Extinct Species, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 26, 2023

Megalodon was a warm-blooded killer, but that may have doomed it to extinction

Megalodon, a mega-size species of extinct shark that prowled the world's oceans between 23 million and 3.6 million years ago, was likely warm-blooded and had a body temperature that was significantly higher than that of modern-day sharks, new research suggests. A team of international scientists made the discovery while studying...

Jun 27, 2023

25 million-year-old 'slasher' dolphin with weird teeth discovered in museum collection

A bizarre predatory dolphin that lived 25 million years ago and had long, sharp teeth jutting straight out from its snout has been discovered in a museum collection in New Zealand. The toothy animal lived during the late Oligocene epoch (34 million to 23 million years ago). Scientists described the...

Jun 28, 2023

94 million-year-old fossilized sea monster is the oldest of its kind in North America

In the rocky gray shale of southern Utah, scientists have unearthed the remains of a mosasaur that roamed a once-thriving sea 94 million years ago. The toothy reptilian is a never-before-seen species and the oldest mosasaur fossil ever found in North America, according to a new study published Monday (June...

Jun 30, 2023

Siberian cave filled with mammoth, rhino and bear bones is ancient hyena lair

Siberian locals have discovered an incredible prehistoric time capsule in what paleontologists believe is the largest ancient hyena lair ever found in Asia. The cave contained a whole menagerie of animal bones that had been undisturbed for about 42,000 years. Paleontologists found the bones of both predator and prey animals...

Jul 11, 2023

500 million-year-old 'abnormal shrimp' used facial spikes to 'pincushion' soft prey

Around 500 million years ago, an apex predator no larger than a house cat terrorized the seas in search of prey to puncture with its spiky facial appendages. For years, paleontologists thought that the arthropod Anomalocaris canadensis, whose name roughly means the abnormal shrimp from Canada, used its spears to...

Jul 12, 2023

Dire wolves and saber-toothed cats may have gotten arthritis as they inbred themselves to extinction

Fearsome saber-toothed cats and dire wolves appear to have suffered from a bone and joint disease toward the end of their existence — a discovery that may indicate these creatures were inbreeding as they went extinct. Scientists studied the animals' bones from the end of the last ice age during...

Jul 18, 2023

Half-billion-year-old fossil of strange Cambrian creature gives evolutionary clues about vertebrates

A stunningly-preserved, half-billion year old fossil of a strange Cambrian creature could shift our understanding of how a sister group to vertebrates evolved, a new study suggests. The fossil, described July 6 in the journal Nature Communications, is the oldest of its kind and belongs to an ancient species of...

Jul 20, 2023

5 million-year-old fossils reveal 2 new species of saber-toothed cats in South Africa

Scientists have unearthed the remains of two never-before-seen species of saber-toothed cats that roamed Africa around 5.2 million years ago. The discoveries have changed what researchers previously knew about this group of extinct feline creatures, a new study shows. The new findings could also shed light on the environmental changes...

Aug 11, 2023

240 million-year-old fossil of salamander-like creature with 'gnarly teeth' unearthed in rocks for garden wall

Scientists have identified a 240 million-year-old giant-salamander-like creature that was first unearthed decades ago in rocks intended for a garden wall in Australia. The species, Arenaerpeton supinatus — meaning supine sand creeper — was an estimated 4 feet (1.2 meters) long and inhabited rivers in what is now the Sydney...

Aug 14, 2023

'Like swallowing a dinner plate': 180 million-year-old fish may have choked to death on its supersized supper

A dinosaur-era fish appears to have died after getting eyes too big for its stomach and ingesting a giant shell, researchers have found. The fish may have then choked to death on it, or the shell tore its stomach as it swallowed, the team said. Scientists in Germany found the...

Aug 16, 2023

'Edward Scissorhands' creature that lived 230 million years ago discovered in Brazil

An ancient reptile with massive hands and long, sword-like claws has been unearthed in southern Brazil. Its hands and claws, which look a bit like those of Edward Scissorhands, may have been used to catch prey or climb trees, Rodrigo Müller, a paleontologist at the Federal University of Santa Maria...

Aug 23, 2023

Ancient human-size sea lizard rewrites history of early armored marine reptiles

An extinct, 250 million-year-old marine reptile that was covered in bony armor and swam in the shallow waters of what is now south China could rewrite the family tree of armored marine reptiles and hint at why they first emerged, a new study shows. The newfound species, named Prosaurosphargis yingzishanensis,...

Sep 5, 2023

Teen unearths 34 million-year-old whale skull on her family's Alabama timber farm

An Alabama high school student and her teacher have discovered the fossilized remains of a whale that lived 34 million years ago. The creature is believed to be a carnivorous whale that lived during the Eocene epoch (56 million to 33.9 million years ago) — a time when sea levels...

Oct 1, 2023

'They seemed primed to take over': How the Great Dying doomed the 'beast tooth' and set the stage for the dawn of the dinosaurs

The excerpt below is taken from Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth's Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis (Hachette Book Group, 2023), by Michael Mann. It looks at how climate change following the Cambrian explosion caused the biggest mass extinction on Earth — dooming the creatures set...

Oct 13, 2023

Oldest evidence of Neanderthals hunting cave lions dates to 48,000 years ago, punctured bones reveal

Scientists have identified what could be the earliest evidence of Neanderthals killing a cave lion, likely by creeping up behind it while it was resting and stabbing it in the abdomen, ancient bones uncovered in Germany reveal. A puncture wound in one of the lion's ribs indicates the weapon pierced...