Knowing an animal's normal lifespan is hugely important for conservation efforts, but it's harder to find out than you'd think.
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Articles on Vertebrates
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The discovery of a perfectly preserved snake skull fossil answers many questions about the evolution of snakes from lizards.
The marine creature amphioxus allows scientists to explore some of the steps that took place as simple creatures evolved to become complex animals.
New research shows shallow, near-land seas similar to Bass Strait were critical in the early days of fish evolution. These are the waters we need to protect now to ensure ongoing biodiversity.
A 400 million year old fossilised fish skull gives us very early and previously unknown clues about how boney fishes evolved into the vertebrates we see today on Earth - including us humans.
Little skates that 'walk' across the ocean floor show how fish brains evolved to pave the way for working legs.
A drying climate caused a mass extinction among plants, but paved the way for the ancestors of modern reptiles, mammals, and birds.
If one venomous snake bites a mouse and injects venom into it, you can then feed that same dead mouse to another snake. The second snake won't die.
Taking the placenta as a case study, researchers are able to piece together how new organs evolve, by repurposing old tissues and using them to do new jobs.
Top contributors
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John Long is a Friend of The Conversation.Strategic Professor in Palaeontology, Flinders University
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ARC DECRA Fellow, University of Melbourne
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Research Associate in Evolutionary Biology, Flinders University
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Lab Head-Developmental Epigenomics and Senior Research Fellow, Garvan Institute
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Research Associate in the College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University
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Associate Professor, James Cook University
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PhD student, University of Birmingham
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Senior Lecturer in Vertebrate Biology, Liverpool John Moores University
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Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of Alberta
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Molecular biologist and bioinformatician, CSIRO
