February 9, 2017
Early fossils demonstrate dinosaurs' slow rise
Dinosaurs were so dominant through much of the Mesozoic that it’s easy to forget that wasn’t always the case. The discovery of a specimen of an …
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252 articles · Page 5 of 11
February 9, 2017
Discovered: One of the last-surviving Asian dinosaurs
Paleontologists have discovered a new species of oviraptorosaur, a group of strange bird-like dinosaurs without teeth. The species, Tongtianlong …
February 7, 2017
The Dinosaur Garden of the Gobi: Motivating future paleontologists
In June 2016, the tourism board of Dalanzadgad, a small city in the Mongolian Gobi, opened a new dinosaur theme park on the outskirts of town. It …
February 7, 2017
Saving Mongolia's dinosaurs and inspiring the next generation of paleontologists
The bones were too yellow, too translucent, and the skeleton had no hands. I could tell the skeleton wasn’t a dinosaur, but the illusion was …
January 25, 2017
Rare Late Cretaceous dino skin found fossilized
About 66 million years ago, a dinosaur lay down on a muddy riverbank in what is now Spain, leaving behind the impression of its scaly skin. A …
January 18, 2017
Early birds quacked
Researchers have found the oldest-known avian voice box from an ancient bird that lived more than 66 million years ago. Scientists found the …
January 18, 2017
Cave paintings confirm mystery European bison species
Ice-age hunters had an intimate knowledge of the animals they coexisted with — and this familiarity is clearly depicted in paintings on cave …
December 27, 2016
How to hide a dinosaur
Analysis of a finely preserved fossil dinosaur from China has revealed the animal’s erstwhile camouflage. It appears that the meter-high Early …
December 27, 2016
Earliest evidence of humans in the Americas
Earliest evidence of humans in the Americas. An illustrated feature from the EARTH Magazine archive.
December 27, 2016
Underwater archaeology
As the ice sheets melted at the end of the last ice age, sea level rose dramatically, drowning much of the paleo coastline of North and South …
December 15, 2016
The first Americans: How and when were the Americas populated?
Archaeologists used to have a tidy story to explain the earliest peopling of the Americas: During the last ice age, when sea levels were much …
December 12, 2016
Tiniest pterosaur found in British Columbia
Pterosaurs have a gargantuan reputation: Most fossils of the flying reptiles have wingspans similar to a small plane. But the recent discovery of …
December 12, 2016
Extinct tiger had unique elbow, hunting style
During the Pleistocene, the marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex, was one of Australia’s top predators. Fossil records indicate the jaguar-sized …
December 7, 2016
Improved genetic simulations identify human genes passed down from Neanderthals, Denisovans
You could have your mother to blame for a predisposition to baldness, but you might need to thank a Neanderthal for your ability to fight off …
November 30, 2016
Benchmarks: December 6, 1916: Dinosaur fossils lost at sea in World War I
One hundred years ago this month, a Canadian cargo ship — the SS Mount Temple — departed the port of Montreal on the St. Lawrence River headed …
November 15, 2016
Tiny bones pull India into the story of early primate evolution
Bones of an ancient rat-sized, tree-dwelling primate have recently been discovered in a coal mine in Gujarat, India, and may represent the most …
November 15, 2016
New species of extinct dolphin found in Smithsonian archives
Freshwater river dolphins are one of the most compelling — and endangered — branches of the cetacean family tree. Now the discovery of a new …
October 18, 2016
Getting there and getting around Tumbler Ridge
There are no direct commercial flights into Tumbler Ridge, which is about a 13-hour drive from Vancouver, B.C. However, Air Canada and WestJet …
October 18, 2016
Travels in Geology: Tumbler Ridge: Finding dinosaurs — and their predecessors and descendants — in northeastern British Columbia
Not many globally recognized geoparks get their start courtesy of an 8-year-old. Yet that’s exactly how the Tumbler Ridge Global Geopark was …
October 18, 2016
Turtle shells evolved for burrowing, not protection
How the turtle got its shell is one of the long-standing conundrums of paleontology. Paleontologists know that one of the first steps toward a …
October 17, 2016
Unique teeth helped vegetarian dinosaurs
Although the Tyrannosaurus rex might’ve been one of the most fearsome dinosaurs to roam Earth, it wasn’t the most common. That honor belonged to …
September 20, 2016
Antarctic no place to hide during end-Cretaceous extinction
The end-Cretaceous extinction is famous for killing off the dinosaurs, but many other species perished as well. A new study in Nature …
September 20, 2016
Mammals hit harder than thought by end-Cretaceous extinction
Mammals, unlike the remaining nonavian dinosaurs and many other animals, are thought to have fared relatively well through the massive meteorite …
September 20, 2016
Down to Earth With: Fossil preparator Bob Masek
When paleontologists unearth a fossil and rock still entombs part of it, they take it to someone like fossil preparator Bob Masek, who cleans and …