Fossils

Fossilized human footprints have been discovered in Saudi Arabia that help fill in the story of the early migration of our species. Dating back 120,000 years, the tracks are the oldest evidence of the presence of modern humans on the Arabian Peninsula.

Earlier this year, paleontologists discovered that Spinosaurus was the first water-dwelling dinosaur. Now some of the same team has found further evidence, with a deposit of teeth recovered from an ancient riverbed, far outnumbering land dinosaurs.

One of the largest, most complete and most famous Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons is about to go under the hammer. The dinosaur, nicknamed “Stan,” has been on display in the Black Hills Institute for decades, but will now be auctioned off by Christie’s.

The oldest known animal sperm sample has been discovered, dating back 100 million years. Dozens of ostracods were found in a piece of amber with their “soft parts” out, and their giant sperm measuring around a third of the animals’ body length.

Be thankful you didn’t live 20 million years ago, when the seas were patrolled by the Megalodon. This monstrous prehistoric shark was more than twice the size of a great white, and now a new detailed analysis has found just how big it really was.

After only 162 years, the first complete dinosaur skeleton to be recovered has finally been properly reconstructed and studied. The 193-million-year-old remains of a Scelidosaurus spent over 150 years stored at the Natural History Museum in London.

A team of paleontologists has discovered that a 250-million-year-old species of animal called Lystrosaurus likely relied on hibernation to survive back when Antarctica was still part of the ancient supercontinent known as Pangaea.

Archaeologists have discovered the skeleton of an enormous 240 million year old reptile, which has the contents of its last meal – an almost equally massive sea creature – still visible in its stomach.

Defined by their hollow bones and three-toed feet, the theropods were a group of dinosaurs that counted Tyrannosaurus rex among their ranks. A new member has now been added to the family, thanks to fossils discovered on Britain's Isle of Wight.

For some time now, paleontologists have known of a giant prehistoric crocodylian known as Deinosuchus. Now, however, it has been confirmed that the reptile was capable of killing and eating dinosaurs – with some help from its "banana-sized" teeth.

Amber has offered us all kinds of fascinating insights about long-gone creatures that once inhabited the Earth. Joining them is a rare 99-million-year-old fossil that shows an enigmatic “hell ant” clamping down on its cockroach-like prey.

Mysteries surrounding an ancient, long-necked reptile that lived 242 million years ago have finally been resolved. It's so difficult to understand from its fossils, at one time scientists weren't even sure if it swam in the sea or flew in the sky.