Category: Prehistoric Earth
Before the dinosaurs, almost everything on Earth died. What happened?
•The Permian-Triassic extinction event, also known as the Great Dying, took place 252 million years ago. •Experts say that rising…
How did dinosaurs evolve to fly? The answer is (not) in your nails
•While it’s no mystery that many dinosaurs had feathers, we’re still not sure when and how they evolved to fly.…
Think the platypus looks weird? This Triassic-era reptile was even weirder
• 250 million years ago, the platypus-looking Eretmorhipis carrolldongi swam in the waters of China. • It had a comically undersized…
This prehistoric shark’s teeth are straight out of an ’80s video game
• A newly named shark, Galagadon nordquistae, possessed teeth that resemble spaceships from the 1981 video game Galaga. • The prehistoric predator…
198 million years ago, this dinosaur from Italy became an undersea buffet
• Discovered by an amateur paleontologist in 1996, Saltriovenator zanellai is the first Jurassic-era dinosaur from Italy. • The circumstances of…
Our ancestors walked with shaggy Siberian ‘unicorns’
• New analysis of Elasmotherium sibiricum, an extinct species of single-horned Eurasian rhinoceros, reveals that the hair-covered “Siberian unicorns” lived alongside…
Was this dinosaur-like creature the world’s first vegetarian?
Meet humanity’s distant relative Gordodon kraineri, a sail-backed, dinosaur-like reptile that lived in the Permian era. This mammalian cousin, whose…
Theropod Titan: New dinosaur named after Marvel’s Thanos
Named after the Marvel character, Thanos simonattoi was an Upper Cretaceous abelisaurid approximately 5.5 to 6.5 meters long. But is declaring a…
What were the ‘opposite birds’ (and why did they die with the dinosaurs)?
Fossils of the 75-million-year-old Mirarce eatoni reveal that it was as well-adapted for flight as today’s birds. But why did it and…
Long shot: New long-necked dinosaur found in “unusual” location
Paleontologists found fossils of Lavocatisaurus agrioensis in a place that, 110 million years ago, was likely too dry for the dinosaur to…
