paleontology
Get flash to fully experience Pearltrees
Mysterious Fossils May Be New Human Species | Red Deer Cave People & Hominin Species
Mysterious fossils of what may be a previously unknown type of human have been uncovered in caves in China, ones that possess a highly unusual mix of bygone and modern human features, scientists reveal. Surprisingly, the fossils are only between 11,500 and 14,500 years old. That means they would have shared the landscape with modern humans when China's earliest farmers were first appearing.
Vendian Animals
What was life like 560 million years ago? The Vendian marks the first appearance of a group of large fossils collectively known as the "Vendian biota" or "Ediacara fauna." The question of what these fossils are is still not settled to everyone's satisfaction; at various times they have been considered algae, lichens, giant protozoans, or even a separate kingdom of life unrelated to anything livingtoday. Some of these fossils are simple blobs that are hard to interpret and could represent almost anything. Some are most like cnidarians, worms, or soft-bodied relatives of the arthropods.
1. INTRODUCTION A typical ichthyosaur looks like this (see note for derivation and pronunciation of "ichthyosaur", as well as its usage in this page). Yes, just like a fish. The strange thing is that they were not fish at all: they were reptiles like lizards, snakes, and crocodiles.
Introduction
Resurrecting the Woolly Mammoth? Scientists Plan to Clone the Extinct Creature
<img src="http://timenewsfeed.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/mammothskeleton1.jpg?w=480&h=320&crop=1" alt="MammothSkeleton" title="MammothSkeleton"/> Good news for anyone who wishes we could revert to prehistoric times, or really, anyone who thinks woolly mammoths are awesome . Scientists in Asia have announced plans to recreate the giant creature that stomped around the Earth some 4,500 years ago.
Cambrian Explosion
Most major animal groups appear for the first time in the fossil record some 545 million years ago on the geological time scale in a relatively short period of time known as the Cambrian explosion.Cambrian explosion
The Cambrian explosion , or Cambrian radiation , was the relatively rapid appearance, around 530 million years ago , of most major animal phyla , as demonstrated in the fossil record, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] accompanied by major diversification of organisms including animals , phytoplankton , and calcimicrobes . [ 3 ] Before about 580 million years ago , most organisms were simple, composed of individual cells occasionally organized into colonies .
Evolution: Library: The Cambrian Explosion
For most of the nearly 4 billion years that life has existed on Earth, evolution produced little beyond bacteria , plankton , and multi-celled algae . But beginning about 600 million years ago in the Precambrian, the fossil record speaks of more rapid change.
Apr. 16, 2012 — Their reproductive strategy spelled the beginning of the end: The fact that dinosaurs laid eggs put them at a considerable disadvantage compared to viviparous mammals. Together with colleagues from the Zoological Society of London, Daryl Codron and Marcus Clauss from the University of Zurich investigated and published why and how this ultimately led to the extinction of the dinosaurs in the journal Biology Letters . The dinosaur's egg and the tiny dino baby Weighing in at four tons, the mother animal was 2,500 times heavier than its newly hatched dinosaur baby.
Egg-laying beginning of the end for dinosaurs
When Did Dino's Sprout Wings?
Bird mimic. This dinosaur from Canada, which resembles an ostrich and bears traces of feathers on its body and limbs, may provide clues to the origins of winged flight. Credit: Royal Tyrrell Museum Dinosaurs still walk—and fly—among us: We call them birds. Most paleontologists think birds descended from a group of winged dinosaurs, and thus dinos never went completely extinct. But where did the wings come from?
Cows of the Cretaceous
Veg-O-Matic chompers. The teeth of the duck-billed dinosaur Edmontosaurus had six different tissues ( five shown at lower right ) which allowed it to eat tough plant material. Credit: Gregory M. Erickson/FSU; (inset) G. M.
Extinct Animals
Paleontology
Paleontology or palaeontology ( pron.: / ˌ p eɪ l ɪ ɒ n ˈ t ɒ l ə dʒ i / , / ˌ p eɪ l ɪ ə n ˈ t ɒ l ə dʒ i / or / ˌ p æ l ɪ ɒ n ˈ t ɒ l ə dʒ i / , / ˌ p æ l ɪ ə n ˈ t ɒ l ə dʒ i / ) is the scientific study of prehistoric life . It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments (their paleoecology ). As a "historical science" it attempts to explain causes rather than conduct experiments to observe effects. Paleontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century BC. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuvier 's work on comparative anatomy , and developed rapidly in the 19th century. The term itself originates from Greek: παλαιός (palaios) meaning "old, ancient," ὄν, ὀντ- ( on, ont -), meaning "being, creature" and λόγος (logos) , meaning "speech, thought, study".Ichnology is the branch of geology that deals with traces of organismal behavior, such as burrows and footprints. It is generally considered as a branch of paleontology ; however, only one division of ichnology, paleoichnology , deals with trace fossils , while neoichnology is the study of modern traces. Parallels can often be drawn between modern traces and trace fossils, helping scientists to decode the possible behavior and anatomy of the trace-making organisms even if no body fossils can be found. An ichnologist is a scientist whose area of study and research is ichnology. Ichnologic studies are based on the discovery and analysis of biogenic structures: features caused by living organisms.
Ichnology
Archaen Eon
Proterozoic eon
Phanerozoic Eon
Admit it, everything you know about dinosaurs you learned from watching Jurassic Park . Or, possibly, you learned it while paying attention in school. That's never really been our scene, but to each their own. But no matter what route you took, there's a good chance your education was less than adequate.