NATURAL HISTORY AND EARTH SCIENCE NEWS Giant early whale Basilosaurus hunted the calves of other whales. Wadi Al Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, is a site that’s yielded dozens of skeletons of the early predatory whales Basilosaurus and Dorudon over the last hundred years. Newly uncovered specimens support the idea that it was a calving ground for the dolphin-sized Dorudon, and THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS PART 3: THE AGE OF COAL The progressive drying killed off the species that heavily depended on these fertile ecosystems, ushering a new age for plants and animals. But in those dying forests appeared a new adaptation that allowed plants to survive in a drier world. This is part three of a five-part series on the evolution of plants. 1: The first conquerors of land. DINOSAURS OF THE NORTH POLE The dinosaurs of the Prince Creek Formation. Dinosaurs were probably warm-blooded animals, but many would have been migratory, moving to warmer areas when the winter came in. Julio Lacerda. The dinosaur and the aurora. A Troodon experiences the beauty of IS THE TYRANNOSAUR FEATHER DEBATE REALLY OVER? An analysis was then conducted utilizing these patches, as well as the known feathers from other members of the tyrannosaur lineage such as Yutyrannus. This statistical analysis found that they were decidedly scaly, and became as such over 100 million years ago. However, this doesn’t mean that the analysis is universally accepted by 500 MILLION YEARS OF CEPHALOPOD FOSSILS From Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos to Disney’s Ursula and Nintendo’s Splatoon, squid and their squad continue to captivate people throughout the ages. They’re survivors, both in nature and in human consciousness. Over the course of 500 million years of their history, cephalopods have left us plenty of traces of their presence. TRAPPED IN TIME: THE TOP 10 AMBER FOSSILS Every so often, something incredibly beautiful and delicate comes out of the fossil record. It can be the microscopic fossil of extinct plankton or the near-complete skeleton of a massive dinosaur. Then there are those fossils which show a surprising degree of completeness, presenting real snapshots of a long-lost age. They are the top 10 finest amber fossils ever. THE CAVE HYENAS OF ICE AGE EUROPE A fossil-bearing cave in northeastern Spain that has yielded the most complete skeleton of the extinct cave hyena yet known, greatly improving on partial remains found elsewhere. The deposits in the cave, known as Las Aprendices, have been dated to approximately 144,000 years ago. The cave offers a snapshot of the environment and wildlife encountered by the first humans moving into Europe. WHEN GIANT MUSHROOMS RULED THE EARTH A fungus called Prototaxites towered more than 24 feet (8m) over most of the land plants of the Silurian Period and was as much as three feet (1m) wide. Because Prototaxites remained a mystery for so long, scientists were chomping at the bit to figure out its true identity. In 2007, researchers from the University of Chicago and the

Smithsonian

FIRST TRACES OF HOMO SAPIENS DNA IN A NEANDERTHAL But a recent discovery might reveal sapiens DNA in the fossil of a Neanderthal woman. This isolated find dates back to around 50,000 years ago and hails from Siberia’s Altai Mountains. It is the toe bone of a woman from the well-known Denisova Cave, an incredible genetic graveyard that has been taking scientists by surprise for many

years.

CEPHALOPOD EYES: WINDOWS TO AN ALIEN EXISTENCE One of the most intriguing examples of convergent evolution, cephalopod eyes are a window into the evolution of sight – and how the most intelligent invertebrates on the planet perceive the world. Cephalopods, with their uncanny camouflage, writhing tentacles, and eerie intelligence, tend to take on a mystical quality in our stories

and folklore.

NATURAL HISTORY AND EARTH SCIENCE NEWS Giant early whale Basilosaurus hunted the calves of other whales. Wadi Al Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, is a site that’s yielded dozens of skeletons of the early predatory whales Basilosaurus and Dorudon over the last hundred years. Newly uncovered specimens support the idea that it was a calving ground for the dolphin-sized Dorudon, and THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS PART 3: THE AGE OF COAL The progressive drying killed off the species that heavily depended on these fertile ecosystems, ushering a new age for plants and animals. But in those dying forests appeared a new adaptation that allowed plants to survive in a drier world. This is part three of a five-part series on the evolution of plants. 1: The first conquerors of land. DINOSAURS OF THE NORTH POLE The dinosaurs of the Prince Creek Formation. Dinosaurs were probably warm-blooded animals, but many would have been migratory, moving to warmer areas when the winter came in. Julio Lacerda. The dinosaur and the aurora. A Troodon experiences the beauty of IS THE TYRANNOSAUR FEATHER DEBATE REALLY OVER? An analysis was then conducted utilizing these patches, as well as the known feathers from other members of the tyrannosaur lineage such as Yutyrannus. This statistical analysis found that they were decidedly scaly, and became as such over 100 million years ago. However, this doesn’t mean that the analysis is universally accepted by 500 MILLION YEARS OF CEPHALOPOD FOSSILS From Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos to Disney’s Ursula and Nintendo’s Splatoon, squid and their squad continue to captivate people throughout the ages. They’re survivors, both in nature and in human consciousness. Over the course of 500 million years of their history, cephalopods have left us plenty of traces of their presence. TRAPPED IN TIME: THE TOP 10 AMBER FOSSILS Every so often, something incredibly beautiful and delicate comes out of the fossil record. It can be the microscopic fossil of extinct plankton or the near-complete skeleton of a massive dinosaur. Then there are those fossils which show a surprising degree of completeness, presenting real snapshots of a long-lost age. They are the top 10 finest amber fossils ever. THE CAVE HYENAS OF ICE AGE EUROPE A fossil-bearing cave in northeastern Spain that has yielded the most complete skeleton of the extinct cave hyena yet known, greatly improving on partial remains found elsewhere. The deposits in the cave, known as Las Aprendices, have been dated to approximately 144,000 years ago. The cave offers a snapshot of the environment and wildlife encountered by the first humans moving into Europe. WHEN GIANT MUSHROOMS RULED THE EARTH A fungus called Prototaxites towered more than 24 feet (8m) over most of the land plants of the Silurian Period and was as much as three feet (1m) wide. Because Prototaxites remained a mystery for so long, scientists were chomping at the bit to figure out its true identity. In 2007, researchers from the University of Chicago and the

