A terrifying predator lurked in prehistoric Patagonia. A newly described species, Kostensuchus atrox, stretched 11.5 feet long, weighed about 250 kilograms, and likely dined on dinosaurs. Unearthed near El Calafate, Argentina, the exquisitely preserved fossil reveals a broad-snouted, hypercarnivorous crocodyliform that roamed the Chorrillo Formation floodplains about 70 million years ago, just before the mass … Read more
In a stunning reversal of more than a century of misidentification, researchers have revealed that a fossil long thought to be a caterpillar, millipede, or marine worm is actually a lobopodian—an ancient, soft-bodied relative of modern arthropods. Even more surprising, it lived in freshwater, not the ocean. This makes Palaeocampa anthrax the first known nonmarine … Read more
In the complex world of ant colonies, who becomes a queen and who stays a worker isn’t just about size—it’s about what that size means, genetically. A new study from Rockefeller University, published in PNAS, reveals that while larger ants are more likely to develop queen-like traits, genes ultimately determine how body size maps to … Read more
The extreme appetite for ants and termites has independently emerged in mammals at least 12 separate times over the past 66 million years, according to new research that reveals one of evolution’s most unusual dietary obsessions. Scientists at New Jersey Institute of Technology traced this specialized feeding strategy across thousands of mammal species, discovering that … Read more
Elephant-sized sloths once roamed from Alaska to Argentina, carving caves with massive claws and diving into oceans for seagrass meals. These ancient giants, some weighing 8,000 pounds, dominated the Americas for over 30 million years before vanishing around 15,000 years ago—just as humans spread across the continents. A new study published in Science reveals how … Read more