fossils

Latest in fossils

A reconstruction of Breugnathair elgolensis

Cat-sized Jurassic reptile had the jaws of a python

sea sponge among coral underwater

Sea sponges may have been Earth’s first living creatures

a tyrannosaur skeleton on display in a musuem

Amateur paleontologist opens fossil museum in rural Minnesota

By Sara Kiley Watson

Homo habilis mandible shown with the two tooth pits that were documented and magnified separately.

Leopards may have feasted on our earliest ancestors

Illustration of baby pterosaur in a tropical storm at night

Baby pterosaur skeletons reveal a tragic demise

Artist's illustration of Istiorachis macarthurae on a sandy beach

Retired doctor discovers new dinosaur species deep in a museum archive

Norselaspis illustration

A googly-eyed fish could upend evolutionary history

Artist illustration of two plesionectes longicollum plesiosaurs swimming in ocean near aquatic vegetation

Paleontologists discover ‘unusual’ long-necked plesiosaur in Germany

A herd of ceratopsians (Styracosaurus albertensis) accompanied by an ankylosaur (Euplocephalus tutus) walk through an old river channel under the watchful eyes of two tyrannosaurs (Gorgosaurus libratus). Artwork by Julius Csotonyi.

Dinosaurs roamed in multi-species herds, fossilized footprints show

an illustration of an ancient mole species. it has long claws, a pink snout, brown fur, and is crawling out of a hole by a lake

Prehistoric ‘scalopini’ mole fossil uncovered in an ancient Spanish volcano crater

By Margherita Bassi

an illustration of a marine reptile with large fins and a beak swimming by several squid and one shark

Ichthyosaurs were silent assassins of Jurassic seas

By Lauren Leffer

Image of a plant-eating ornithopod dinosaur, Thescelosaurus during the latest Cretaceous Period, nearly 67 million years ago. These around 10-12 foot long two-legged animals roamed the tropical swamps, forests and floodplains where Denver now stands. Their vertebrae are similar to the one found in the rock core deep below the Museum.

Denver museum finds dinosaur bone under its parking lot

An artist’s reconstruction of the fossilized landscape, plants, and animals found preserved in a remote bonebed in Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. The newly described pterosaur Eotephradactylus mcintireae is seen eating an ancient ray-finned fish alongside an early species of turtle and an early frog species, with the skeleton of an armored crocodile relative lying on the ground and a palm-like plant growing in the background.

North American pterosaur could sit on your shoulder

By Laura Baisas

Eryops megacephalus’ (left) skull alongside Rex from the film “Toy Story” (right).

Skull that looks like a ‘Toy Story’ character unearthed in Texas

By Laura Baisas

An artistic reconstruction of Swaindelphys. it has black fur, pointy pink ears, and pointy nose, and very large brown eyes

Shockingly large extinct possum uncovered in Texas

By Margherita Bassi

Well-preserved dinosaur skull belongs to new sauropod species

an illustration of a long marine reptile with large teeth eating a shelled animal

‘Very odd’ 40-foot-long marine reptile stalked prehistoric Canada

By Laura Baisas

an illustration showing the various sizes of extinct giant sloths

8,000-pound sloths once roamed North America. Where’d they go?

By Laura Baisas

Fossil fragments on black background

These human ancestors weren’t as lonely as experts thought

The Chicago Archaeopteryx, under UV light to expose soft tissues.

Feathered fossil shows famed dinosaur could fly (like a chicken)