Smithsonian

FIRST TRACES OF HOMO SAPIENS DNA IN A NEANDERTHAL But a recent discovery might reveal sapiens DNA in the fossil of a Neanderthal woman. This isolated find dates back to around 50,000 years ago and hails from Siberia’s Altai Mountains. It is the toe bone of a woman from the well-known Denisova Cave, an incredible genetic graveyard that has been taking scientists by surprise for many

years.

CEPHALOPOD EYES: WINDOWS TO AN ALIEN EXISTENCE One of the most intriguing examples of convergent evolution, cephalopod eyes are a window into the evolution of sight – and how the most intelligent invertebrates on the planet perceive the world. Cephalopods, with their uncanny camouflage, writhing tentacles, and eerie intelligence, tend to take on a mystical quality in our stories

and folklore.

THE SECRET GARDEN OF EDIACARA AND THE ORIGIN OF For ages, life on Earth and its origin has been a big fascination for mankind. The ancestry of most animals can be traced back to 541 million years ago – when an event called the Cambrian Explosion abruptly birthed a myriad of familiar creatures in the sea. It was a time when the ancestors of crabs, clams, and jellyfishes dominated the oceans. Little did people know, there was a time before 500 MILLION YEARS OF CEPHALOPOD FOSSILS From Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos to Disney’s Ursula and Nintendo’s Splatoon, squid and their squad continue to captivate people throughout the ages. They’re survivors, both in nature and in human consciousness. Over the course of 500 million years of their history, cephalopods have left us plenty of traces of their presence. WHEN GIANT MUSHROOMS RULED THE EARTH A fungus called Prototaxites towered more than 24 feet (8m) over most of the land plants of the Silurian Period and was as much as three feet (1m) wide. Because Prototaxites remained a mystery for so long, scientists were chomping at the bit to figure out its true identity. In 2007, researchers from the University of Chicago and the

Smithsonian

THE EVOLUTION OF WHALES Whales are mammals! While that simple concept is a platitude to 21st century readers, it was not for most people throughout human history. Even those who were intimately familiar with the shape and behavior of whales, the whalers who hunted them, thought of whales as fish. CRACKING THE SECRETS OF SPINOSAURUS Ninety-five million years ago, a gigantic predatory dinosaur roamed the swamps and riversides of the prehistoric Sahara. For more than a century, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus took on many forms as scientists struggled to reconstruct it. Now with new material, there might be a

chance to end it.

OSTRACODERMS, ARMORED FISHES WITHOUT JAWS The absence of jaws doesn’t mean they lacked a mouth. Their lips were movable to some degree, although they were unable to bite or create a strong enough suction to inhale prey like today’s fishes. The more active ostracoderms likely swam through the water with THE ODD LITTLE REPTILES OF THE TRIASSIC FORESTS: Among the oddest animals to exist just before the first dinosaurs appeared is a small reptile that lived during the Mid-Triassic around 235 million years ago. It was named Longisquama insignis, and is known from a few good and reasonably complete remains. The fossils hail from the widely explored Madygen Formation of Kyrgyzstan. AGGRESSIVE MIMICRY: TEN ANIMALS THAT ARE DRESSED TO False Cleanerfish ( Aspidontus taeniatus) ‘True’ cleanerfish are a species of wrasse that set up ‘cleaning stations’ for larger fish, such as groupers. The cleanerfish swims between the mouths and gills of the larger fish, picking off parasites, dead tissue, and other unwanted hitchhikers. The cleanerfish is TUATARA: THE THREE-EYED BABY DRAGON OF NEW ZEALAND The oldest known tuatara, 118-year-old “Henry,” made headlines for becoming a father at the spry young age of 111, after 40 years in captivity spent persistently uninterested in reproducing. Indeed, these reptiles are committed to a strategy of taking the slow and steady approach to just about everything. THE BIGGEST INSECT EVER WAS A HUGE DRAGONFLY The largest known insect of all time was a predator resembling a dragonfly but was only distantly related to them. Its name is Meganeuropsis, and it ruled the skies NATURAL HISTORY AND EARTH SCIENCE NEWS Giant early whale Basilosaurus hunted the calves of other whales. Wadi Al Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, is a site that’s yielded dozens of skeletons of the early predatory whales Basilosaurus and Dorudon over the last hundred years. Newly uncovered specimens support the idea that it was a calving ground for the dolphin-sized Dorudon, and THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS PART 3: THE AGE OF COAL The progressive drying killed off the species that heavily depended on these fertile ecosystems, ushering a new age for plants and animals. But in those dying forests appeared a new adaptation that allowed plants to survive in a drier world. This is part three of a five-part series on the evolution of plants. 1: The first conquerors of land. DINOSAURS OF THE NORTH POLE The dinosaurs of the Prince Creek Formation. Dinosaurs were probably warm-blooded animals, but many would have been migratory, moving to warmer areas when the winter came in. Julio Lacerda. The dinosaur and the aurora. A Troodon experiences the beauty of IS THE TYRANNOSAUR FEATHER DEBATE REALLY OVER? An analysis was then conducted utilizing these patches, as well as the known feathers from other members of the tyrannosaur lineage such as Yutyrannus. This statistical analysis found that they were decidedly scaly, and became as such over 100 million years ago. However, this doesn’t mean that the analysis is universally accepted by 500 MILLION YEARS OF CEPHALOPOD FOSSILS From Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos to Disney’s Ursula and Nintendo’s Splatoon, squid and their squad continue to captivate people throughout the ages. They’re survivors, both in nature and in human consciousness. Over the course of 500 million years of their history, cephalopods have left us plenty of traces of their presence. THE CAVE HYENAS OF ICE AGE EUROPE A fossil-bearing cave in northeastern Spain that has yielded the most complete skeleton of the extinct cave hyena yet known, greatly improving on partial remains found elsewhere. The deposits in the cave, known as Las Aprendices, have been dated to approximately 144,000 years ago. The cave offers a snapshot of the environment and wildlife encountered by the first humans moving into Europe. WHEN GIANT MUSHROOMS RULED THE EARTH A fungus called Prototaxites towered more than 24 feet (8m) over most of the land plants of the Silurian Period and was as much as three feet (1m) wide. Because Prototaxites remained a mystery for so long, scientists were chomping at the bit to figure out its true identity. In 2007, researchers from the University of Chicago and the

