The North Carolina Museum of Natural History will be putting a pair of “Dueling Dinosaurs” on display in 2022. The two creatures — a Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops — appear to have killed each other prior to their fossilization. It’s an incredibly rare discovery, and the T. rex fossil may be the only complete specimen …
Scientists have discovered evidence of two ancient aquatic reptiles locked in a death struggle as one tried to eat the other. The larger of the two, an ichthyosaur, apparently choked on its prey, leading both animals to die, sink, and become fossilized. The researchers say while such behavior is rarely found in the fossil record, …
Scientists studying the remains of ancient woolly rhinos have discovered that climate change, not human hunting, led to their demise. The timeline that suggested humans were responsible for the extinction no longer appears valid. Woolly rhinos were wiped out when temperatures spiked over a period of just a few decades. Humans get blamed for a …
Researchers have pieced together the bones and the life of an ancient species of lizard that had an incredibly long neck. Tanystropheus hydroides had a neck that took up almost half its body length, and it may have given the animal many advantages. The lizard likely lived in the water and hunted animals along the …
Researchers have discovered an insect that lived nearly 100 million years ago encased in amber. The so-called “Hell Ant” had vertical jaws that it used to pin its prey against its horn-covered head. The incredible specimen is locked in battle and frozen in time with its prey in its jaws. There are a seemingly countless …
Researchers have discovered a dinosaur bone that shows evidence of an aggressive bone tumor. The disease would have made the dinosaur’s life hard, but it didn’t kill the animal. The creature is believed to have died in a flood. Dinosaurs lived in a time where dangers lurked around every corner. The food chain dictated who …
Researchers have discovered footprints of an ancient species from the crocodile family that walked upright on two legs. These creatures may have looked a bit like dinosaurs, but they weren’t. The tracks date back 110 million years, and since we don’t see these animals around today we can only guess when and why they were …
A mass extinction 360 million years ago was likely caused by a rapidly-warming climate that triggered a breakdown in the ozone layer. Plant samples from the time period reveal DNA that had been damaged by UV radiation. Scientists warn that we may be in store for another such event if we can’t control our own …
A species of flightless bird went extinct over 130,000 years ago but then appeared again after evolution gave it a second chance. The birds evolved independently, thousands of years apart, but did so on the exact same island. When species evolve twice it’s known as “iterative evolution.” Visit BGR’s homepage for more stories. When an …
Oldest-ever modern bird fossil found in Europe has been nicknamed the “Wonderchicken” due to its similarities between present-day chickens and ducks. It’s believed that the species roamed the region as far back as one million years before the asteroid strike that triggered the death of most dinosaur species. The fossil is helping scientists paint a …
