paleontology

Paleontologists have unearthed a nearly complete fossil of a dimetrodon, a reptile-like predator that roamed the Permian landscape 287 million years ago. This weekend, the team is working to transport the 400-pound animal's torso from its resting place in north Texas to Houston, where the...

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Fossils of a giant stork have been discovered on a far-flung Indonesian island that has been home to many extreme-sized creatures — from tiny human-like "hobbits" and dwarf elephants to the world's largest-known rats and lizards. Authors Hanneke Meijer and Rokus Due wrote...

documentary 53:19 min Long ago in the age of dinosaurs, a volcano in eastern China erupted and buried a host of strange creatures in ash, creating exquisite fossils that preserved a big surprise--many dinosaurs were covered in feathers. In The Four-Winged Dinosaur, NOVA investigates the most...

Prehistoric bird of prey with fangs found Tuesday, December 22, 2009 LONDON - U.S. scientists have discovered fangs in a fossil of a prehistoric bird of prey that approximately 128 million years ago lived in China. The researchers at the University of Kansas studied the remains of a...

The past of human evolution is more and more coming to light as scientists uncover a trove of fossils and genetic knowledge. But where might the future of human evolution go? There are plenty of signs that humans are still evolving. However, whether humans develop along the lines portrayed by...

Zac dinosaur found in Australia August 27, 2009 13:17 CANBERRA - Paleontologists have discovered a new dinosaur species on a sheep farm in Australia. The fossil, which the scientists nicknamed Zac has been, probably lived 97 million years ago. This writes the BBC Thursday. © AP Zac...

The world might be knee-deep in cow patties and other animal waste today were it not for dung beetles. Dung beetles roll the waste of large animals into tiny balls that they bury underground to snack on later. Burying the dung fertilizes the soil and reduces disease, but the benefits don't stop...

RIO DE JANEIRO – Fossils found in Brazil are from a crocodile resembling a large armadillo that was a predator in the area around modern-day Sao Paulo state 90 million years ago, researchers said on Tuesday. The 6.6-foot-long (two-meter-long), 265-lb (120-kg) crocodile, named the...

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Fossils of three new species of dinosaurs have been discovered in Australia, including a meat-eater larger than Velociraptor from the Jurassic Park movies, suggesting Australia may have a more complex prehistoric past. The two plant-eating and one carnivore dinosaurs, the...

CANBERRA, Australia – Scientists have confirmed for the first time that Australia was once home to a dinosaur that was big, fast and terrifying, and they've named it like something from an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Meet the Australovenator. The beast was a 1,100 pound (500 kilogram)...

BANGKOK, Thailand – Fossils recently discovered in Myanmar could prove that the common ancestors of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, rather than Africa, researchers contend in a study released Wednesday. However, other scientists said that the finding, while significant...

PETERSBURG, Kentucky – For a group of paleontologists, a tour of the Creation Museum seemed like a great tongue-in-cheek way to cap off a serious conference. But while there were a few laughs and some clowning for the camera, most left more offended than amused by the frightening way in which...

PETERSBURG, Ky. – In a dimly lit corner of the Creation Museum stands a life-size replica of a wrecking ball labeled "Millions of Years" demolishing the facade of a brick church. For the more than six dozen paleontologists who visited the museum Wednesday, the ball might as well have read...

BANDUNG, Indonesia – Indonesian scientists are reconstructing the largest, most complete skeleton of a prehistoric giant elephant ever found in the tropics, a finding that may offer new clues into the largely mysterious origins of its modern Asian cousin. The prehistoric elephant is believed to...

LiveScience.com livescience Staff livescience.com – Thu Jun 25, 6:02 pm ET If you thought piranhas were scary, be glad Megapiranha is no longer around. Megapiranha was up to 3 feet long (1 meter) - a fish-beast four times as big as piranhas living today, studies of its jawbones indicate. It...

If you thought piranhas were scary, be glad Megapiranha is no longer around. Megapiranha was up to 3 feet long (1 meter) - a fish-beast four times as big as piranhas living today, studies of its jawbones indicate. It lived about 8 million to 10 million years ago and might have been quite...

Using a 54 million-year-old skull, researchers have constructed the first-ever virtual model of a primitive primate brain. "This is our first glimpse of what an ancestral primate would have looked like in terms of its brain," said Jonathan Bloch, a vertebrate paleontologists at the Florida...

BANDUNG, Indonesia – Indonesian scientists are reconstructing the largest, most complete skeleton of a prehistoric giant elephant ever found in the tropics, a finding that may offer new clues into the largely mysterious origins of its modern Asian cousin. The prehistoric elephant is believed to...

Discovery Raises New Doubts About Dinosaur-bird Links Thursday, June 11, 2009 Researchers at Oregon State University have made a fundamental new discovery about how birds breathe and have a lung capacity that allows for flight - and the finding means it's unlikely that birds descended from...

Dino Fossils evidence against evolution Saturday, February 21, 2009 Two cowboys shooting in 1890 a huge flying animal down. It has bulging eyes and a krokodillenbek of 2.5 meters. The Tombstone Epitaph newspaper of April 26 suggests that the "thunderbird" in the Indian legends could be. In...