Dinosaurs

Around 66 million years ago, a gigantic asteroid smashed into the Earth and ended the reign of the dinosaurs. Now, researchers have discovered direct evidence of this cataclysm – fossilized “megaripples” from the tsunamis that immediately followed.

All walking animals have something in common – their preferred walking speed is largely determined by what's known as "resonance." Bearing this in mind, scientists have calculated what may have been the default walking speed of Tyrannosaurus rex.

It’s easy to assume tyrannosaurs didn’t need much help bringing down prey. But contrary to the popular image of these predators being lone hunters, new analysis of a mass grave site adds to evidence that tyrannosaurs may have lived and hunted in packs.

Although adult stegosaurs reached lengths of up to 9 m (30 ft) they still started out as small as a cat, if a recently-found footprint is anything to go by. And what's more, they may have walked differently as babies.

Pterosaurs included the largest flying animals ever, and a new study has uncovered biological secrets that helped them grow so large. CT scans revealed that the neck vertebrae of giant pterosaurs had a supporting structure unlike any other animal.

It's a common view that opposable thumbs are a key feature that distinguishes us from most other species, but a flying reptile that clambered through the trees 160 million years ago isn't one of them according to analysis of a newly discovered species.

While we've seen fossilized dinosaur eggs and embryos before, paleontologists have now discovered an unprecedented three-for-one – a fossilized dinosaur parent sitting on a nest of eggs, in which embryos are present.

Researchers have identified the oldest known fossils of primates, dating them to 65.9 million years ago. That’s just after one of Earth’s biggest mass extinction events, and it suggests that the ancestor of all primates lived alongside the dinosaurs.

A new study has analyzed asteroid dust recently discovered in the Chicxulub asteroid crater. The findings further support the theory that the dramatic impact was the cause of the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.

A new study published in the journal Nature is describing the extraction and sequencing of the oldest known sample of DNA. The sample comes from an ancient species of mammoth found in the Siberian permafrost and dates back nearly 1.2 million years.

According to a new study, the impactor that smashed into Earth’s surface millions of years ago – causing the global extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs – may have originated from a vast sphere of icy debris that surrounds the solar system.

Just last year, scientists declared that Spinosaurus was the first dinosaur known to swim through the water, preying upon fish as it did so. A new study, however, suggests that it was probably more of a shore-based feeder.