Speculative Biology a Hit at Science Fiction Convention
I've just returned from LonCon3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, held at the enormous ExCel Exhibition Centre in east London. Yeah, I know, sci-fi isn't exactly a normal part of the Tet Zoo remit but, on this occasion, there really is overlap since I was there for a set of special Speculative Biology talks [...]
Recipe for Mummies Balm Is Older Than the Pharaohs
Egyptians used the same general formula to soak burial linens as early as 4200 B.C.
Wyoming cave dig unearths bones of ancient horses, cheetahs and bison
Excavations of an ancient Wyoming sinkhole containing a rare trove of fossils of Ice Age mammals have unearthed hundreds of bones of such prehistoric animals as American cheetahs, a paleontologist said on Friday.
50 Million Years of Incredible Shrinking Theropod Dinosaurs
Some time round about 165 million years ago, the group of small, feathered dinosaurs that we call birds evolved from within the theropod radiation (theropods are the so-called `predatory dinosaurs': the great group that includes animals like Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor as well as the birds).
Ancient Marine Reptiles Had Absurd, Complex Nostrils
The event you've all been waiting for is here: Simbirskiasaurus and Pervushovisaurus have been resurrected, and we're all wondering what the hell's going on with their absurd, complex nostrils.
Fact or Fiction?: The Sixth Mass Extinction Can Be Stopped
Is the planet undergoing the sixth mass extinction in its history courtesy of the human species?
Most Dinosaurs May Have Sported Birdlike Feathers
Evidence of featherlike structures have been found for the first time in the fossil of a plant-eating dinosaur rather than the dinosaur lineage closely related to birds
Spider Gene Study Reveals Tangled Evolution
A new arachnid family tree suggests that many spider species evolved away from web-weaving
Man Admits Stealing Rare Dinosaur Footprint Fossil
Where did all these Phorusrhacos come from?
If, as I have, you've spent copious time wandering the British countryside, visiting amusement parks and visitor attractions that feature life-sized `prehistoric animals', you'll surely have seen all those Phorusrhacos* models.
Earliest Skeletal Animals Built Coral Reefs
Reef-building in skeletal animals appeared much earlier in evolutionary history than previously thought, as far back as 548 million years ago
Funnel-Shaped Animals Invented Reefs Prior to Cambrian Explosion
Scientists have long thought of the Cambrian Explosion 541 million years ago as the flowering of complex life on Earth. Strangely shaped, large soft-bodied organisms were known to have lived in the period just prior — the Ediacaran — but they made few hard parts and scientists have debated whether any or how many were [...]