Prehistoric life

Prehistoric life

"Our hearts stopped": scientists unearth 150-million-year-old animals in Germany. Post-mortem reveals violent thing that killed them

Analysis of two exquisitely preserved baby pterosaurs fossils shows both animals had a broken wing when they died.
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1.1-million-year-old mammoth discovered in Siberian wilderness. What scientists find in its DNA has got them excited

A groundbreaking study has shed new light on the microbiomes of mammoths by examining hundreds of remains, including those of a steppe mammoth found near the Adycha River in northeastern Russia.
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"We’ve never seen anything like this in any animal before": why this armoured dinosaur is one of the strangest ever discovered

A team of scientists working in Morocco have discovered more bones belonging to the bizarre armoured dinosaur Spicomellus…
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Huge dinosaur-eating 'hypercarnivore' as heavy as a grizzly bear discovered in Argentina

The remains of the massive crocodile relative – which may have grown up to 3.5 metres long and weighed as much as 250 kilograms – were found in southern Patagonia.
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Fossil hunters find nervous system of ancient predator in North Greenland

Researchers say the remarkable fossils – which also contain digestive systems and muscles – help solve a 500-million-year-old puzzle surrounding the squid-like creature.
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This prehistoric sea monster was the size of a car, weighed the same as a rhino, had a deadly hooked beak for tearing flesh and swam alongside plesiosaurs

The prehistoric giant that wasn't a whale or a shark
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Is the human race truly one species or the lovechild of various prehistoric hook-ups? Just how interbred are we?

Wooly rhinos, rock-climbing snow sloths and sabre-toothed tigers: Everything you need to know about Apple's new prehistoric TV series

Apple TV's award-winning natural history series is back – and this time, we're meeting prehistoric sub-zero giants
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Man finds remains of "little whale with big eyes and a mouth full of slicing teeth" in Australia

The 26-million-year-old fossil – comprising part of a skull with ear bones and teeth – was found on the coast of Victoria in 2019. A new study reveals exactly what the remains are.
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In 1978, palaeontologists unearthed an ancient sea reptile from a German quarry. They've only just realised its significance

Researchers have found a new species of prehistoric marine creature that lived alongside the dinosaurs – almost 50 years after its fossil was first dug up.
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Dinosaur scientists test bite strength of 18 prehistoric predators. Here's what they discover

New research reveals tyrannosaurs had powerful crushing bites, while other carnivorous giants evolved lighter skulls designed for ripping and slashing.
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Mega volcanoes, asteroid impacts and global cooling: The five deadly mass extinctions that changed life on Earth as we know it forever

What is a mass extinction – and how many of them have there been? Will Newton takes a look the 'big five' extinction events
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It turns out we aren't as unique as we think we are: Here are 5 ancient human species that once lived alongside us

We may be the only human species alive today, but just a few hundred thousand years ago there was a remarkable diversity of humans living across the world…
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Why half-a-billion-year-old animals unearthed in Grand Canyon have got evolution experts so excited

The astounding collection of soft-bodied Cambrian fossils was found buried in the walls of the vast US canyon.
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Dinosaur hunters make “chilling” discovery deep in Canadian badlands

Palaeontologists find remarkable set of dinosaur footprints – including those of two large tyrannosaurs – at Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta.
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5 ancient human species that lived BEFORE us: Meet the prehistoric pioneers who changed history forever

We're not the first species of ‘human’ to walk the Earth; thousands of years before us there was a rich diversity of hominins…
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11 gruesome cannibal animals: Discover the surprising creatures that feast on their own kind

It may seem gruesome, but many animals have been recorded feeding on their own species. Here are 11 cannibalistic animals, including some that might surprise you.
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Is this the world's most gruesome – and unluckiest – death ever? Ancient human attacked by two deadly predators at once

As far as gruesome, prehistoric deaths go, none are worse than the death experienced by a Homo habilis known as OH 7. 
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10 gruesome deaths preserved as fossils: Nature’s most brutal final moments frozen in time

To become a fossil, an animal has to die. However, not all deaths are equal and some are a lot more gruesome than others…
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Any animals standing within 1,500km of the impact would have been instantly vaporised: 10 terrible times to be alive

Over the course of its 4.5-billion-year history, the Earth has witnessed its fair share of terrible times…
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“Everything is bigger in Texas”: fossil hunters unearth 'giant' animal in Big Bend National Park

Palaeontologists say the ancient remains belong to the largest Palaeocene marsupial ever found in North America.
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10 fearsome prehistoric dogs that roamed the Earth millions of years ago: Are these the deadliest canine hunters of all time?

They may be closely related to today’s domestic dogs, but you certainly wouldn’t want to pet these extinct canids… Meet 10 deadly prehistoric dogs
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Was this the largest, deadliest and most terrifying wolf of all time?

Once feared across Ice Age America, dire wolves were bone-crushing predators.
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From a car-sized millipede and armoured worms to the spider-scorpion ‘hybrid’ – these are the weirdest prehistoric creepy crawlies

If you thought there were some strange bugs living today, wait until you meet these oddballs from prehistory…
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