Smithsonian

THE EVOLUTION OF WHALES Whales are mammals! While that simple concept is a platitude to 21st century readers, it was not for most people throughout human history. Even those who were intimately familiar with the shape and behavior of whales, the whalers who hunted them, thought of whales as fish. CEPHALOPOD EYES: WINDOWS TO AN ALIEN EXISTENCE One of the most intriguing examples of convergent evolution, cephalopod eyes are a window into the evolution of sight – and how the most intelligent invertebrates on the planet perceive the world. Cephalopods, with their uncanny camouflage, writhing tentacles, and eerie intelligence, tend to take on a mystical quality in our stories

and folklore.

FOSSIL POKEMON AND THEIR EXTINCT INSPIRATIONS The international hit franchise was launched in Japan in 1996 by developer Game Freak. Its founder Satoshi Tajiri has said that the creature-collecting game, which defined the genre and spawned countless other franchises in its footsteps, was a contemporary

incarnation of

NATURAL HISTORY AND EARTH SCIENCE NEWS Giant early whale Basilosaurus hunted the calves of other whales. Wadi Al Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, is a site that’s yielded dozens of skeletons of the early predatory whales Basilosaurus and Dorudon over the last hundred years. Newly uncovered specimens support the idea that it was a calving ground for the dolphin-sized Dorudon, and THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS PART 3: THE AGE OF COAL The progressive drying killed off the species that heavily depended on these fertile ecosystems, ushering a new age for plants and animals. But in those dying forests appeared a new adaptation that allowed plants to survive in a drier world. This is part three of a five-part series on the evolution of plants. 1: The first conquerors of land. DINOSAURS OF THE NORTH POLE The dinosaurs of the Prince Creek Formation. Dinosaurs were probably warm-blooded animals, but many would have been migratory, moving to warmer areas when the winter came in. Julio Lacerda. The dinosaur and the aurora. A Troodon experiences the beauty of IS THE TYRANNOSAUR FEATHER DEBATE REALLY OVER? An analysis was then conducted utilizing these patches, as well as the known feathers from other members of the tyrannosaur lineage such as Yutyrannus. This statistical analysis found that they were decidedly scaly, and became as such over 100 million years ago. However, this doesn’t mean that the analysis is universally accepted by 500 MILLION YEARS OF CEPHALOPOD FOSSILS From Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos to Disney’s Ursula and Nintendo’s Splatoon, squid and their squad continue to captivate people throughout the ages. They’re survivors, both in nature and in human consciousness. Over the course of 500 million years of their history, cephalopods have left us plenty of traces of their presence. THE CAVE HYENAS OF ICE AGE EUROPE A fossil-bearing cave in northeastern Spain that has yielded the most complete skeleton of the extinct cave hyena yet known, greatly improving on partial remains found elsewhere. The deposits in the cave, known as Las Aprendices, have been dated to approximately 144,000 years ago. The cave offers a snapshot of the environment and wildlife encountered by the first humans moving into Europe. WHEN GIANT MUSHROOMS RULED THE EARTH A fungus called Prototaxites towered more than 24 feet (8m) over most of the land plants of the Silurian Period and was as much as three feet (1m) wide. Because Prototaxites remained a mystery for so long, scientists were chomping at the bit to figure out its true identity. In 2007, researchers from the University of Chicago and the

Smithsonian

THE EVOLUTION OF WHALES Whales are mammals! While that simple concept is a platitude to 21st century readers, it was not for most people throughout human history. Even those who were intimately familiar with the shape and behavior of whales, the whalers who hunted them, thought of whales as fish. CEPHALOPOD EYES: WINDOWS TO AN ALIEN EXISTENCE One of the most intriguing examples of convergent evolution, cephalopod eyes are a window into the evolution of sight – and how the most intelligent invertebrates on the planet perceive the world. Cephalopods, with their uncanny camouflage, writhing tentacles, and eerie intelligence, tend to take on a mystical quality in our stories

and folklore.

