All posts tagged: fossils

Dinosaur blood found in fossils for the first time

Dinosaur blood found in fossils for the first time

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Paleontologists regularly discover fossilized dinosaur bones, but they sometimes locate footprints and prehistoric shells. On rare occasions, researchers have even identified the ancient indentations of a dinosaur’s skin or feathers. But fossilized cells? Researchers have long assumed such microscopic levels of preservation were impossible.But, once again, nature has proven otherwise. In a study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), an international team of paleontologists confirmed the presence of intact biomolecules and mineralized red blood cells inside fossils of a 115-million-year-old dinosaur. Although previous work has suggested similar possibilities, the team’s research is the first to chemically identify oxygen-carrying blood compounds known as heme. “This really is a landmark discovery,” Kliti Grice, a study co-author and chemist at Curtin University in Australia, said in a statement. “These findings challenge longstanding assumptions that certain biomolecules such as hemoglobin cannot survive deep time.” The evidence exists inside the fossilized limb bones of a juvenile Aratasaurus museunacionali. Discovered in 2008, A. museunacionali was an Early Cretaceous theropod that lived in present-day northeastern Brazil. The …

A baby tyrannosaur possibly cannibalized its dead relative

A baby tyrannosaur possibly cannibalized its dead relative

Published by Jenni Sidey

Bitemarks on the fossilized jaw of a tyrannosaur called Albertosaurus appear to illustrate the first known example of scavenging raptors feasting on a much larger dinosaur The prehistoric snack scene is detailed in a recent study in the Journal of Paleontology. However, researchers, one alternative theory may point to an even darker fate. A close relative of Tyrannosaurus rex, Albertosaurus roamed its present-day namesake Canadian territory about 73 to 67 million years ago (Late Cretaceous period). It was the region’s undisputed apex predator,and regularly grew upwards of 30 feet long while weighing around 6,000 pounds. But even a fearsome dinosaur like Albertosaurus ultimately succumbed to injury, illness, and old age. In this case, paleontologists analyzed fragments of an immature specimen who died when it was 8 to 10 years old. Despite only being a “teenager” at the time of death, the Albertosaurus was already over 19 feet long and weighed about 1,170 pounds. Interestingly, the tooth marks on the dinosaur’s lower jaw suggest an unexpected postmortem scenario. Paleontologists didn’t find any evidence of bone healing, …

20,000-pound mosasaurs ambushed prey with sneak attacks

20,000-pound mosasaurs ambushed prey with sneak attacks

Published by Jenni Sidey

Mosasaurs are terrifying enough based on their fossils alone. The Cretaceous marine reptile family encompassed some of the undisputed apex predators of Earth’s ancient oceans (and possibly even some rivers). Species like Mosasaurus hoffmanii easily reached nearly 50-feet long, while weighing as much as 20,000 pounds—and there are many more mosasaurs just like them. So what could possibly make them any scarier? Some of the ancient aquatic hunters employed speedy, “slam-start” sneak attacks to take down their prey. This new theory is detailed in a recent study for the journal Current Biology, and draws on anatomical fossil record reconstructions supplemented by the physiology of similar present-day predators like the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis). “Physics is physics,” Kiersten Formoso, an evolutionary paleontologist at Rutgers University, said in a recent profile. Formoso and her colleagues focused on four types of mosasaurs, including the especially massive Tylosaurus. The nearly 10-ton carnivore that existed about 92 to 66 million years ago and grew to almost 45-feet long. Based on its overall anatomy and some basic physics principles, Formoso says …

Plesiosaurs vomited indigestible pellets like owls

Plesiosaurs vomited indigestible pellets like owls

Published by Jenni Sidey

The long-necked plesiosaurs that swam in oceans during the Jurassic Period frequently made detours into shallower river deltas to regurgitate indigestible portions of their meals. The evidence detailed in a study published today in the journal Geological Magazine isn’t for the squeamish. Paleontologists base their new theory on fossilized vomit similar to owl pellets. While owls famously regurgitate the indigestible bones and fur of their prey, other animals also routinely spit out unwanted leftovers. Many fur seals and marine crocodiles behave similarly; although their regular post-meal efforts require a bit more work. While an owl simply deposits pellets wherever they feel like it, these aquatic species first travel onto land before regurgitating. It now appears some of the planet’s most successful ocean predators engaged in the same digestive workarounds. Plesiosaurs belong to a family of marine reptiles that existed for over 140 million years between the Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods. Generally ranging between 6.5 and 43 feet in length, the species featured lengthy necks and sleek, flippered bodies. This anatomy allowed them to …

‘Squid butt’ fossil belongs to one of the ‘chunkiest’ cephalopods ever discovered

