Category: fossil

Oldest Human Footprints in North America Found in New Mexico

WASHINGTON—Fossilized footprints discovered in New Mexico indicate that early humans were walking across North America around 23,000 years ago, researchers reported Thursday. The first footprints were found in a dry lake bed in White Sands National Park in 2009. Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey recently analyzed seeds stuck in the footprints to determine their…


‘Gasps All Around’: New Burgess Shale Fossil Sheds Light on the Evolution of Bigness

It was getting late and the team of paleontologists excavating a previously unexplored outcrop of the Burgess Shale was ready to call it a day. A camera crew filming the dig in Kootenay National Park had already packed it in. Then one of the team members split open a large plate of shale. “I just…


These Fossil Stones Are Just Amazing

Beautiful fossil! Anyone in the mood for treasure hunting?


‘Living Fossil’ Fish the Coelacanth Can Live for Up to a Century—New Study Discovers

A prehistoric fish called the coelacanth was once thought to have gone extinct along with the dinosaurs 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period. That notion was famously shattered in 1938 when a live coelacanth was dredged up in a fishing net off the east coast of South Africa, which garnered…


Amateur Fossil Hunter Finds 84 Million Year Old Fossilized Turtle on Vancouver Island

COURTENAY, B.C.—Russell Ball was taking one of his usual walks along Vancouver Island’s Puntledge River on a cool, grey day in January when he noticed something out of the ordinary. As he knelt down and began chipping away around the patch of brown, he felt a familiar feeling as it grew bigger and bigger. There’s…


4-Year-Old Girl Discovers Fossilized Dinosaur Footprint From Triassic on Beach in Wales

A perfect fossilized dinosaur footprint was discovered by a 4-year-old girl on a Welsh beach last week. Scientists say the print dates back to the Triassic period, and are calling it “the finest impression of a 215-million-year-old dinosaur print found in Britain in a decade.” Lily Wilder and her father, Richard, were taking a stroll…