FOSSIL POKEMON AND THEIR EXTINCT INSPIRATIONS The international hit franchise was launched in Japan in 1996 by developer Game Freak. Its founder Satoshi Tajiri has said that the creature-collecting game, which defined the genre and spawned countless other franchises in its footsteps, was a contemporary

incarnation of

WHEN GIANT MUSHROOMS RULED THE EARTH A fungus called Prototaxites towered more than 24 feet (8m) over most of the land plants of the Silurian Period and was as much as three feet (1m) wide. Because Prototaxites remained a mystery for so long, scientists were chomping at the bit to figure out its true identity. In 2007, researchers from the University of Chicago and the

Smithsonian

THE SECRET GARDEN OF EDIACARA AND THE ORIGIN OF For ages, life on Earth and its origin has been a big fascination for mankind. The ancestry of most animals can be traced back to 541 million years ago – when an event called the Cambrian Explosion abruptly birthed a myriad of familiar creatures in the sea. It was a time when the ancestors of crabs, clams, and jellyfishes dominated the oceans. Little did people know, there was a time before TRAPPED IN TIME: THE TOP 10 AMBER FOSSILS Every so often, something incredibly beautiful and delicate comes out of the fossil record. It can be the microscopic fossil of extinct plankton or the near-complete skeleton of a massive dinosaur. Then there are those fossils which show a surprising degree of completeness, presenting real snapshots of a long-lost age. They are the top 10 finest amber fossils ever. THE EVOLUTION OF WHALES Whales are mammals! While that simple concept is a platitude to 21st century readers, it was not for most people throughout human history. Even those who were intimately familiar with the shape and behavior of whales, the whalers who hunted them, thought of whales as fish. THE GIANT TROODONTID DINOSAURS OF ALASKA Although the sickle-clawed theropods are known solely from teeth, the teeth are distinctive enough that three groups can be identified. They include the small dromaeosaurid Saurornitholestes, its larger relative Dromaeosaurus, and the troodontid Troodon.The Troodon teeth are especially distinctive; they are bulbous, slightly recurved, and bear large points (“denticles”) on both the front OSTRACODERMS, ARMORED FISHES WITHOUT JAWS The absence of jaws doesn’t mean they lacked a mouth. Their lips were movable to some degree, although they were unable to bite or create a strong enough suction to inhale prey like today’s fishes. The more active ostracoderms likely swam through the water with DINOSAURS OF THE GOBI DESERT The American Museum of Natural History and its director Roy Chapman Andrews led the first paleontological expedition into the Gobi, in 1920. Andrews drove a fleet of Dodge cars, the first such expedition to use automobiles, and a caravan of camels into the desert in search of early humans. Andrews believed in the “Out of Asia” theory THE ODD LITTLE REPTILES OF THE TRIASSIC FORESTS: Among the oddest animals to exist just before the first dinosaurs appeared is a small reptile that lived during the Mid-Triassic around 235 million years ago. It was named Longisquama insignis, and is known from a few good and reasonably complete remains. The fossils hail from the widely explored Madygen Formation of Kyrgyzstan. THE BIGGEST INSECT EVER WAS A HUGE DRAGONFLY The largest known insect of all time was a predator resembling a dragonfly but was only distantly related to them. Its name is Meganeuropsis, and it ruled the skies TUATARA: THE THREE-EYED BABY DRAGON OF NEW ZEALAND The oldest known tuatara, 118-year-old “Henry,” made headlines for becoming a father at the spry young age of 111, after 40 years in captivity spent persistently uninterested in reproducing. Indeed, these reptiles are committed to a strategy of taking the slow and steady approach to just about everything. NATURAL HISTORY AND EARTH SCIENCE NEWS Giant early whale Basilosaurus hunted the calves of other whales. Wadi Al Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, is a site that’s yielded dozens of skeletons of the early predatory whales Basilosaurus and Dorudon over the last hundred years. Newly uncovered specimens support the idea that it was a calving ground for the dolphin-sized Dorudon, and THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS PART 3: THE AGE OF COAL The progressive drying killed off the species that heavily depended on these fertile ecosystems, ushering a new age for plants and animals. But in those dying forests appeared a new adaptation that allowed plants to survive in a drier world. This is part three of a five-part series on the evolution of plants. 1: The first conquerors of land. DINOSAURS OF THE NORTH POLE The dinosaurs of the Prince Creek Formation. Dinosaurs were probably warm-blooded animals, but many would have been migratory, moving to warmer areas when the winter came in. Julio Lacerda. The dinosaur and the aurora. A Troodon experiences the beauty of IS THE TYRANNOSAUR FEATHER DEBATE REALLY OVER? An analysis was then conducted utilizing these patches, as well as the known feathers from other members of the tyrannosaur lineage such as Yutyrannus. This statistical analysis found that they were decidedly scaly, and became as such over 100 million years ago. However, this doesn’t mean that the analysis is universally accepted by 500 MILLION YEARS OF CEPHALOPOD FOSSILS From Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos to Disney’s Ursula and Nintendo’s Splatoon, squid and their squad continue to captivate people throughout the ages. They’re survivors, both in nature and in human consciousness. Over the course of 500 million years of their history, cephalopods have left us plenty of traces of their presence. THE CAVE HYENAS OF ICE AGE EUROPE A fossil-bearing cave in northeastern Spain that has yielded the most complete skeleton of the extinct cave hyena yet known, greatly improving on partial remains found elsewhere. The deposits in the cave, known as Las Aprendices, have been dated to approximately 144,000 years ago. The cave offers a snapshot of the environment and wildlife encountered by the first humans moving into Europe. WHEN GIANT MUSHROOMS RULED THE EARTH A fungus called Prototaxites towered more than 24 feet (8m) over most of the land plants of the Silurian Period and was as much as three feet (1m) wide. Because Prototaxites remained a mystery for so long, scientists were chomping at the bit to figure out its true identity. In 2007, researchers from the University of Chicago and the

