Early Mammals News

November 7, 2016

Herbivorous Mammals Have Bigger Bellies

Mystery Species Hidden in Cave Art

Human Arrived in Americas Much Earlier

Rare Mammoth Skull Unearthed

Latest Headlines

updated 5:03pm EST

Neanderthals on Cold Steppes Also Ate Plants

Oct. 27, 2016 — Neanderthals in cold regions probably ate a lot more vegetable food than was previously thought, according to new research on ancient Neanderthal dental ... read more

For 20 Million Years, the Diversity of Large Terrestrial Mammals Depended on Plant Growth

Sep. 15, 2016 — For more than 20 million years, the ups and downs of diversity in terrestrial large mammals were determined by primary ... read more

Fossil Pollen 'Sneeze' Caught by Research Team

Aug. 30, 2016 — Researchers have recorded the only known example of prehistoric pollen caught in explosive mid-discharge from a fossil flower. The team describes this "freeze-frame" ... read more

The Cave Bear: A Vegan Gone Extinct

Aug. 23, 2016 — Scientists have studied the feeding habits of the extinct Cave Bear. Based on the isotope composition in the collagen of the bears' bones, they were able to show that the ... read more

Reinterpreting the Fossil Record on Jaws

Aug. 17, 2016 — Scientists use the fossil record to make judgments on the physiology and behavior of species. But are those interpretations correct? New research puts into question how we ... read more

Pre-Hispanic Mexican Civilization May Have Bred and Managed Rabbits and Hares

Aug. 17, 2016 — Humans living in the pre-Hispanic Mexican city of Teotihuacan may have bred rabbits and hares for food, fur and bone tools, ... read more

New Species of Extinct River Dolphin Discovered in Smithsonian Collection

Aug. 16, 2016 — A fossil that has been in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History since it was discovered in 1951 is today helping scientists piece together ... read more

Elbows of Extinct Marsupial Lion Suggest Unique Hunting Style

Aug. 16, 2016 — Scientists have proposed that the long extinct marsupial lion hunted in a very unique way - by using its teeth to hold prey before dispatching them with its huge ... read more

Twenty-Five Little Bones Tell a Puzzling Story About Early Primate Evolution

Aug. 15, 2016 — A cache of exquisitely preserved bones, found in a coal mine in the state of Gujarat, India, appear to be the most primitive ... read more

Whales' Ultrasonic Hearing Has Surprisingly Ancient History, Fossilized Ear Shows

Aug. 4, 2016 — All living toothed whales rely upon echoes of their own calls to navigate and hunt underwater, a skill that works best in ... read more

This Discovered Fossil Could Be The First Of Its Kind

3D Solution to Syrian Cultural Destruction

Capuchins Put A Monkey Wrench In Our Knowledge Of Early Human Tool Use

170m Year Old 'sea Monster' Ruled the Waves

New Book Details South America’s Surprising Prehistoric Mammals

Sep. 14, 2016 — South America was home to a host of unique animals during the 60-some million years the continent was isolated, during most of the Cenozic Period. Details and constructions of mammals ranging from ... read more

Lack of Water Likely Caused Extinction of Isolated Alaska Mammoths

Aug. 1, 2016 — A remnant population of woolly mammoths on a remote Alaska island was likely pushed to extinction by rising sea levels and a lack of access to fresh water, according to a newly published ... read more

Tooth Wear Sheds Light on the Feeding Habits of Ancient Elephant Relatives

July 28, 2016 — How can we ever know what ancient animals ate? For the first time, the changing diets of elephants in the last two million years in China have been reconstructed, using a technique based on analysis ... read more

New Extinct Carnivorous Marsupial Discovered

July 25, 2016 — A new species of extinct flesh-eating marsupial that terrorized Australia's drying forests about 5 million years ago has been identified from a fossil discovered in remote northwestern ... read more

New Index Reveals Likelihood of Terrestrial or Aquatic Lifestyles of Extinct Mammals

July 25, 2016 — Researchers have developed a new index based on rib and body weight measurements that predicts whether a mammal lived on land, in water, or both. When applied to extinct mammalian species, the index ... read more

Terrified Insect Escapes a Permanent Tomb -- 50 Million Years Ago

July 14, 2016 — Thousands of insects, plants and other life forms have been found trapped in ancient amber deposits, but a new discovery shows a rarity of a different type -- the one that got away. This insect ... read more

Ostrich Relative Lived in North America About 50 Million Years Ago

July 5, 2016 — The new species is named Calciavis grandei -- with "calci" meaning "hard/stone," and "avis" from the Latin for bird, and "grandei" in honor of famed ... read more

