Fossils

A carrion beetle fossil from the Cretaceous period.

Carrion Beetles Were the First Caring Parents

Flesh-eating beetles that lived 125 million years ago set the stage for modern parenting

Columbian Mammoth skeleton recovered from the LaBrea Tar Pits on display at the Page Museum in Los Angeles' Hancock Park

Rare, Red Mammoth Hair Found on Californian Artichoke Farm

Columbian mammoths roamed Western North America thousands of years ago, and now we have a better idea of what they looked like

Artist's rendering of Dreadnoughtus schrani

Meet Dreadnought, Largest Dinosaur In The World

Dreadnought is the largest dinosaur in the world to be scientifically described

A bromeliad epiphyte growing on a branch of a giant ceiba tree in Ecuador

Flowering Plants Appeared in Forest Canopies Just a Few Million Years After Dinosaurs Went Extinct

A new study gives scientists some more insight into the weird history of flowering plants

A modern Arctic fox

Polar Carnivores Might Have Originated in Tibet

A new fox fossil lends weight to the idea that many carnivores now found in the Arctic originated in what is now Tibet

Tiktaalik roseae had fish-like fins, a flattened skull (similar to a crocodile), and is thought to have lived in shallow water, using its fins to prop itself up.

Did the Evolution of Animal Intelligence Begin With Tiktaalik?

How one marvelously preserved fossil sheds light on how the vertebrate invasion of land took place

The sperm cells were found in Riversleigh, a remote spot in northwestern Australia that was once a teeming rainforest.

Giant Sperm Cells Belonging to 17 Million Year Old Shrimp Are the Oldest Ever Found

The sperm were longer than the male shrimp's entire body

Track the Nation's T-Rex as it Arrives at the Smithsonian

The Natural History Museum's much-anticipated fossil completes the ultimate road trip: a 2,000 mile journey from Montana to our nation's capital.

Fuxianhuia protensa

Oldest Fossilized Heart Found…It Belonged to A Shrimp

Researchers found the oldest-known cardiovascular system in a fossilized “shrimp-like” anima

Columbian Mammoth

When Evolution's Controversial, Declaring a State Fossil Can Get Tricky

The Columbian Mammoth gets caught in the crossfire of the culture wars

An illustration of the large, feathered Anzu wyliei depicts several striking anatomical features—its long tail, feathered arms, toothless beak and a tall crest on the top of its skull.

Scientists Discover a Large and Feathered Dinosaur that Once Roamed North America

The 'Anzu wyliei' species looks like a cross between a chicken and a lizard

Some dinosaurs, such as the (Caudipteryx zoui) above, had brightly colored feathers. New research suggests that modern birds inherited their own color varieties from their feathered dinosaur ancestors.

Colorful Plumage Began With Feathered Dinosaurs

The pigment patterns scientists use to predict ancient animal colors started with feathered dinosaurs and led to vibrant color in birds

Kootenay National Park

Researchers Have Found a Treasure Trove of Fossils in Canada

Researchers have found a treasure trove of fossils in Canada

See What It’s Like to be a Paleontologist in the Gobi Desert

Aki Watanabe took Google Glass to the Gobi Desert to show people first hand what fossil hunting is like

Typical entombment poses of some of the Jehol Biota’s animals (a Psittacosaurus (a) and primitive crow-like birds (b and c))—the same poses displayed by other victims of erupting volcanoes throughout history.

The “Pompeii of Animals” Shows Dinosaurs, Mammals and Early Birds in Their Death Throes

A lethal volcanic explosion is identified as the culprit behind a mysterious mass death of creatures that took place around 125 million years ago

On Jan. 16, the National Museum of Natural History unveiled “Tyrannosaurus rex: Say Hello to the Nation’s T. rex!” which features the cast of a T. rex skull

The King of All Fossils is Coming to Smithsonian in April

One of the most complete T. rex skeletons ever found will be on display at the National Museum of Natural History

This 200 Million-Year-Old Plant Species Helps Explain the Origin of All Flowers

Of the 300,000 flowering plants known today, Amborella is the only one that directly traces back to the common ancestor of them all

Ancient Reptiles Kept Switching Between Laying Eggs And Giving Birth to Live Babies

Colder temperatures seem key to triggering the switch to live births

One of the ancient human fossils found in Spain's La Sima de los Huesos.

Scientists Just Sequenced the DNA From A 400,000-Year-Old Early Human

The fossil, found in Spain, is mysteriously related to an ancient group of homonins called the Denisovans, previously found only in Siberia

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How the Burgess Shale Changed Our View of Evolution

The famed fossils are a link to some of the first complex creatures on Earth

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