Earth and Environment - Paleontology

Contemporary DNA evidence suggests that humans emerged from the interaction of multiple populations living across the continent There is broad agreement that Homo sapiens originated in Africa. But there remain many uncertainties and competing theories about where, when, and how.

Schöningen/Tübingen, 05/12/2023.

We now know more about the diet of a prehistoric creature that grew up to two and a half metres long and lived in Australian waters during the time of the dinosaurs, thanks to the power of X-rays and a team of scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) and the Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI).

Pair of studies pushes back ape origins and grassy woodland evolution by 10 million years in Africa. Anthropologists have long thought that our ape ancestors evolved an upright torso in order to pick fruit in forests, but new research from the University of Michigan suggests a life in open woodlands and a diet that included leaves drove apes' upright stature.

An artist's depiction of a newly described species of pachycephalosaur that was named Platytholus clemensi, after the late UC Berkeley paleontologist William Clemens. The skull is dome-shaped, but UC Berkeley and Chapman University paleontologists believe it was covered with bristles of keratin (purple) that may have been even more elaborate than depicted here.

Scientists have discovered a new species of rare mosasaur in Morocco, adding to evidence of the vast diversity of these marine reptiles 66 million years ago.

Study on the evolution of Brontotheres lead by UV palaeontologist Éscar Sanisidro published in the journal -Science-. Palaeontology specialists lead by University of Valencia investigator Éscar Sanisidro publish a study in the -Science- journal on the body size of Brontotheres, a mammal family that went extinct 53 million years ago.

A pair of studies to be published April 15 in the journal Science paint a new picture about apes, ancient Africa and the origins of humans. Many scientists had once hypothesized that the first apes to evolve in Africa more than 20 million years ago ate primarily fruit and lived within the thick, closed canopy of a nearly continent-wide forest ecosystem.

New research led by SFU paleobotanist Rolf Mathewes provides clues about what plants existed in the Burnaby Mountain area 40 million years ago during the late Eocene, when the climate was much warmer than it is today.

Study: Human consumption of large herbivore digesta and its implications for foraging theory. Early human foragers may have relied on eating the partially digested vegetable matter, called digesta, found in the stomachs and digestive tracts of bison and other large game herbivores.