Dinosaurs & Fossils

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New fossils unearthed in what is now the Sahara desert reveal a once-swampy world Full Story »

WASHINGTON - A 20-foot-long crocodile with three sets of fangs — like wild boar tusks — roamed parts of northern Africa millions of years ago, researchers reported Thursday. While this fearsome creature hunted meat, not far away another newly found type of croc with a wide, flat snout like a pancake was fishing for food. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The fossils of five hitherto unknown bizarre-looking crocodiles which roamed the world 100 million years ago have been unearthed in the Sahara desert, US scientists revealed Thursday. Full Story »

Ever since Europeans first uncovered mastodon fossils along Big Bone Lick in Kentucky in 1739, the demise of these huge animals and other lumbering contemporaries at the end of the last ice age has been an enduring puzzle to paleontologists. Full Story »

TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese marine researchers said on Tuesday they had found and successfully filmed a young coelacanth -- a rare type of fish known as "a living fossil" -- in deep water off Indonesia. Full Story »

JOHANNESBURG - A newly discovered dinosaur species that roamed the Earth about 200 million years ago may help explain how the creatures evolved into the largest animals on land, scientists in South Africa said Wednesday. Full Story »

LAS VEGAS - A fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex that failed to sell at auction in Las Vegas last month has been bought by a private buyer who intends to see it displayed in a museum, an auctioneer told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Full Story »

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A huge dinosaur discovered in South Africa is a previously unknown species that sheds light on the evolution of the largest creatures ever to walk the earth, a scientist said Wednesday. Full Story »

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - A new species of dinosaur that roamed the Earth 197 million years ago, likely an ancestor of the enormous brontosaurus, has been discovered in South Africa, scientists said Wednesday. Full Story »

Many dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded just like mammals or birds, potentially explaining their extraordinary success before their extinction. Full Story »

NELSON, New Zealand (AFP) - Scientists have discovered the first evidence that dinosaurs roamed the South Island of New Zealand with 70-million-year-old footprints found in six locations. Full Story »

Spanning just 10 feet in length and sporting a tiny horn on its nose, a newly identified dinosaur has become the oldest known relative of the fierce meat-eater, Tyrannosaurus rex. The discovery suggests such tyrannosaurs were quite petite before they evolved into giant killing machines just before their demise. Full Story »

A husband and wife team of paleontologists has discovered a newfound species of armored dinosaur that lived 112 million years ago in what is now Montana. Full Story »

LONDON - British authorities say the fossilized skull of a giant sea monster has been found off England's southern coast. Full Story »

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fossils from the smallest dinosaur found in North America, a fleet-footed species only 28 inches long and weighing less than a rabbit, have gone on public display for the first time at a Los Angeles museum. Full Story »

NEW YORK - Remember Ida, the fossil discovery announced last May with its own book and TV documentary? A publicity blitz called it "the link" that would reveal the earliest evolutionary roots of monkeys, apes and humans. Experts protested that Ida wasn't even a close relative. And now a new analysis supports their reaction. Full Story »