Fossils

Science 18 hours ago

'Unicorn' from the Ice Age may have existed at the same time as humans, shocking discovery reveals

Unicorns may be mythical creatures from ancient literature, but an ancient rhinoceros that was thought to have died out 200,000 years ago bears an eery resemblance to the legendary creature — and may have actually walked the Earth with modern-day humans.

Science 18 hours ago

Puppy finds woolly mammoth tooth in backyard

Kirk Lacewell has lived in Langley, Wa. for approximately six years, part of that time with his dog, Scout. But when Scout began to dig into the backyard, it wasn't just any old rock he was uncovering — it was a woolly mammoth tooth.

Science 18 hours ago

Flesh-eating piranha-like fish's 150-million-year-old remains discovered in Germany

A 150-million-year old Piranha-like fish has been discovered, capable of ripping the flesh off the bones of its prey, according to a new study. 

Science 18 hours ago

'Holy Grail' fossil mystery cracked – 558 million-year-old fat reveals earliest known animal

A previously unclassified creature that lived over 500 million years ago, considered the "Holy Grail of paleontology," has finally been identified, thanks to fossil fat.

Science 18 hours ago

Earliest human drawing discovered in South African cave

The earliest known drawing made by a human has been found in a South African cave and it looks very similar to a hashtag, the grouping and search feature made popular by Twitter.

Science 18 hours ago

Why are there hundreds of ancient, mummified penguins in Antarctica?

Hundreds of mummified penguins in Antarctica have been found, a sign that that the penguins died because of two extreme global warming events over the past 1,000 years, according to a new study.

Science 18 hours ago

Fishermen haul in monstrous skull and antlers of extinct Irish elk

Fishermen in Northern Ireland pulled in the catch of a lifetime on Wednesday (Sept. 5), when they caught an enormous Irish elk skull that's estimated to be more than 10,500 years old. The impressive specimen is about 6 feet (1.8 meters) across and is almost fully intact.

Science 18 hours ago

Ancient 'alien' wasp laid eggs inside fly pupae, ate them from the inside out

It sounds like something out of the "Alien" movie series, but wasps that lived during the age of dinosaurs laid eggs inside fly pupae, with the wasps eating the flies from the inside out.

Science 18 hours ago

Alabama police say briefcase containing fossils turned in, searching for owner

A brown briefcase containing fossils and several other unlikely items was discovered in Alabama and police on Wednesday said they were searching for whoever the items belonged to.

Science 18 hours ago

Frozen woolly mammoth found in Siberia could be new species, researchers say

Fossils found in Siberia of a tiny woolly mammoth could be an entirely new species, researchers say, with some dubbing it a "Golden mammoth."

Science 18 hours ago

Baby snake from the time of the dinosaurs found 'frozen' in amber

A remarkable baby snake embryo has been discovered encased in 99-million-year-old amber.

Science 18 hours ago

Native dogs of the Americas were wiped out by European colonization

Ancient dogs arrived in the Americas alongside humans more than 10,000 years ago but were later wiped out by European colonization, a new study suggests.

Science 18 hours ago

Scientists honor Obama by naming ancient sea creature after him

The University of California, Riverside, explained Monday in a news release that the moniker “honors President Barack Obama’s passion for science.”

Science 18 hours ago

The oldest DNA from giant pandas was just discovered in a cave in China

Scientists in China found a fossil from a giant panda that lived 22,000 years ago. Until they excavated the fossil, reassembled it and analyzed its mitochondrial DNA, biologists had no idea this panda lineage even existed.

Science 18 hours ago

100 million-year-old tick found entrapped in amber

Imagine your worst day ever, preserved for eternity. That's what happened to a very unlucky tick 100 million years ago.

Science 18 hours ago

500 million-year-old claw-faced sea monster was a killing machine

if you could dip your head into the oceans of Earth as they appeared 500 million years ago, you might see what looked like a spiny, disembodied claw cruising through the depths while trying to stuff an unfortunate piece of prey into its circular, fang-filled mouth. If you were lucky, you might even see a teeny-tiny baby claw bobbing along behind it.

Science 18 hours ago

World's oldest animal footprints discovered - revealing strange burrowing creature that lived 550M years ago

Scientists have uncovered the earliest footprints left by animals on Earth, dating back more than half a billion years.

Science 18 hours ago

240 million-year-old 'mother of all lizards' found

Move over Godzilla. There's a new "mother of all lizards" in town.

Science 18 hours ago

Discovery of 'reptilian-mammal' fossil could rewrite history

The discovery of an unusual fossilized skull in eastern Utah is shedding new light on Earth’s history.

Science 18 hours ago

Thousands of human bones discovered in Denmark reveal gruesome 'barbarian' war rituals

Archaeologists made a gruesome discovery when they unearthed an ancient burial site filled with thousands of bones — later identified as victims of a battle fought 2,000 years ago in northern Europe between "barbarian" Germanic tribes.

Science 18 hours ago

Could reviving Woolly-Mammoth genes fight the effects of global warming?

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Woolly mammoths have been extinct for more than 4,000 years, but with new gene-editing techniques, they could help mitigate the effects of a modern problem: climate change.

Science 18 hours ago

180 million-year-old crocodile had dolphin-like features, tells tale of 'missing link'

The discovery of an ancient type of crocodile that lived during the Jurassic Period, at the height of the age of dinosaurs, has shed new light on the species.

Science 18 hours ago

34 million-year-old ancient whale would have ripped you to shreds

This ancient, gummy whale is breaking all the rules.

Science 18 hours ago

Tourists unknowingly toss dinosaur tracks into lake at a Utah state park

Tourists at a Utah state park are mistaking dinosaur tracks as ordinary rocks and throwing them into a nearby lake, causing “substantial impact” to the historic site.

Science 18 hours ago

Tennessee girl, 11, finds 475-million-year-old trilobite fossil

Ryleigh Taylor came across a fossil that’s 475 million years old on the banks of Douglas Lake in Tennessee, WATE reports.

Science 18 hours ago

Utah family finds remains of ancient horse in backyard

A Utah family working on a landscaping project unearthed the fossil remains of an ancient horse dating back more than 2 million years.

Science 18 hours ago

This 3,000-year-old horse got a human-style burial

More than 3,000 years ago in the Nile River Valley, a body was carefully prepared for ceremonial burial. It was wrapped in a shroud and placed in a tomb, surrounded by important objects that demonstrated its elevated status.

Science 18 hours ago

Museum shocked to discover giant egg in collection is real

The Buffalo Museum of Science has been sitting on a rare find.

Science 18 hours ago

Egg of extinct elephant bird was mislabeled as fake for decades, museum realizes

A museum in Buffalo, N.Y., recently discovered that a rare elephant bird egg in its collection had been mislabeled as a model for decades.

Science 18 hours ago

What the heck are these 520-million-year-old blobs? Experts can't agree.

Here's a brainteaser: Do the 520-million-year-old fossils of an ancient, bug-like creature actually show a silhouette of its brains?

Science 18 hours ago

Massive 205-million-year-old ichthyosaur fossil discovered, 'one of the largest animals ever'

The massive jaw-bone of a 205-million-year-old Ichthyosaur has been discovered, making it "one of the largest animals to ever live," nearly the size of a blue whale.