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Articles on Paleontology

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A replica fossil of the titanosaur Patagotitan, one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered. It would have weighed about 70 tons (63.5 metric tons.) Spencer Platt/Getty Images News via Getty Images

Titanosaurs were the biggest land animals Earth’s ever seen − these plant-powered dinos combined reptile and mammal traits

Some of these giant vegetarians were as tall as a 3-story building. Microscopic analysis of their teeth, bones and eggshells reveals how they grew, what they ate and even their body temperature.
Harajicadectes cruises through the ancient rivers of central Australia ~385 million years ago. Brian Choo

A 380-million-year old predatory fish from Central Australia is finally named after decades of digging

For decades, the sandstone in central Australia yielded tantalising segments of some sort of fossil fish. Now, we have finally pieced together a complete picture of this remarkable species.
Birdlike dinosaur Eoneophron infernalis was about the size of an adult human. Zubin Erik Dutta

A newly identified ‘Hell chicken’ species suggests dinosaurs weren’t sliding toward extinction before the fateful asteroid hit

Rather than a juvenile of a known species, several fossilized bones represent a new species – and shed light on the question of whether dinosaurs were already in decline before disaster struck.
Tim Flannery with a model set of jaws of a megalodon at the Australian Museum, and, on right, a megalodon tooth. Photos: Text Publishing, Wikimedia Commons

How diving as a boy took Tim Flannery on the trail of the megalodon in all its ‘terrifying glory’

Megalodons are having a cultural moment. What do we know about them? And might further scientific discoveries reveal more about the true shape and size of these creatures?
The fossil deposits at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles have well-preserved remains of many prehistoric animals that got stuck in natural asphalt seeps over the past 60,000 years. Cullen Townsend, courtesy of NHMLAC

A changing climate, growing human populations and widespread fires contributed to the last major extinction event − can we prevent another?

New findings from the La Brea Tar Pits in southern California suggest human-caused wildfires in the region, along with a warming climate, led to the loss of most of the area’s large mammals.
It wasn’t flying that gave birds the advantage. Corey Ford/Stocktrek Images via Getty Images

How did birds survive while dinosaurs went extinct?

Birds and dinosaurs lived together for millions of years, but only toothless birds survived the asteroid impact that upended life on Earth.
Artwork in the Djourab desert, Chad, gives a taste of how our oldest ancestors got around. Sabine Riffaut, Guillaume Daver, Franck Guy / Palevoprim / CNRS – Université de Poitiers / MPFT

Breakthrough shows humans were already standing on their own two feet 7 million years ago

New research shows our oldest ancestors were able to walk as well as evolve in trees.
Fossilised jaws from the 17 million-year-old Kenyan ape Afropithecus turkanensis. Tanya M. Smith/National Museums of Kenya

Revelations from 17-million-year-old ape teeth could lead to new insights on early human evolution

Cutting-edge analysis of fossil ape teeth reveals ancient seasonal change in Africa, long before human ancestors appeared. The method will be crucial for the future study of early hominins.

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