First Fossil Facial Tumor Discovered in a Dwarf Duck-Billed Dinosaur from Transylvania

July 5, 2016 — The first-ever record of a tumourous facial swelling found in a fossil has been discovered in the jaw of the dwarf dinosaur <em>Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus</em>, a type of primitive ... read more

Mammals Diversified Only After Dinosaur Extinction Left Space

July 5, 2016 — Humans' early mammal relatives likely diversified 66 million years ago, after the extinction of dinosaurs opened up space for animals such as big cats, horses, elephants and eventually apes to ... read more

Our Ancestors Evolved Faster After Dinosaur Extinction

June 28, 2016 — Our ancestors evolved three times faster in the 10 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs than in the previous 80 million years, according to researchers. The team found the speed of ... read more

The Call of the Sea: Mammalian Evolutionary Transitions Back to the Sea

June 22, 2016 — Though mammals adapted on land, a new study has shown that during three major independent evolutionary events, a number of mammals hearkened back to the ... read more

How the Mouse Outlived 'the Giant'

June 22, 2016 — By scanning the fossil remains of mammal-like reptiles from the Karoo of South Africa, scientists have found that these reptiles, called therapsids, may have evolved hair, and the use of whiskers as ... read more

How Early Mammals Evolved Night Vision to Avoid Predators

June 20, 2016 — Early mammals evolved in a burst during the Jurassic period, adapting a nocturnal lifestyle when dinosaurs were the dominant daytime predator. How these early mammals evolved night vision to find ... read more

Mammals Almost Wiped out With the Dinosaurs

June 20, 2016 — Over 90 percent of mammal species were wiped out by the same asteroid that killed the dinosaurs in the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago, significantly more than previously thought, a new study ... read more

Mammals Began Their Takeover Long Before the Death of the Dinosaurs

June 7, 2016 — New research reports that, contrary to popular belief, mammals began their massive diversification 10 to 20 million years before the extinction of the ... read more

Archaeologists Uncover 13,000-Year-Old Bones of Ancient, Extinct Species of Bison at Old Vero Man Site

May 11, 2016 — In what is considered one of the oldest and most important archaeological digs in North America, scientists have uncovered what they believe are the bones of a 13,000- to 14,000-year-old ancient, ... read more

Fossil Dog: New Species Roamed Eastern North America 12 Million Years Ago

May 11, 2016 — A doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania has identified a new species of fossil dog. The specimen, found in Maryland, would have roamed the coast of eastern North America approximately 12 ... read more

Further Evidence Found Against Ancient 'Killer Walrus' Theory

May 9, 2016 — A team of scientists using techniques from the field of dentistry is shedding new light on the evolution of walruses, fur seals and sea lions. The researchers have cast further doubt on previous ... read more

Scientists Cite Evidence That Mosasaurs Were Warm-Blooded

May 6, 2016 — Mosasaurs -- an extinct group of aquatic reptiles that thrived during the Late Cretaceous period -- possibly were "endotherms," or warm-blooded creatures. Mosasurs were large aquatic ... read more

Six New Fossil Species Form 'Snapshot' of Primates Stressed by Ancient Climate Change

May 5, 2016 — Researchers have unearthed a "mother lode" of a half-dozen fossil primate species in southern China.These primates eked out an existence just after the Eocene-Oligocene transition, when ... read more

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

New book details South America’s surprising prehistoric mammals

Monday, August 1, 2016

Lack of water likely caused extinction of isolated Alaska mammoths

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Tooth wear sheds light on the feeding habits of ancient elephant relatives

Monday, July 25, 2016

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Terrified insect escapes a permanent tomb -- 50 million years ago

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Our ancestors evolved faster after dinosaur extinction

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Monday, June 20, 2016

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Mammals began their takeover long before the death of the dinosaurs

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Monday, May 9, 2016

Further evidence found against ancient 'killer walrus' theory

Friday, May 6, 2016

Scientists cite evidence that mosasaurs were warm-blooded

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Six new fossil species form 'snapshot' of primates stressed by ancient climate change

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

New evidence connects dung beetle evolution to dinosaurs

Monday, May 2, 2016

Endangered venomous mammal predates dinosaurs' extinction, study confirms

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Do bearded dragons dream? Reptiles share sleep patterns with mammals and birds

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Tiny fossil horses put their back into it

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Fossils may reveal 20-million-year history of penguins in Australia