‘Squid butt’ fossil belongs to one of the ‘chunkiest’ cephalopods ever discovered

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. Thanks to having the “chunkiest squid butt” ever seen on an ancient cephalopod, paleontologists have discovered a 160-million-year-old octopus cousin. The newly identified fossils are described by an international research team in their study recently published in Papers in Palaeontology, which also includes a potential explanation for Wyoteuthis linsterorum’s hefty proportions. Just like today’s tentacled ocean dwellers, the Mesozoic squid ancestor likely had no problem devouring its relatives—or even members of its own species. W. linsterorum is a belemnite, a group of prehistoric cephalopods who left behind some of paleontology’s most common fossils. Examples of their bullet-shaped structures known as a rostrum have regularly shown up at dig sites around the world for over 200 years. This includes the Sundance Formation in present-day …

Ancient American cheetahs were not exactly cheetah-like

Ancient American cheetahs were not exactly cheetah-like

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. The American cheetah (Miracinonyx trumani) stalked North America’s Pleistocene grasslands for nearly 2.5 million years, but new evidence suggests they likely didn’t resemble their present-day African namesake. After comparing M. trumani DNA to nine other feline species ranging from house cats to lions, it now appears that the ancient predator’s closest relative is an entirely different big cat. What’s more, M. trumani often roamed much farther north than researchers once assumed. “It’s really surprising and exciting to identify another predator present in Beringia,” Molly Cassatt-Johnstone, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), said in a statement. Berinigia is the ancient stretch of land that once connected northeastern Asia to northwestern North America. While submerged in the Pacific Ocean today, …

Poop made life on Earth possible. Yes, poop.

Poop made life on Earth possible. Yes, poop.

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. Life as we know it wouldn’t be what is today without a lot of poop. In fact, Earth may have never hosted any life at all without experiencing a “fecal revolution” about 540 million years ago. “Next to rising oxygen levels and other contributing factors, the importance of feces in ancient ecosystems is often overlooked,” Russell Bicknell, an evolutionary ecologist at Australia’s Flinders University, said in a statement. Bicknell and fellow researchers laid out their argument in a recently published study in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Their analysis focuses on ancient, fossilized fecal remnants called coprolites. This ancient excrement helps illustrate how and when animal life began to truly diversify on the planet. While the earliest and simplest organisms first …

40-foot-long Kronosaurus ate a 23-foot-long marine reptile who ate a pterosaur, fossil shows

40-foot-long Kronosaurus ate a 23-foot-long marine reptile who ate a pterosaur, fossil shows

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. For the first time, paleontologists digging in the Australian Outback have discovered a fossilized food chain. The remains found inside of an ancient marine reptile chowing down on a flying dinosaur vividly illustrates this prehistoric predator-prey relationship in action. . But what goes around, comes around. As paleontologists explain in a study published in the journal Gondwana Research, the massive ichthyosaur who made a meal of the pterosaur soon became a snack for a gigantic apex predator that swam the inland Eromanga Sea over 100 million years ago. “It’s one of the clearest examples ever discovered of a three-tier predator interaction and offers an unprecedented snapshot of behaviour in Australia’s Cretaceous seas,” Dean Lomax, a paleontologist and reviewer of the new study, said …

Toothy human ancestor may have traveled in all-male packs

Toothy human ancestor may have traveled in all-male packs

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. A set of 1.4 million year old footprints indicate that one of our extinct evolutionary ancestors was both larger and more social than we thought. The footprints belonging to a long-deceased hominin called Paranthropus boisei were found preserved on a lakeshore in northern Kenya and, are described in a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) and Homo erectus are some of the most well-known archaic humans, but they are far from the only examples. Dozens of other hominins are documented around the world, including more obscure variants like strong-jawed Paranthropus boisei. Much of the anatomical information about P. boisei has been gleaned from a handful of skulls and teeth, leaving vague details about overall …

World’s first right-hander could be this 550 million-year-old worm

World’s first right-hander could be this 550 million-year-old worm

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. As anyone who’s grown up favoring their southpaw can attest, the world overwhelmingly caters to right-handers. The vast majority of humans (somewhere around 85-90 percent) are right-handed, a tendency influenced by a combination of genes and environment. But it turns out this long-known preference towards the right may go back much further than scientists once thought—hundreds of millions of years further back, in fact. This preference toward the right may have been shared by some of the oldest known multicellular organisms. That’s the core argument presented in a study published this week in the journal Scientific Reports. The international team of researchers examined over 100 well-preserved fossils of Spriggina floundersi, an ancient, inch-long worm-like animal that wriggled its way around southern Australia about …