant, which since 1962 has …