Fossils Archives

50,000-year-old ‘best-preserved’ remains of baby mammoth ever discovered

December 24, 2024

Scientists announced a discovery tens of thousands of years in the making on Tuesday, Dec. 24. In the permafrost of Russia’s Siberia emerged the 50,000-year-old remains of an incredibly well-preserved baby mammoth.

In fact, scientists say it’s the “best-preserved” mammoth body ever found, and one of just seven baby carcasses ever found globally. Nicknamed “Yana,” the female mammoth weighs around 400 pounds and is nearly 7-feet long.

Researchers believe that Yana was a year old when she died, but they are conducting more tests to confirm her age. Yana was found by locals in June in the world’s largest permafrost crater.

Scientists say they are working with genetic researchers to find out more about the young mammoth’s life, hoping to uncover more information about how this extinct species lived.

Russia’s permafrost is currently thawing, which scientists attribute to climate change, and the thaw has revealed several prehistoric discoveries over the last several years, including a mummified saber-toothed cat in the northeastern part of Siberia in 2020, which scientists believe to be around 32,000 years old.

The next year, researchers found the remains of a 44,000-year-old wolf.

Fully intact mastodon jaw found in New York resident’s backyard

December 18, 2024

A New York homeowner recently made an unexpected discovery in their backyard. Paleontologists announced on Tuesday, Dec. 17, that they unearthed a complete mastodon jaw in Orange County.

The adult mastodon jaw was found sticking out of the soil of the resident’s backyard. Sparked by curiosity, the homeowner reportedly found two teeth hidden by the leaves of a plant and dug more to find two additional teeth just inches below the surface.

The homeowner alerted officials and staff from the New York State Museum, and SUNY Orange Community College visited the home to excavate the rest. More digging efforts also uncovered a piece of toe bone and part of a rib.

Researchers say that the fossils will help them gain more insight into the habitat, diet and animal’s life during prehistoric times.

The jaw and bone fragments will be featured in public programming in 2025 after preservation and scientific studies. This is the first fossil discovery of its kind in New York in more than a decade.

Orange County is reportedly a hotbed of fossil finds with one-third of the more than 150 mastodon fossils statewide found in the area.

Researchers encourage residents to report similar discoveries to local authorities as every find helps scientists gain more knowledge about the woolly mammoth’s predecessor.

New species of human discovered may change evolution as we know it: Study

December 16, 2024

A new discovery reported on Sunday, Dec. 18, may forever change scientists’ understanding of human evolution. Paleontologists revealed recently what they say is a new human species from eastern Asia that lived alongside homo sapiens more than 100,000 years ago.

Researchers said the unearthed fossils revealed these so-called “large head people” also known as the “Juluren.” They say the Juluren had much larger brains than homo sapiens and most likely hunted horses in small groups.

The new study suggests the human species may be much more diverse than previously thought, and may explain how modern humanity came to be. Scientists note, until very recently, all human fossils found in China not matching those of homo sapiens or homo erectus were placed into a single group, but now that’s changed, with the latest piece, the Juluren, now part of various branches on the evolutionary tree.

The “large head people” add to a growing list of new human species discovered over the past two decades, including the smallest known species of human in 2003, and another entirely new species in China in 2023.

Fossilized vomit and waste tell 200-million-year story of what dinosaurs ate

November 29, 2024

Scientists analyzing 200-million-year-old fossilized feces and vomit have uncovered new insights into how dinosaurs became Earth’s dominant species. The study, published in Nature, highlights the role of adaptability and diet in their evolutionary success.

More than 500 samples of bromalites, or fossilized digestive remnants, were excavated from Poland’s ancient Polish Basin. Experts said the fossils span from the late Triassic to the early Jurassic periods.

Researchers used advanced scanning techniques and chemical analysis to examine their contents, which included fish, insects, plants and charcoal.

The findings suggest dinosaurs were better equipped to adapt to environmental changes than their rivals. While other species struggled with restricted diets, dinosaurs evolved with diverse feeding habits, enabling them to thrive as volcanic activity and climate shifts reshaped ecosystems.

The study also sheds light on the evolutionary timeline of dinosaurs, tracing their rise from small omnivores to herbivorous and carnivorous giants. For instance, sauropodomorpha dinosaurs not only consumed a wide variety of plants, but may have used charcoal to detoxify toxic ferns. In contrast, creatures like dicynodonts, early mammal relatives, failed to adapt and disappeared.

Using cutting-edge tools like synchrotron microtomography, scientists reconstructed ancient food webs and observed a gradual increase in the size and diversity of dinosaur species. The analysis shows a complex interplay of factors, like agility, upright posture and dietary adaptability, contributed to their success.

The researchers concluded adaptability to shifting ecosystems was key to dinosaurs’ dominance, alongside chance events like climate shifts. The team hopes to apply their techniques globally to deepen understanding of dinosaur evolution.