Smithsonian

THE EVOLUTION OF WHALES Whales are mammals! While that simple concept is a platitude to 21st century readers, it was not for most people throughout human history. Even those who were intimately familiar with the shape and behavior of whales, the whalers who hunted them, thought of whales as fish. CEPHALOPOD EYES: WINDOWS TO AN ALIEN EXISTENCE One of the most intriguing examples of convergent evolution, cephalopod eyes are a window into the evolution of sight – and how the most intelligent invertebrates on the planet perceive the world. Cephalopods, with their uncanny camouflage, writhing tentacles, and eerie intelligence, tend to take on a mystical quality in our stories

and folklore.

FOSSIL POKEMON AND THEIR EXTINCT INSPIRATIONS The international hit franchise was launched in Japan in 1996 by developer Game Freak. Its founder Satoshi Tajiri has said that the creature-collecting game, which defined the genre and spawned countless other franchises in its footsteps, was a contemporary

incarnation of

NATURAL HISTORY AND EARTH SCIENCE NEWS Giant early whale Basilosaurus hunted the calves of other whales. Wadi Al Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, is a site that’s yielded dozens of skeletons of the early predatory whales Basilosaurus and Dorudon over the last hundred years. Newly uncovered specimens support the idea that it was a calving ground for the dolphin-sized Dorudon, and THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS PART 3: THE AGE OF COAL The progressive drying killed off the species that heavily depended on these fertile ecosystems, ushering a new age for plants and animals. But in those dying forests appeared a new adaptation that allowed plants to survive in a drier world. This is part three of a five-part series on the evolution of plants. 1: The first conquerors of land. DINOSAURS OF THE NORTH POLE The dinosaurs of the Prince Creek Formation. Dinosaurs were probably warm-blooded animals, but many would have been migratory, moving to warmer areas when the winter came in. Julio Lacerda. The dinosaur and the aurora. A Troodon experiences the beauty of IS THE TYRANNOSAUR FEATHER DEBATE REALLY OVER? An analysis was then conducted utilizing these patches, as well as the known feathers from other members of the tyrannosaur lineage such as Yutyrannus. This statistical analysis found that they were decidedly scaly, and became as such over 100 million years ago. However, this doesn’t mean that the analysis is universally accepted by 500 MILLION YEARS OF CEPHALOPOD FOSSILS From Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos to Disney’s Ursula and Nintendo’s Splatoon, squid and their squad continue to captivate people throughout the ages. They’re survivors, both in nature and in human consciousness. Over the course of 500 million years of their history, cephalopods have left us plenty of traces of their presence. THE CAVE HYENAS OF ICE AGE EUROPE A fossil-bearing cave in northeastern Spain that has yielded the most complete skeleton of the extinct cave hyena yet known, greatly improving on partial remains found elsewhere. The deposits in the cave, known as Las Aprendices, have been dated to approximately 144,000 years ago. The cave offers a snapshot of the environment and wildlife encountered by the first humans moving into Europe. WHEN GIANT MUSHROOMS RULED THE EARTH A fungus called Prototaxites towered more than 24 feet (8m) over most of the land plants of the Silurian Period and was as much as three feet (1m) wide. Because Prototaxites remained a mystery for so long, scientists were chomping at the bit to figure out its true identity. In 2007, researchers from the University of Chicago and the

Smithsonian

THE EVOLUTION OF WHALES Whales are mammals! While that simple concept is a platitude to 21st century readers, it was not for most people throughout human history. Even those who were intimately familiar with the shape and behavior of whales, the whalers who hunted them, thought of whales as fish. CEPHALOPOD EYES: WINDOWS TO AN ALIEN EXISTENCE One of the most intriguing examples of convergent evolution, cephalopod eyes are a window into the evolution of sight – and how the most intelligent invertebrates on the planet perceive the world. Cephalopods, with their uncanny camouflage, writhing tentacles, and eerie intelligence, tend to take on a mystical quality in our stories

and folklore.

