Nimbadon lived 15 million years ago, in forests with flesh-eating kangaroos and tree-climbing crocodiles. Our first look inside their fossilised bones has revealed how these giants grew.
Sarah Leupen, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
All mammals who get nutrients from their parent via a placenta before birth are left with a belly button. It’s a visual reminder of this original connection.
Researchers are analyzing the fossil cranium of a Smilodon fatalis that lived more than 13,000 years ago to learn more about the lifestyle of this iconic big cat.
Mammals have evolved flight more often than birds. By studying the genes of the sugar glider, biologists have found a ‘molecular toolkit’ for flight membranes that’s been in us all along.
Avian influenza viruses have evolved to infect birds, but the current H5N1 outbreak is also infecting a wide range of mammals. This suggests that it could mutate into forms that threaten humans.
By learning what parts of the brain are crucial for imagination to work, neuroscientists can look back over hundreds of millions of years of evolution to figure out when it first emerged.
Abi Gazzard, International Union for the Conservation of Nature; Connor Panter, University of Nottingham, and Rosalind Kennerley, International Union for the Conservation of Nature
Rodents are the most numerous – and least studied – of all Earth’s mammals.
In winter, light in the northern latitudes is dim and very blue compared to summer light. Reindeer eyes have evolved to be better suited at seeing in this unique environment.
New research shows rewilding with invertebrates – insects, worms, spiders and the like – can go a long way in bringing our degraded landscapes back to life.
Koalas are often regarded as cute but dumb: slow, sleepy and incapable of change. But they have been known to approach humans for help. And maybe they have been set free by their remarkable diet.