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Montana Troodon Fossils Reveal a Dinosaur With Troubled Feet
Troodon fossils from Montana have given researchers their most complete view yet of how the enigmatic dinosaur’s pelvis and hindlimbs developed from embryo to adult. The bones also reveal a curious pattern: possible foot pathologies appear unusually common among the animals examined. The study, published in PLOS ONE, focuses on specimens from the upper Two…
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210-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Found in Zimbabwe Had Survived a Serious Injury or Infection
A 210-million-year-old dinosaur found in Zimbabwe carried evidence of a difficult episode in its short life. Before dying at roughly eight years old, Musango matusadonaensis had recovered from a serious injury or infection, leaving traces that researchers could still recognize in its fossilized bones. Nearly fully grown when it died, the animal now represents the…
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A Sacred Stone Worshipped for Generations Turns Out to Be 65 Million Years Old
For generations, members of the Baiga community in central India regarded an unusual stone formation in the forest as sacred, preserving it as part of a local shrine. Now researchers have discovered that the stone carries a history far older than any human tradition surrounding it. Tests identified the formation in Madhya Pradesh’s Dindori district…
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AI App Learns to Read Dinosaur Footprints—Without Knowing Their Names
At first glance, a fossilized dinosaur footprint looks deceptively simple. Three toes. A heel mark. But for paleontologists, identifying which dinosaur made which track has long been one of the field’s most stubborn puzzles. Now, a new artificial intelligence tool is offering a fresh way forward—by learning without labels. Researchers have launched DinoTracker, a free…
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First-Ever Pterosaur Fossil Found in Syria Belonged to a 10-Meter-Winged Giant
A massive flying reptile that once ruled the Late Cretaceous skies has been identified in Syria — the first pterosaur fossil ever found in the country. The discovery reveals that these enormous airborne predators, some with wingspans rivaling small aircraft, once soared above what is now the Middle East. The fossil, a fragment of the…
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One-Ounce Wonder: Tiny Dinosaur-Era Mammal Unearthed in Patagonia
A discovery in Chilean Patagonia has revealed one of the tiniest mammals to coexist with dinosaurs: a mouse-sized species named Yeutherium pressor, dating back approximately 74 million years. This remarkable fossil provides rare insights into mammalian evolution in South America during the Late Cretaceous, when the continent was still part of Gondwana. A Tiny Mammal…
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1 Million-Year-Old Stone Spheres: Were They Hominin’s Hidden Tools?
A new study conducted in the Melka Kunture region of Ethiopia reveals that naturally occurring basalt spheres may have been used as tools by early hominins for over 1 million years. Dr. Margherita Mussi’s work, published in Quaternary International, sheds light on the role of these mysterious stones in the lives of our early human…