FOSSIL POKEMON AND THEIR EXTINCT INSPIRATIONS The international hit franchise was launched in Japan in 1996 by developer Game Freak. Its founder Satoshi Tajiri has said that the creature-collecting game, which defined the genre and spawned countless other franchises in its footsteps, was a contemporary

incarnation of

WHEN GIANT MUSHROOMS RULED THE EARTH A fungus called Prototaxites towered more than 24 feet (8m) over most of the land plants of the Silurian Period and was as much as three feet (1m) wide. Because Prototaxites remained a mystery for so long, scientists were chomping at the bit to figure out its true identity. In 2007, researchers from the University of Chicago and the

Smithsonian

THE SECRET GARDEN OF EDIACARA AND THE ORIGIN OF For ages, life on Earth and its origin has been a big fascination for mankind. The ancestry of most animals can be traced back to 541 million years ago – when an event called the Cambrian Explosion abruptly birthed a myriad of familiar creatures in the sea. It was a time when the ancestors of crabs, clams, and jellyfishes dominated the oceans. Little did people know, there was a time before TRAPPED IN TIME: THE TOP 10 AMBER FOSSILS Every so often, something incredibly beautiful and delicate comes out of the fossil record. It can be the microscopic fossil of extinct plankton or the near-complete skeleton of a massive dinosaur. Then there are those fossils which show a surprising degree of completeness, presenting real snapshots of a long-lost age. They are the top 10 finest amber fossils ever. THE EVOLUTION OF WHALES Whales are mammals! While that simple concept is a platitude to 21st century readers, it was not for most people throughout human history. Even those who were intimately familiar with the shape and behavior of whales, the whalers who hunted them, thought of whales as fish. THE GIANT TROODONTID DINOSAURS OF ALASKA Although the sickle-clawed theropods are known solely from teeth, the teeth are distinctive enough that three groups can be identified. They include the small dromaeosaurid Saurornitholestes, its larger relative Dromaeosaurus, and the troodontid Troodon.The Troodon teeth are especially distinctive; they are bulbous, slightly recurved, and bear large points (“denticles”) on both the front OSTRACODERMS, ARMORED FISHES WITHOUT JAWS The absence of jaws doesn’t mean they lacked a mouth. Their lips were movable to some degree, although they were unable to bite or create a strong enough suction to inhale prey like today’s fishes. The more active ostracoderms likely swam through the water with DINOSAURS OF THE GOBI DESERT The American Museum of Natural History and its director Roy Chapman Andrews led the first paleontological expedition into the Gobi, in 1920. Andrews drove a fleet of Dodge cars, the first such expedition to use automobiles, and a caravan of camels into the desert in search of early humans. Andrews believed in the “Out of Asia” theory THE ODD LITTLE REPTILES OF THE TRIASSIC FORESTS: Among the oddest animals to exist just before the first dinosaurs appeared is a small reptile that lived during the Mid-Triassic around 235 million years ago. It was named Longisquama insignis, and is known from a few good and reasonably complete remains. The fossils hail from the widely explored Madygen Formation of Kyrgyzstan. THE BIGGEST INSECT EVER WAS A HUGE DRAGONFLY The largest known insect of all time was a predator resembling a dragonfly but was only distantly related to them. Its name is Meganeuropsis, and it ruled the skies TUATARA: THE THREE-EYED BABY DRAGON OF NEW ZEALAND The oldest known tuatara, 118-year-old “Henry,” made headlines for becoming a father at the spry young age of 111, after 40 years in captivity spent persistently uninterested in reproducing. Indeed, these reptiles are committed to a strategy of taking the slow and steady approach to just about everything. NATURAL HISTORY AND EARTH SCIENCE NEWS Giant early whale Basilosaurus hunted the calves of other whales. Wadi Al Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, is a site that’s yielded dozens of skeletons of the early predatory whales Basilosaurus and Dorudon over the last hundred years. Newly uncovered specimens support the idea that it was a calving ground for the dolphin-sized Dorudon, and THE SECRET GARDEN OF EDIACARA AND THE ORIGIN OF For ages, life on Earth and its origin has been a big fascination for mankind. The ancestry of most animals can be traced back to 541 million years ago – when an event called the Cambrian Explosion abruptly birthed a myriad of familiar creatures in the sea. It was a time when the ancestors of crabs, clams, and jellyfishes dominated the oceans. Little did people know, there was a time before OLDEST EXAMPLE OF A CARING MOTHER FOUND IN CANADA The oldest evidence for brood care in the fossil record comes from a specimen of Waptia fieldensis, an early arthropod relative of shrimp and lobsters.Waptia lived in what is now known as the Burgess Shale fossil deposit in Canada, which is dated to the Cambrian period – around 500 million years ago.. In 2015, five specimens of Waptia were found containing up to 24 eggs each. IS THE TYRANNOSAUR FEATHER DEBATE REALLY OVER? An analysis was then conducted utilizing these patches, as well as the known feathers from other members of the tyrannosaur lineage such as Yutyrannus. This statistical analysis found that they were decidedly scaly, and became as such over 100 million years ago. However, this doesn’t mean that the analysis is universally accepted by THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS PART 3: THE AGE OF COAL The progressive drying killed off the species that heavily depended on these fertile ecosystems, ushering a new age for plants and animals. But in those dying forests appeared a new adaptation that allowed plants to survive in a drier world. This is part three of a five-part series on the evolution of plants. 1: The first conquerors of land. DINOSAURS OF THE NORTH POLE The dinosaurs of the Prince Creek Formation. Dinosaurs were probably warm-blooded animals, but many would have been migratory, moving to warmer areas when the winter came in. Julio Lacerda. The dinosaur and the aurora. A Troodon experiences the beauty of 500 MILLION YEARS OF CEPHALOPOD FOSSILS From Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos to Disney’s Ursula and Nintendo’s Splatoon, squid and their squad continue to captivate people throughout the ages. They’re survivors, both in nature and in human consciousness. Over the course of 500 million years of their history, cephalopods have left us plenty of traces of their presence. THE COLORFUL WORLD OF THE TRILOBITES Far more than bumpy black blobs scuttling on the ocean floor, trilobites could be found throughout the water column, even venturing out on the beach at low tide. Their own excellent eyesight and need to camouflage against predators probably meant trilobites came in a variety of colors and patterns, like today’s crustaceans. THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS PART 5: THE GRASSLAND EMPIRE We live on a green planet. Today we may take them for granted, but plants are the most important living things on Earth. Their colonization of land made it possible for all animal life to survive, from the smallest ants to the biggest dinosaurs. Their landscape once again changed when the grasses appeared, an incredible revolution in the history of life. How did they rise to dominance and THE ODD LITTLE REPTILES OF THE TRIASSIC FORESTS: Among the oddest animals to exist just before the first dinosaurs appeared is a small reptile that lived during the Mid-Triassic around 235 million years ago. It was named Longisquama insignis, and is known from a few good and reasonably complete remains. The fossils hail from the widely explored Madygen Formation of Kyrgyzstan. NATURAL HISTORY AND