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Illustration of Qikiqtania wakei in the water

Life

A fish that evolved to stand up on land went back to living in water

A fossil from 385 million years ago named Qikiqtania wakei shows that a descendant of early land animals lost its adaptations for land and became a more efficient swimmer

News

A reconstruction of Stanleycaris hirpex

Life

Three-eyed predator stalked the seas 500 million years ago

News

An artist illustration of Meraxes

Life

Meraxes gigas was a huge dinosaur with tiny arms like T. rex

News

Tupandactylus full size ? Nicholls 2022: artist's reconstruction of the pterosaur.

Life

Pterosaur fossil suggests feathers may have evolved long before flight

News

There are things we will never know about dinosaurs – here's why

Comment

There are things we will never know about dinosaurs – here's why

Comment

Left: Lobopodian worm (Luolishania) Right: Arthropod (Naroia)

Life

Some of the earliest complex animals were fossilised in a river delta

News

Type specimen of Hanyusuchus sinensis from the Bronze Age of China (above), and life restoration (below: drawn by Hikaru Amemiya).

Life

A 6-metre-long crocodile relative lived in China during the Bronze Age

News

The 'Cambrian explosion' saw the emergence of many animals we recognise today

Earth

Burst of animal evolution altered chemical make-up of Earth's mantle

News

View of the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), a large natural history museum containing the skeleton of the Tyrannosaur

Life

Tyrannosaurus rex may actually be three separate species

News

Homo bodoensis, a new species of human ancestor, lived in Africa during the Middle Pleistocene.

Humans

New human species has been named Homo bodoensis - but it may not stick

Researchers who reanalysed ancient fossils say they come from a new group of hominins living in Africa around 600,000 years ago, and so deserve a new species name

News

Life

Some ancient giant ground sloths dined on meat

News

Life

Land-dwelling turtles from the Cretaceous period had extra-tough eggs

News

Life

Sponge fossils suggest animals already existed 890 million years ago

News

Life

Baby pterosaurs could fly within minutes of hatching from their eggs

News