Supreme Court allows Biden’s EPA to enforce regulations on power plants

October 17, 2024

The Supreme Court has allowed the Biden administration to move forward with new Environmental Protection Agency rules aimed at reducing carbon emissions from power plants. The decision comes as a blow to more than 20 Republican-led states and industry groups that had sought to block the regulations.

The rules, which will require coal and natural gas power plants to cut or capture 90% of their climate-warming emissions by 2032, are expected to reduce carbon dioxide output from the sector by 75% compared to 2005 levels.

Countries pledge to phase out coal use at the COP26 climate change conference. — Reuters

Despite opposition, the court declined to halt the regulations while lower court challenges continue.

The 6-3 ruling did not require plants to take immediate action, and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch noted in a brief opinion that the challengers have a “strong likelihood” of success in the future. However, they said there was no urgency to block the rule now since it does not go into effect until next year.

Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, saying he would have granted the states’ request, while Justice Samuel Alito recused himself from the case.

The ruling is the latest in a string of victories for the Biden administration’s environmental agenda. Earlier this month, the court let stand other EPA regulations cutting methane and mercury emissions, decisions that were largely praised by environmental groups.

The Environmental Protection Agency labeled two forever chemicals as hazardous substances, aiming for faster cleanup. — Getty Images

Republican attorneys general and industry groups have criticized the EPA’s rules as too costly, arguing that the regulations will force power plants to close due to expensive compliance measures like carbon capture technology and clean hydrogen fuel.

The Biden administration hopes the regulations, along with significant financial support from its climate law, will help transform the energy sector and significantly reduce emissions contributing to global warming. Legal challenges are expected to continue, but for now, the EPA is cleared to move forward.

Head of giant 300 million year old insect detailed in scientific breakthrough

October 10, 2024

New details are emerging about one of the largest bugs ever to live on planet Earth. This 9-foot-long giant insect with dozens of legs lived over 300 million years ago in the Carboniferous period, and now we know what its head looked like.

Up until now, scientists had no idea what the creature’s noggin resembled, and the new information is helping clear up its impact on its descendants. During the week of Oct. 6, research by scientists in North America and Europe led to a breakthrough. Most of the fossils of the insect were found headless shells, left behind after the creatures molted every time they grew larger.

Discoveries of these fossils date back to the 1800s, but it took modern technology to figure out the shape of the creature’s head.

Round, with two short antennae and two eyes that stuck outwards like a crab, the hundred-pound insect had a small mouth suited for grinding leaves and tree bark.

These traits led to a confusing mixture of a centipede and a millipede, leading to difficulty deciding what the insect’s head looked like. Now, by using CT scans, researchers were able to clear up the longstanding controversy.

There’s a lot left to learn about this ancient millipede, including what exactly it ate. Questions still stand on whether it walked on land, underwater or were amphibious as well.

Fossil collector discovers 7-foot-long mammoth tusk in Mississippi

August 15, 2024

When Eddie Templeton was hunting for fossils along a Mississippi Creek in rural Madison County on Aug. 3, he stumbled upon something sticking out from a steep embankment. Getting a closer look, the avid artifact collector realized it was a tusk — or at least a portion of one from an ice-age elephant that lived at least tens of thousands of years ago.

Templeton realized he needed to act quickly because the modern-day elements were not on his side. According to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), the summer heat could dry out the tusk, destroying it.

Once members of MDEQ’s survey team arrived on the scene, they saw the fossil tusk was in amazing condition. After some digging, the discovery became even more amazing. The 7-foot-long tusk was fully intact.

“This makes it an extremely rare find for Mississippi,” MDEQ wrote in a blog post on Friday, Aug. 9. “Most fossil tusk ivory found around the state are just fragments and most are likely to be attributable to the more common mastodon.”

But was it a mastodon? The survey team was not sure and needed to get the tusk to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, but that meant finding the safest way to remove the fossil.

To do so the team created a protective jacket for the tusk out of aluminum foil, plaster and strips of burlap, which all together weighed over 600 pounds.

After being lifted up a nearly vertical, 50-foot bluff, the tusk was taken to the museum where it was determined to belong not a mastodon, but to a Columbian mammoth.

“Eddie’s discovery offers a rare window into the Columbian mammoths that once roamed Madison County along the Jackson Prairie of central Mississippi,” MDEQ said.

According to MDEQ officials, Columbian mammoths were much larger than the woolly mammoth, growing up to 15 feet at the shoulder and weighing over 10 tons.

Templeton told ABC News the tusk ranks as one of his top two discoveries, along with an entire mandible of mastodon he found in 1996. He said he’s next hoping to find a mammoth tooth.

The museum said it plans to display the tusk fossil for at least a limited time in the future before it is sent to a yet-to-be-determined permanent location.