A fragment of whale rib found in a North Carolina strip mine is offering scientists a rare glimpse at the interactions between prehistoric sharks and whales some 3- to 4- million years ago during the Pliocene. [...more]
This illustration by Carl Buell depicts Ocucajea picklingi (center) and Supayacetus muizoni (bottom), two ancient whales that lived off the Peruvian coast during the Eocene, between 56-34 million years ago. At top is an unnamed whale and the fossil penguin Perudyptes devriesi. Nicholas Pyenson, paleobiologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, helped discover [...] [...more]
The fossil represents the youngest nodosaur ever discovered, and the only known specimen of a new genus and species of dinosaur that lived approximately 110 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous Era. [...more]
University of Florida and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute scientists describe a new 20-foot extinct species of crocodile discovered in the same Colombian coal mine with Titanoboa, the world’s largest snake. [...more]
Digging up early human and animal remains from the field in Africa, performing examination and publishing research about her findings, then enticing and educating the public about the implications are all in a week's work for Briana Pobiner. [...more]
A scientist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute uses a pick to dislodge the fossil skull of an extinct toothed whale from sediments on the Panamanian Coast near the town of Piña. Researchers from STRI and the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History encased the skull in a plaster cast to protect it before removal. The [...] [...more]
The chief appeal of The Anatomy of Palms is some 800 color photographs that document the extent of palm anatomical diversity. [...more]
Meet Sahelanthropus tchadensis. This newly unveiled bust by artist John Gurche is now on view in the the Hall of Human Origins at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. [...more]