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Articles on Fossils

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Whether in the wild or in the lab, worms have an interesting story to tell. Sinhyu/iStock via Getty Images

Why do scientists care about worms?

‘Worm’ is really a catchall term for a huge variety of animals with different characteristics that span the tree of life. They hold clues about our own origins as well as hints about human health.
Ilya Bobrovskiy

Ancient sponges or just algae? New research overturns chemical evidence for the earliest animals

Ancient fatty molecules, once believed to be traces of some of the first animals to live on Earth, may have been produced by algae instead.
These fossil trackways resemble the tracks left by flamingos today, but are bigger. Just above the scale bar one can see (more faintly) the ‘tramline traces’ made by the ancient birds’ stomping action. Charles Helm

Fossil tracks reveal which birds once roamed South Africa’s Cape south coast

One avian track, probably made by a large gull or a small goose, was found in sediments that have been dated to about 400,000 years. That makes it the oldest avian track reported from southern Africa.
What South Africa’s West Coast might have looked like 5 million years ago. In the foreground, a giant wolverine feeds on a pig while chasing away a primitive hyena. Maggie Newman, Geological Society of South Africa and the University of the Witwatersrand

Gigantic wolverines, otters the size of wolves: fossils offer fresh insights into the past

The teeth and limb bones we studied help to understand the role and lifestyle of these species in extinct ecosystems.

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