Artefacts suggest a ‘great leap’, a recent evolution of modern intelligence. Fossils and DNA argue that’s an illusion.
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Articles on Fossils
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You can gauge a dinosaur’s body mass either by reconstructing it as accurately as possible, or by scaling its leg bones against those of today’s animals. Research shows both methods work well together.
New research show how crinoids could live for so long on floating wood without it breaking up.
How we worked out when whales first evolved asymmetrical skulls.
How we identified a new ancestor of the likes of Diplodocus from old bones.
During the Paleozoic Era, giant sea scorpions would have been the equivalent of a great white shark in their food web.
The teeth and limb bones we studied help to understand the role and lifestyle of these species in extinct ecosystems.
We found footprints that measure around 24 centimetres long. We suspect they came from animals with legs the same height as humans.
You can’t own a human, so why can you own their remains? We need to stop treating human fossils as objects.
A very early mammal ancestor is one of the most recent discoveries at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs in Nova Scotia. This new finding sheds further light on theories of mammalian evolution.
This is a hugely important find. It means that one of our earlier ancestors possibly originated in southern Africa.
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.
The arrangement of bones in our specimen’s fins are the same as those of ‘fingers’ in tetrapods. The only difference is the digits are locked within the fin, and not free moving.
The findings suggest that this specimen could climb and move in trees. But it may also have been able to walk on the ground. This echoes previous studies.
The fossil includes the tiny creature’s original bone and flesh.
The skull of Oculudentavis, found encased in amber, provides new clues into the transition from dinosaurs to birds and may be smallest of either ever found.
Scientists claim to have found DNA in fossilised dinosaur cartilage.
The analysis suggests that there was a mass extinction event at the time of the end-Permian, on land - and that it happened at the same time as the marine end-Permian extinction.
Teeth can reveal a lot about diversity when they are reasonably well-preserved.
This fossil find provides strong evidence of an African origin for some Malagasy chameleon lineages.
Top contributors
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Senior Researcher in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela University
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Strategic Professor in Palaeontology, Flinders University
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Professor in Evolutionary Biology (jointly appointed with South Australian Museum), Flinders University
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Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of Bristol
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Associate Professor, Vertebrate Palaeontology Group, Flinders University
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Senior Lecturer in Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences at the University of Bath, University of Bath
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Professor, Southern Cross University
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Research Assistant in Palaeontology, University of Bristol
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Research associate, Curtin University
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Honorary Research Associate, Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand
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Lecturer, University of Cape Town
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Professor, Flinders University
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Honorary Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney
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Lecturer in Palaeontology, Flinders University
