An Egyptian slit-faced bat, Nycteris thebaica .
Mariëtte Pretorius
The scarcity of bat fossils is more than a palaeontological puzzle: it has implications for bat conservation strategies today.
The preserved stenine rove beetle.
Sandiso Mnguni
This is one of the first fossil rove beetles ever discovered on the continent and in the southern hemisphere more broadly.
The blue stingray’s disc-like shape would have made it ideal for tracing.
Kyle Smith
The sculpture might have begun with tracing a blue stingray specimen in the sand.
A herd of the duckbill Minqaria bata wander along the shore of what is now Morocco.
Raul Martin
Oceanic dispersal of dinosaurs between Europe and Africa shows how low-probability, high-impact events drive evolution.
Thalassotitan teeth.
Nicholas Longrich
Fossils of a giant killer mosasaur have been discovered, alongside the fossilised remains of its prey.
Reptile, avian and mammal tracks and Middle Stone Age artefacts on a large track bearing surface which has since been buried by a landslide.
Images modified from Helm, et al. 2020. South African Journal of Science, 116
While crocodylian fossil swim traces have been described from other continents, to the best of our knowledge the examples we describe are the first such reptilian swim traces from Africa.
Baby sea turtles head for their natural habitat.
noga f/Shutterstock
These trackways preserve an incredibly brief moment in time. More importantly, they tell us about ancient climates, and how turtle breeding ranges have changed over the millenia
The trilobite manuport (Bainella sp) from Robberg on the Cape south coast was carried at least 10 km to a small cave shelter. For scale, the bar is 10 cm long.
Author Supplied
Geomythology can be a powerful way to inspire more people on the continent to become interested in Africa’s palaeoscience.
The dinosaur Ledumahadi mafube - reconstructed in this illustration - made headlines in 2018.
Viktor Radermacher
Five major finds this year adds to our understanding of evolution and ancient life history.
Beautifully preserved flowstone and sediment layers from the Cradle of Humankind.
Dr Robyn Pickering
South Africa’s fossils can step out of the shadows of being undated and undateable.
The fossilised skull of a young Australopithecus africanus, known as the Taung Child, is among South Africa’s most famous fossils.
Image courtesy of PAST
Palaeontological finds offer a compelling and profound way to think about our place in nature.
The fossil of a Mesosaurus tenuidens, which provided important clues about tectonic shifts.
Courtesy of Philippe Loubry - CNRS/MNHN
Ancient indigenous people often collected fossil shells, teeth and bones that have provided critical clues about human origins.
An artist’s impression of Tutusius at Waterloo Farm.
Illustration by Maggie Newman
The discovery of two separate fossils tetrapod species proves that they lived all over the world by the end of Devonian.
A fossil tooth contains isotopes that offer clues of aridification.
Supplied
A study has found that a local event rather than a global shift in climate caused the mass extinction in South Africa.
Reconstruction of a Permian swamp.
Rose Prevec
Plants, in their fossil forms, can reveal a great deal about past environments and climates.
The Spinosaurus was just one example of a dinosaur that roamed Africa hundreds of millions of years ago.
By Mike Bowler from Canada (Spinosaurus) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
You might recognise Spinosaurus, from Jurassic Park 3, but did you realise it is 100% an African dinosaur?