Enlarge (credit: Avi Levin and Ilan Theiler, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University) It’s probably long past time to stop thinking of humanity’s nearest relatives as forming a family tree. Our close relatives like the Neanderthals and Denisovans clearly interbred both with us and each other. There are also indications that an older African […]
Enlarge / It may not look like much, but you can actually learn a lot from a fossilized leaf that preserves insect damage. (credit: Donovan et. al.) He knew what it was as soon as he saw it: the signature sign of a bird landing. He’d seen hundreds of such tracks along the Georgia coast. […]
Enlarge (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Colombia’s rainforest looked very different 66 million years ago. At present, the humid and biodiverse ecosystem is jam-packed with plants and is covered in a thick, light-blocking canopy of leaves and branches. Notably, there are no dinosaurs. But prior to the dinosaurs going away with the Chicxulub impact, signaling the end of […]
Enlarge / This poor fossilized assassin bug’s tiny penis is being closely scrutinized by paleontologists who consider the find “a rare treat”—because it has been so extraordinarily preserved. (credit: Daniel R. Swanson/Sam W. Heads) A rare fossilized assassin bug is causing a bit of a stir in entomology circles, because it is so remarkably well-preserved […]
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Not to toot my own horn, but I know a thing or two about bizarre animals. And I can tell you without a hint of doubt that the bobbit worm is by far the most bizarre. Growing to 10 feet long, the worm digs a burrow in the seafloor, leaving only […]
Enlarge (credit: Wikimedia commons) Dire wolves had a burst of newfound fame with their appearance in Game of Thrones, where they were portrayed as a far larger version of more mundane wolves. Here in the real world, only the largest populations of present-day wolves get as large as the dire wolf, which weighed nearly 70 […]
Expand / / The puppy stays are dried outside but largely intact because of being buried in permafrost. (charge: Government of Yukon) This Ice Age Lady puppy does not seem {} a feral predator, but what with her little pet teeth and tender small ears. Based on her DNA, but the eldest pup, called Zhùr, […]