Inside the stout fins of a fish that, about 380 million years ago, prowled the shallow waters of an estuary in what is now eastern Canada, scientists have found what they call the evolutionary origins of the human hand. The researchers were examining a remarkably ...
'Wonderchicken' fossil reveals early ancestor of modern birds
A tiny fossil skull nicknamed "Wonderchicken" is giving scientists a rare glimpse at early ancestors of today's birds and may be the oldest known modern-bird fossil. With a face like those of today's chicken-like birds and a back portion like that of living duck-like birds, ...
Dinosaur prints from mysterious middle Jurassic Period found in Scotland
On a crag of rock called Brother's Point on Scotland's Isle of Skye, scientists have identified two bustling footprint sites that reveal an abundance of dinosaurs that thrived 170 million years ago including an early member of a celebrated group. Researchers on Wednesday said about ...
Red pandas, the bushy-tailed and russet-furred bamboo-munchers that dwell in Asian high forests, are not a single species, according to the most comprehensive genetic study to date on these endangered mammals. Scientists said on Wednesday they had found substantial divergences between the two species — ...
Scientists examining the genomes of West Africans have detected signs that a mysterious extinct human species interbred with our own species tens of thousands of years ago in Africa, the latest evidence of humankind's complicated genetic ancestry. The study indicated that present-day West Africans can ...
Dinosaurs grew feathers differently from birds, fossil of a 'dancing dragon' shows
An exquisite fossil of a fierce little Chinese dinosaur dubbed the "dancing dragon" that lived 120 million years ago — an older cousin of the Velociraptor — is showing scientists that feathers grew differently on dinosaurs than on birds. The two-legged Cretaceous Period dinosaur, called ...
Wolf puppies found to play fetch — did that help their descendants become dogs?
In the game of fetch, you throw an object and your joyful dogs leaps to intercept and return it, encouraged by words of praise or a pat on the head. Such scenes have no doubt played out over millenniums, symbolizing the unshakable bond of friendship ...
Secret mission saves Australia's 'dinosaur trees' from bush fires
A secret operation by specialist firefighters has saved the world's last stand of Wollemi pines, a prehistoric species known as "dinosaur trees," from Australia's unprecedented bush fires, officials said. Fewer than 200 of the trees exist in the wild, hidden in a gorge in the ...
Parrots found to volunteer help selflessly, rare among animals
Acting selflessly to help others in need was long thought to be a trait confined to mammals, in particular humans and great apes. But a new study has found that African gray parrots volunteer assistance to both their good friends and mere acquaintances — even ...
Dwarf Tyrannosaurus rex species probably did not exist, study says
For three decades, paleontologists have been split over a provocative question: Did a dwarf species of Tyrannosaurus rex once exist? In 1988, paleontologist Robert Bakker and his colleagues at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History reclassified a specimen that had been discovered in 1942 and ...
Scientists have discovered what could be the world's oldest forest, potentially rich in information on the link between forests and climate change, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Current Biology. The title of world's oldest fossil forest had previously been given to ...
Before T. rex, the Gnathovorax was the king of Triassic Park
Millions of years before the arrival of the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, another fearsome dinosaur — the Gnathovorax — roamed what is now southern Brazil, ripping apart its prey with sharp teeth. Measuring nearly 10 feet (3 meters) long, it was the biggest dinosaur of its ...