EARTH SCIENCE NEWS Giant early whale Basilosaurus hunted the calves of other whales. Wadi Al Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, is a site that’s yielded dozens of skeletons of the early predatory whales Basilosaurus and Dorudon over the last hundred years. Newly uncovered specimens support the idea that it was a calving ground for the dolphin-sized Dorudon, and THE SECRET GARDEN OF EDIACARA AND THE ORIGIN OF For ages, life on Earth and its origin has been a big fascination for mankind. The ancestry of most animals can be traced back to 541 million years ago – when an event called the Cambrian Explosion abruptly birthed a myriad of familiar creatures in the sea. It was a time when the ancestors of crabs, clams, and jellyfishes dominated the oceans. Little did people know, there was a time before OLDEST EXAMPLE OF A CARING MOTHER FOUND IN CANADA The oldest evidence for brood care in the fossil record comes from a specimen of Waptia fieldensis, an early arthropod relative of shrimp and lobsters.Waptia lived in what is now known as the Burgess Shale fossil deposit in Canada, which is dated to the Cambrian period – around 500 million years ago.. In 2015, five specimens of Waptia were found containing up to 24 eggs each. IS THE TYRANNOSAUR FEATHER DEBATE REALLY OVER? An analysis was then conducted utilizing these patches, as well as the known feathers from other members of the tyrannosaur lineage such as Yutyrannus. This statistical analysis found that they were decidedly scaly, and became as such over 100 million years ago. However, this doesn’t mean that the analysis is universally accepted by THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS PART 3: THE AGE OF COAL The progressive drying killed off the species that heavily depended on these fertile ecosystems, ushering a new age for plants and animals. But in those dying forests appeared a new adaptation that allowed plants to survive in a drier world. This is part three of a five-part series on the evolution of plants. 1: The first conquerors of land. DINOSAURS OF THE NORTH POLE The dinosaurs of the Prince Creek Formation. Dinosaurs were probably warm-blooded animals, but many would have been migratory, moving to warmer areas when the winter came in. Julio Lacerda. The dinosaur and the aurora. A Troodon experiences the beauty of 500 MILLION YEARS OF CEPHALOPOD FOSSILS From Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos to Disney’s Ursula and Nintendo’s Splatoon, squid and their squad continue to captivate people throughout the ages. They’re survivors, both in nature and in human consciousness. Over the course of 500 million years of their history, cephalopods have left us plenty of traces of their presence. THE COLORFUL WORLD OF THE TRILOBITES Far more than bumpy black blobs scuttling on the ocean floor, trilobites could be found throughout the water column, even venturing out on the beach at low tide. Their own excellent eyesight and need to camouflage against predators probably meant trilobites came in a variety of colors and patterns, like today’s crustaceans. THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS PART 5: THE GRASSLAND EMPIRE We live on a green planet. Today we may take them for granted, but plants are the most important living things on Earth. Their colonization of land made it possible for all animal life to survive, from the smallest ants to the biggest dinosaurs. Their landscape once again changed when the grasses appeared, an incredible revolution in the history of life. How did they rise to dominance and THE ODD LITTLE REPTILES OF THE TRIASSIC FORESTS: Among the oddest animals to exist just before the first dinosaurs appeared is a small reptile that lived during the Mid-Triassic around 235 million years ago. It was named Longisquama insignis, and is known from a few good and reasonably complete remains. The fossils hail from the widely explored Madygen Formation of Kyrgyzstan. THE SECRET GARDEN OF EDIACARA AND THE ORIGIN OF For ages, life on Earth and its origin has been a big fascination for mankind. The ancestry of most animals can be traced back to 541 million years ago – when an event called the Cambrian Explosion abruptly birthed a myriad of familiar creatures in the sea. It was a time when the ancestors of crabs, clams, and jellyfishes dominated the oceans. Little did people know, there was a time before OLDEST EXAMPLE OF A CARING MOTHER FOUND IN CANADA The oldest evidence for brood care in the fossil record comes from a specimen of Waptia fieldensis, an early arthropod relative of shrimp and lobsters.Waptia lived in what is now known as the Burgess Shale fossil deposit in Canada, which is dated to the Cambrian period – around 500 million years ago.. In 2015, five specimens of Waptia were found containing up to 24 eggs each. THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS PART 3: THE AGE OF COAL The progressive drying killed off the species that heavily depended on these fertile ecosystems, ushering a new age for plants and animals. But in those dying forests appeared a new adaptation that allowed plants to survive in a drier world. This is part three of a five-part series on the evolution of plants. 1: The first conquerors of land. THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS PART 5: THE GRASSLAND EMPIRE We live on a green planet. Today we may take them for granted, but plants are the most important living things on Earth. Their colonization of land made it possible for all animal life to survive, from the smallest ants to the biggest dinosaurs. Their landscape once again changed when the grasses appeared, an incredible revolution in the history of life. How did they rise to dominance and TRAPPED IN TIME: THE TOP 10 AMBER FOSSILS Every so often, something incredibly beautiful and delicate comes out of the fossil record. It can be the microscopic fossil of extinct plankton or the near-complete skeleton of a massive dinosaur. Then there are those fossils which show a surprising degree of completeness, presenting real snapshots of a long-lost age. They are the top 10 finest amber fossils ever. THE EVOLUTION OF WHALES Whales are mammals! While that simple concept is a platitude to 21st century readers, it was not for most people throughout human history. Even those who were intimately familiar with the shape and behavior of whales, the whalers who hunted them, thought of whales as fish. HATZEGOPTERYX, TRANSYLVANIA’S DINOSAUR HUNTER Hatzegopteryx is a member of a group of pterosaurs known as azhdarchids. The name is fittingly derived from the Persian word “azhdar” which roughly translates to “dragon.”. Common azhdarchid traits include elongated stork-like heads, long and delicate necks, relatively tiny bodies, and the power of flight. TUATARA: THE THREE-EYED BABY DRAGON OF NEW ZEALAND The oldest known tuatara, 118-year-old “Henry,” made headlines for becoming a father at the spry young age of 111, after 40 years in captivity spent persistently uninterested in reproducing. Indeed, these reptiles are committed to a strategy of taking the slow and steady approach to just about everything. AGGRESSIVE MIMICRY: TEN ANIMALS THAT ARE DRESSED TO False Cleanerfish ( Aspidontus taeniatus) ‘True’ cleanerfish are a species of wrasse that set up ‘cleaning stations’ for larger fish, such as groupers. The cleanerfish swims between the mouths and gills of the larger fish, picking off parasites, dead tissue, and other unwanted hitchhikers. The cleanerfish is MEET THE WORLD’S FIRST “FLOWER”: MONTSECHIA VIDALII Montsechia vidalii was a weed-like plant that lived completely submerged in the shallow waters of Europe’s lakes. Its fossils have been dated to 130-125 million years ago, meaning it was possibly older than Archaefructus. Researchers from the US, France and Germany have analyzed more than 1,000 fossils of the little plant by painstakingly

