Tag archives for paleontology
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A newfound ancestor of modern bugs has some pretty bizarre traits—its legs are under its mouth, and its spine extends far above its brain, a new study says.
Rock Hyrax Urine Offers Clues About Climate Change
Posted by Alyson Foster on February 20, 2013 
What can the rock hyrax – or, more specifically, the rock hyrax’s pee – tell us about climate change? More than you might think.
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A cluster of tapeworm eggs have been discovered in 270 million-year-old fossilized shark feces, suggesting that the intestinal parasites are much older than previously thought.
Sea Monsters of the North: Day 11-Skull Discovered at Last!
Posted by Jørn Hurum of National Geographic Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal on August 17, 2012 
After a week of digging through frozen mud and rock at the top of the world, the team comes through with their biggest find yet: their first ever skull of a Loch Ness Monster-type plesiosaur.
Sea Monsters of the North: Day 10-Welcoming Tourists to the Site
Posted by Jørn Hurum of National Geographic Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal on August 16, 2012 
After all of yesterday’s miserable weather and hard work, no one was rushing out of bed today. The clouds parted however, and an enthusiastic group of tourists came by to see the site.
Sea Monsters of the North: Day 9
Posted by Jørn Hurum of National Geographic Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal on August 16, 2012 
Terrible weather moves in on the excavation team, obscuring the mountainside in fog, and drenching everyone to the bone. And speaking of bones, the search for the animal’s skull continues.
Sea Monsters of the North: Day 8
Posted by Jørn Hurum of National Geographic Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal on August 15, 2012 You would have thought the prospect of moving tons of waterlogged permafrost, hour after hour after hour, would make people sneak out the back door. But with the chance of the team finding our first ever plesiosaur skull, people are jumping at the chance to dig.
Sea Monsters of the North: Day 7
Posted by Jørn Hurum of National Geographic Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal on August 14, 2012 
The head of the plesiosaur remains hidden, but progress is made in the final days of the Spitsbergen expedition.
Sea Monsters of the North: Day 6–Mountain vs. Chainsaw
Posted by Jørn Hurum of National Geographic Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal on August 13, 2012 
With the prospect of finding their first ever plesiosaur skull, the team brings out chainsaws and pickaxes to carve away the rock and dirt above the spot where the animal’s neck disappears into the mountainside.
Sea Monsters of the North: Day 5
Posted by Jørn Hurum of National Geographic Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal on August 12, 2012 
Moving to a new vantage point, Jørn and the team set their sights to find more ancient remains and come up with two almost instantly.
Sea Monsters of the North: Day 2
Posted by Jørn Hurum of National Geographic Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal on August 7, 2012 
The search for sea monster fossils in the frozen north continues, and in a matter of hours the team has found more specimens than the rest of the world will find in the next couple of years.
Sea Monsters of the North: Day 1
Posted by Jørn Hurum of National Geographic Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal on August 6, 2012 
2011 Emerging Explorer Jørn Hurum is currently on Spitsbergen Island in the Arctic Circle excavating the remains of ancient marine reptiles worthy of the most fantastic Norse legends.
Diving the Cavern Zone – part 2
Posted by Fabio Esteban Amador of National Geographic Waitt Grants Program in Explorers Journal on March 27, 2012 
Training to Dive the Cavern Zone I was so anxious the get in the water, but I knew that I must first demonstrate proficiency in the skills necessary to pass the course and most importantly, the stay alive and enjoy this wonderful world. We decided that the best course for us was the one offered…
National Geographic Live with the World Premiere of “Turkana”
Posted by Lauren Ward of NG Staff on March 16, 2012 
The world premiere of Bones of Turkana will be screened at National Geographic Auditorium on March 19 at 7:30 PM, followed by a discussion with the director and producers. Co-presented by the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital.
Spitsbergen Expedition: Grand Finale
Posted by Jørn Hurum of National Geographic Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal on August 16, 2011 
After two weeks excavating ancient “sea monster” fossils above the Arctic Circle, NG Emerging Explorer Jørn Hurum and his team pull one last set of bones from the Earth and bid farewell to a site like none other.
Spitsbergen Expedition: Final Excavation
Posted by Jørn Hurum of National Geographic Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal on August 15, 2011 
As the annual field expedition searching for Arctic sea monster fossils draws to a close, the team must decide which sites to excavate, and which to leave for future expeditions. And of course, there’s another snow storm to deal with.
Spitsbergen Expedition 2011: Day 1
Posted by Jørn Hurum of National Geographic Emerging Explorers in Explorers Journal on August 3, 2011 
For the next two weeks, 2011 Emerging Explorer Jørn Hurum will be leading an expedition to Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, continuing the work that has yielded many spectacular fossils through the years. In the first update, the team sets up camp wary of large numbers of polar bears in the area.
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Dr. Phil Manning answers questions about his recent work showing that x-rays can reveal information about the colors of fossilized creatures, continuing to shed light on an aspect of the ancient world scientists once believed to be lost forever.
David W. Krause is Distinguished Service Professor in Stony Brook University’s Department of Anatomical Sciences. For well over a decade he has led a groundbreaking field investigation of the fossils of the African island of Madagascar — a paleontologist’s paradise — due to the fossils’ state of preservation and the island’s role in the plate…
Posted by The last four decades have witnessed a revolution in the study of dinosaurs. Scientists no longer examine just the structure of the skeletons and the relationships of these fascinating animals, but have started probing issues of their biology. How did dinosaurs move? How did they feed? What was their circulatory system like? How did they…
In recent decades paleontologists have been able to document in ever-greater detail the evolution of birds from small predatory dinosaurs. After establishing the broader outlines of this transition, researchers are now focusing on specific adaptations. It is widely believed that birds have no or at most a poorly developed sense of smell. A new study…
Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth
Posted by Ford Cochran on November 24, 2010 A new study of venomous reptile fossils sheds light on the evolution of snake fangs. By Hans-Dieter Sues Venom is a highly effective means to subdue and kill prey before eating it, as well as a great defense against predators. Furthermore, studies have shown that some snake toxins can also help in breaking down proteins…
Is Florida Mammoth the Tip of the Iceberg?
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on November 12, 2010 The discovery of a fossilized large-mammal bone engraved with the image of an elephant-like creature isn’t always that surprising. When the discovery is made in Florida, however, the interest-quotient goes through the roof. While Ice Age depictions of large animals are common in parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, this is not the case…
Posted by By Hans-Dieter Sues Charles Darwin noted that the oldest fossils known in his day already represented quite complex life forms such as trilobites, an immensely diverse group of extinct marine arthropods most closely related to horseshoe crabs, spiders, and their relatives. We now date these remains as middle Early Cambrian in age. Because Darwin assumed…
By Hans-Dieter Sues The oldest known birds, classified in the genus Archaeopteryx, lived near the end of the Jurassic Period (145.5 to 150.8 million years ago). Although Archaeopteryx has a fully developed plumage its skeleton still retains many features of its dinosaurian precursors, one of which is jaws with teeth. With the exception of some…
