It’s often said you need to look to the past to learn about the future, and that’s what the fossil record can tell about how the Tasmanian Devil survived in the past on mainland Australia.
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Articles on Fossils
Displaying 201 - 220 of 386 articles
Trackways made by vertebrates during the Pleistocene era, dating back to between 36 000 and 140 000 years helps with research into ancient animals.
Geomythology can be a powerful way to inspire more people on the continent to become interested in Africa’s palaeoscience.
Thanks to hundreds of fossil remains found in Africa studies can explore new scenarios about how our ancestors lived and evolved.
Five major finds this year adds to our understanding of evolution and ancient life history.
Our research shows that, millions of years from now, fossilised chicken bones will mark the era of human domination.
South Africa’s fossils can step out of the shadows of being undated and undateable.
A record of sea-level change from 400 million years ago in South Africa, reveals how ecosystems and environments collapsed at the South Pole.
Palaeontological finds offer a compelling and profound way to think about our place in nature.
The ocean floor holds unique information about Earth’s history. Scientific ocean drilling, which started 50 years ago, has yielded insights into climate change, geohazards and the key conditions for life.
Twenty-two years ago, President Clinton established Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument for paleontological conservation. As the Trump administration shrinks its borders, that mission is jeopardized.
A tiny percentage of museums’ natural history holdings are on display. Very little of these vast archives is digitized and available online. But museums are working to change that.
Ancient indigenous people often collected fossil shells, teeth and bones that have provided critical clues about human origins.
2018 brought the announcement of a new geologic age that covers the last 4,200 years. How do scientists divide up Earth’s timeline and what do these demarcations mean?
They hovered in the skies of the Earth 300 million years ago… The giant dragonflies will soon be the stars of the paleontology gallery of France’s Natural History Museum in Paris.
Death is inevitable for individuals and also for species. With help from the fossil record, paleontologists are piecing together what might make one creature more vulnerable than another.
We know of about 900 valid dinosaur species that existed. ‘Valid’ means scientists know the dinosaur from enough of the skeleton bones to feel pretty sure that it differs from other known dinosaurs.
Sexual organs similar to what we see in sharks and rays today appeared many millions of years ago in much more primitive ancient fishes than was previously thought.
Did you recently hear news that Earth’s oldest pigments were hot pink? That’s not quite right. When they were in living bacteria a billion years ago, they were performing photosynthesis – and green.
The Earth is losing more and more biodiversity every day, and we should all be worried
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 of Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of Bristol
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Professor in Evolutionary Biology (jointly appointed with South Australian Museum), Flinders University
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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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Professor, Flinders University
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Lecturer, University of Cape Town
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Honorary Research Associate, Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand
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Lecturer in Palaeontology, Flinders University
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Honorary Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney
