It is the first bonehead dinosaur ever found – in both senses. The new species of bone-headed dinosaur, named pachycephalosaur, was found in Alberta, Canada. Achaeologists say it is the oldest ever found – and also believe it regularly headbutted others to show off. Approximately six feet long and weighing about 40 kgs in life, the newly identified plant-eating dinosaur [...]

Ancient mammoth skeleton discovered in Mexico City is thought to be the most complete set of bones found in Mexico to date. Investigators are carefully excavating the remains which are thought to be over 10,000 years old. The excavation site lies over 2,000 metres above sea level in the borough of Milpa Alpa where mammoths were not thought to tread….. [...]

By Chris Palmer Palaeontologists working in China have unearthed the earliest collection of fossilized dinosaur embryos to date. The trove includes remains from many individuals at different developmental stages, providing a unique opportunity to investigate the embryonic development of a prehistoric species…. Image credit: A. LeBlanc

Two million years ago in South Africa, part-human and part-ape-like individuals existed — and now we know what they looked like and how they behaved: They had a primitive, pigeon-toed gate, human-like front teeth, ate mostly veggie and spent a lot of time swinging in the trees. The species, Australopithecus sediba, is a striking example of human evolution, conclude six [...]

By Jennifer Viegas The skeletal remains of an individual living in northern Italy 40,000-30,000 years ago are believed to be that of a human/Neanderthal hybrid, according to a paper in PLoS ONE. If further analysis proves the theory correct, the remains belonged to the first known such hybrid, providing direct evidence that humans and Neanderthals interbred. Prior genetic research determined [...]

How did dinosaurs with spiky backs make love? Very carefully, one might imagine.  But scientists have gone one step further than guessing – with a fascinating computer-tested theory. It contradicts the belief that all dinosaurs mated with the male mounting the female from behind. Researchers said that in some species the female’s spiky tail and back could have castrated the [...]

A newly-discovered dinosaur species has been named after the little girl who stumbled across its remains when she was just five years old.  Palaeontologists announced this week that fossilised remains found on a stretch of Isle of Wight beach in 2008 had been finally identified as a new species of flying dinosaur. The remains were discovered by Daisy Morris, who, [...]

In 1975, a team of Russian archaeologists announced that they’d made a remarkable find: From a cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia, they’d unearthed a 33,000-year-old fossil skull that resembled a wolf. In 2011, an anatomical analysis suggested that the fossil was a hybrid of a wolf (with its large teeth) and a dog (with its shortened snout), raising the [...]

An identikit picture of the small furry ancestor that gave rise to humans and most other mammals has been pieced together by scientists. The shrew-like creature weighed less than half a pound, had a long tail, and ate insects. It evolved some 200,000 years after a massive asteroid impact led to the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. [...]

Scientists have unearthed a jawbone from an ancient human ancestor in a cave in Serbia. The jawbone, which may have come from an ancient Homo erectus or a primitive-looking Neanderthal precursor, is more than 397,000 years old, and possibly more than 525,000 years old. The fossil, described today (Feb. 6) in the journal PLOS ONE, is the oldest hominin fossil [...]