Fossils

An artist's reconstruction of what the hobbit may have looked like housed in Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

The “Hobbit” Lineage May Be Much Older Than Previously Thought

A new find hints that the short-statured hominins could have been living in Indonesia over a half a million years earlier than previous estimates

Little penguins are the only penguins now found in Australia.

Australia Used to be a Haven for Giant Penguins

A single species, the little penguin, is left on Aussie shores today

Chris Torres and Eric Gorscak take in the scenery at Cape Lamb—scenery that included lots of fossils.

Fossil Hunters Uncover 71-Million-Year-Old Trove in Antarctica

After a plane flight, boat ride, helicopter lift and a lot of hiking, the scientists returned with a massive cache of fossils

The footprints of ankylosaurs and other 122-million-year-old dinosaurs are preserved outside Moab, Utah.

Paleontologists Unveil Dinosaur Stomping Ground in Utah

Visitors can view ghostly footprints that record prehistoric steps in pale blue stone

The Ichthyornis is a toothed bird that links birds with reptiles.

The "Sistine Chapel of Evolution" Is in New Haven, Connecticut

Charles Darwin never visited the Yale museum, but you can, and see for yourself the specimens that he praised as the best evidence for his theory

When Dinosaurs Roamed the (Not Yet) Petrified Forest

Recent surprise discoveries at the national park have prompted a complete rethinking about the creatures of the Jurassic Era

An artist's rendering shows what a Tully Monster might have looked like 300 million years ago.

What Is a Tully Monster? Scientists Finally Think They Know

The oddball fossil that puzzled experts for almost 60 years is probably an ancient fish akin to today's bloodsucking lampreys

These ancient amber fossils from Burma in Southeast Asia help complete the patchy record of lizard evolution.

Pint-Sized Lizards Trapped in Amber Give Clues to Life 100 Million Years Ago

The trove of Cretaceous reptiles includes an early relative of the chameleon—the oldest yet discovered

440-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Fungi May Be The Oldest Land Dwellers Yet Discovered

Though not the oldest living creatures, these fungi may have paved the way for living creatures to take hold of the land

The hell-ant's fearsome fangs are on full display in this 3D false-color rendering of a Haidomyrmex scimitarus queen, produced by combining several hundred two-dimensional x-ray snapshots.

These Tiny Saber-Toothed Terrors Are Among the World's Oldest Ants

Analysis of insects entombed in amber shows that the "hell ants" were among the first to diverge from the original ant-wasp ancestor

This tiny flower is thought to be related to the poisonous Strychnos genus.

New Species of Prehistoric Flower Discovered Preserved in Amber

Rare fossil may be an ancient relative of the potato

The sun rises over Joshua Tree National Park. The newlydesignated Castle Mountains, Mojave Trails and Sand to Snow national monuments will connect Joshua Tree to other federally protected lands in a massive 1.8-million-acre preservation bid.

Obama Just Added Three More National Monuments

This time, the California desert was the president's preservation focus

An image of the fossilized lacewing Oregramma illecebrosa, left, and the modern owl butterfly Calico Memnon, right.

Jurassic-Era Insect Looks Just Like a Modern Butterfly

Jurassic "butterflies" helped pollinate ancient plants millions of years before the butterfly even existed

Cows graze near a huge replica of a dinosaur at the Balasinor fossil park. The area is littered with hundreds of dinosaur bones, teeth, skulls and eggs tens of millions of years old.

Meet India's Dinosaur Princess

Aaliya Sultana Babi is doing everything in her power to protect and promote India's most significant fossil park

A Hoplophoneus pseudo-cat skull in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Utah.

The Dakota Badlands Used to Host Sabertoothed Pseudo-Cat Battles

The region was once home to a plethora of catlike creatures called nimravids, and fossils show they were an especially fractious breed

University of Colorado Denver researcher Martin Lockley (right) and Ken Cart pose beside large a dinosaur scrape they discovered in Western Colorado.

Dinosaurs May Have Dug Trenches to Woo Mates

Ancient grooves discovered in Colorado suggest dinos had bird-like mating rituals

The Verreaux's sifaka is one of the unique mammals found only on Madagascar.

Tiny Fossils Reveal the Rise of Mammals on Madagascar

Recent finds are helping paleontologists piece together what happened after dinosaurs vanished from the island

A gibbous moon shines over a large petrified log embedded in the sandstone at Blue Mesa in Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park.

Protecting Arizona's Petrified Forest Can Be as Easy as Taking a Hike

After dispelling myths about vandals and thieves, rangers are working to make this national park more open and engaging

This is an artist's impression of sauropod dinosaurs on the Isle of Skye.

Hundreds of Dinosaur Tracks Discovered Along the Scottish Coast

Giant sauropods once roamed the Isle of Skye

Skeletal cast of "Lucy."

Lucy the Australopithecus Turns 41 (Plus 3.2 Million Years)

Lucy gets a Google Doodle for the anniversary of her discovery

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