Palaeontology
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An Aussie elaphrosaur younger than the rest
Tiny fossil proves a significant find.
Australian palaeontologists have chanced upon an unusual toothless dinosaur that roamed the continent around 110 mill...
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Megafauna fossils found in tropical Australia
Rich site suggests climatic change drove extinction.
More than 40,000 years ago, Australia’s tropical northeast was home to species of giant birds, reptiles and marsupial...
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Fossil footprints sheds clues on past behaviour
Insights from largest assemblage of human tracks in Africa.
Thousands of years ago, a group of people trekked across African soil, and their footprints remain to shine a torch o...
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The tracks of my tetrapod
Researchers identify fossils after 80 years.
Fossils discovered nearly 80 years ago in what is now suburban Sydney have been identified as traces of a four-legged...
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Early fossil evidence of humans in Europe
Artefacts suggest cultural interaction with Neanderthals.
Newly unearthed fossil remains offer the earliest clear evidence of Homo sapiens in Europe and suggest they had great...
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A squid attack that went awry
Rare fossil captures an ancient confrontation.
These seemingly benign images may in fact show the oldest known example of a squid-like creature attacking its prey –...
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'Crazy beast' discovered in Madagascar
Mammal lived with dinosaurs on Gondwanaland.
When in isolation, animals evolve bizarre features and behaviours. Adding to the weird and wonderful fauna on the...
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Fossil frogs offer insights into early Antarctica
Researchers find first traces of amphibians.
The discovery of the earliest known modern amphibians in Antarctica provides further evidence of a warm and temperate...
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Learning to fly – from dinosaurs
It’s not just modern aeronautical feats that can inspire us.
Pterosaurs, the largest animals ever to fly, soared the skies for 160 million years – much longer than any species of...
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Homo erectus keeps getting older
Researchers make an important find in fossil-rich South Africa.
It continues to be a big week for archaeological revelations. Yesterday Cosmos reported on three new papers that p...
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Gondwana in amber
Fossil trove sheds light on ancient antipodean ecology.
An international team of palaeontologists has discovered an assortment of intact amber fossils in the Southern Hemisp...
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More clues to the story of our past
Three studies take a detailed look at important discoveries.
It’s been a landmark day for learning about our ancestry, with the publication of not one but three major studies. ...