About our Palaeontology news
Latest news on palaeontology, also spelled paleontology, covering dinosaurs, fossils, new species, prehistoric life, mass extinctions, evolution, hominins and ancient humans, and the work of palaeontologists and fossil hunters worldwide.
Palaeontology is the study of ancient life through fossils, from bones, teeth and shells to footprints and other trace fossils, amber, plants and pollen. Its subjects range from the Precambrian and Ediacaran, through the Cambrian and the famous Burgess Shale, to the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous worlds of dinosaurs, archosaurs and pterosaurs, and on to the Ice Age and the Pleistocene megafauna. Birds are the living descendants of dinosaurs.
New finds and new methods keep changing the picture. Species are named from fresh excavations and from forgotten museum drawers, while CT scanning, ancient DNA, palaeobotany and palynology reveal anatomy, diet and habitat. Taphonomy, biostratigraphy, palaeoecology and palaeoclimatology help reconstruct ancient environments, and debates continue over feathers, flight, the pace of evolution and the sale of fossils to private buyers.
Mass extinctions are a major theme. The end-Permian event, about 252 million years ago and known as the Great Dying, was the most severe, and an asteroid impact at Chicxulub about 66 million years ago ended the reign of the non-avian dinosaurs. Researchers compare these crises with today's biodiversity loss and the idea of a sixth mass extinction.
Human origins are part of the story too. Palaeoanthropology studies hominins from Australopithecus, including the famous Lucy, to Homo erectus, Homo naledi, Neanderthals and Denisovans, using fossils, tools and ancient DNA to trace how our species emerged.
The science has a proud history and a public following. Mary Anning, working at Lyme Regis in the early 19th century, found ichthyosaur and plesiosaur skeletons, and the Jurassic Coast is now a World Heritage Site. Museums, amateur fossil hunters and chance finds by walkers still make headlines.
Our NewsNow palaeontology news feed brings together the most relevant headlines on dinosaurs, fossils, prehistoric life, mass extinctions and human evolution from reliable sources, updated constantly. Whether you are a researcher, student, collector or simply love dinosaurs, it is a quick way to follow discoveries from deep time.