Monday, April 25, 2016

Mammal-like reptile survived much longer than thought

Thursday, April 21, 2016

DNA proves mammoths mated beyond species boundaries

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

First North American monkey fossils are found in Panama Canal excavation

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

After 18 million years, a new species of extinct rodent discovered in Israel

Friday, April 8, 2016

New models predicting where to find fossils

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Prey scarcity and competition led to extinction of ancient monster shark

Monday, March 28, 2016

An ancient killer: Ancestral malarial organisms traced to age of dinosaurs

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Discovery of extinct bat doubles diversity of native Hawaiian land mammals

Monday, March 21, 2016

Many species now going extinct may vanish without a fossil trace

Monday, March 14, 2016

Neanderthals diet: 80% meat, 20% vegetables

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Decline of crocodile ancestors was good news for early marine turtles

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Scientists uncover history of ancient viruses as far back as 30 million years ago

Friday, February 19, 2016

Ancient lone star lizard lounged in lush, tropical Texas

Monday, February 15, 2016

Rooting the family tree of placental mammals

Friday, February 12, 2016

Giant flightless bird wandered the Arctic 50 million years ago

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Fossil record disappears at different rates

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Fossil record disappears at different rates

Friday, February 5, 2016

Prehistoric mystery meat put to the test (spoiler alert: It’s not woolly mammoth or giant ground sloth)

Friday, January 29, 2016

Ancient extinction of giant Australian bird points to humans

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Dinosaurs may have been the original lovebirds, discovery shows

Monday, December 21, 2015

Mammal diversity exploded immediately after dinosaur extinction

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Fossils enrich our understanding of evolution

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Scientists discover 'white whale' fossil

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Tiny new North Pacific fossil whale from 30 million years ago

Monday, November 30, 2015

Horse's eye view: Does a pony see what we see?

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Canuckosaur! First Canadian 'dinosaur' becomes Dimetrodon borealis

Monday, November 23, 2015

Adapting to -70 degrees in Siberia: A tale of Yakutian horses

Monday, November 16, 2015

High-tech analysis of proto-mammal fossil clarifies the mammalian family tree

Friday, November 13, 2015

Isle of Skye fossil makes three species one

Monday, November 2, 2015

Ice-age lesson: Large mammals need room to roam

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Ancient pollen reveals droughts between Sierra Nevada glacier surges

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Meet the first Iberian lynx on the Iberian Peninsula

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Mammoths might have survived except for bad 'mineral diet'

Monday, October 26, 2015

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Shift in weaning age supports hunting-induced extinction of Siberian woolly mammoths

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

125-million-year-old mammal fossil reveals the early evolution of hair and spines

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Sun-warmed dinosaurs may have been surprisingly good sprinters

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

48-million-year-old horse-like fetus discovered in Germany

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

New fossils intensify mystery of short-lived, toothy mammal found in ancient North Pacific

Monday, September 28, 2015

Pigment from fossils identified, revealing color of extinct animals

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Cold snap: Climate cooling and sea-level changes caused crocodilian retreat

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

New study highlights valuable tool for studying living and extinct animals

Monday, September 21, 2015

New lineage of prehistoric, plankton-eating sharks discovered

Friday, September 11, 2015

Researchers identify three new fossil whale species of New Zealand

Friday, September 4, 2015

The million year old monkey: New evidence confirms the antiquity of fossil primate

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Fossil specimen reveals a new species of ancient river dolphin

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Mammoth remains, as far as the eye can see: Widest distribution of mammoths during the last Ice Age

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Without humans, the whole world could look like Serengeti

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Mass extinction survival is more than just a numbers game

Monday, August 3, 2015

Four million years at Africa's salad bar

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Jurassic saw fastest mammal evolution

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

With teeth like that, this pre-dinosaur vegetarian was no push over

Monday, July 13, 2015

Fossils indicate human activities have disturbed ecosystem resilience

Thursday, July 2, 2015

First comprehensive analysis of the woolly mammoth genome completed

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Dinosaur fossil investigation unlocks possible soft tissue treasure trove

Friday, June 5, 2015

Paleo-engineering: Complexity of triceratops' teeth revealed

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Paleo study shows how elevation may affect evolution

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Dinosaurs were likely warm-blooded

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Birds of the Ice Age give clues how today's birds will adapt

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Entire genomes of woolly mammoths mapped: Clues to extinction, possibility of bringing mammoths back

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Eardrum evolved independently in mammals and reptiles/birds

Monday, April 20, 2015

Getting a better grasp of primate grip

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Repeated marine predator evolution tracks changes in ancient and Anthropocene oceans

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

40 million-year-old family tree of baleen whales