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NEW PTEROSAUR EXHIBIT ON DISPLAY IN SOUTHWEST OREGON

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BRAZILIAN SAIL-BACKED DINOSAUR SWAM LONG BEFORE SPINOSAURUS

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CANADIAN FOOTPRINTS SUPPORT A COASTAL ROUTE FOR THE FIRST AMERICANS

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Brazilian sail-backed dinosaur swam long before Spinosaurus

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fossils

__ about 1 year ago by Kristin Hugo DUCK-BILLED DINOSAUR SKELETON FROM GOBI DESERT IS “VIRTUALLY

COMPLETE”

The first thing that the expedition team found in peeking from the rocks and sands of the Gobi Desert was a tiny tip of a large pelvis. The international team descended on the exposed fossil, and chipped and brushed away to reveal more and more bones. Eventually, they exposed an exceptionally rare find: the virtually complete skeleton of a new dinosaur species. Read Article

fossils

__ over 1 year ago by Pete Buchholz EXTINCT MARINE REPTILE HAD THE FACE OF A PLATYPUS Nearly a quarter billion years ago an otter-sized, armored, platypus-faced, marine reptile paddled in tropical lagoons on the shores of islands that would become southern China. This weird species is part of a diverse lineage that was restricted to a few million years and those tropical lagoons. Read Article

fossils

__ over 1 year ago by Pete Buchholz GIANT EARLY WHALE BASILOSAURUS HUNTED THE CALVES OF OTHER WHALES Wadi Al Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, is a site that’s yielded dozens of skeletons of the early predatory whales Basilosaurus and Dorudon over the last hundred years. Newly uncovered specimens support the idea that it was a calving ground for the dolphin-sized Dorudon, and that those calves were hunted by the much larger Basilosaurus.

Read Article

fossils

__ over 1 year ago by Pete Buchholz EXQUISITELY PRESERVED FOSSILS PROVE PTEROSAURS GREW BIRD-LIKE

FEATHERS

Extraordinarily well-preserved fossils discovered from the 1970s to the present day show that all pterosaurs were covered in hair-like fibers known as pycnofibers. Two new pterosaur specimens described by Zixiao Yang and colleagues show that some pycnofibers were actually brush- or tuft-shaped and probably share an evolutionary origin with feathers. Read Article

fossils

__ over 1 year ago by Pete Buchholz DOLPHIN-LIKE MARINE REPTILES WERE MORE DOLPHIN-LIKE THAN PREVIOUSLY

THOUGHT

An incredible new specimen of the Early Jurassic genus Stenopterygius found in Germany was studied by Johan Lindgren and colleagues. It preserves skin in detail not previously seen in other ichthyosaur fossils. The team of researchers have learned new details of how ichthyosaurs looked in life, as well as details of their physiology.

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