paleontology Archives
Wet and stormy weather lashed California coast…8,200 years ago
Jun. 20, 2017—A study of stalagmite records from the White Moon Cave in the Santa Cruz Mountains finds the California coast was lashed by exceptionally wet and stormy weather for 150 years...8,200 years ago.
The tale teeth tell about the legendary man-eating lions of Tsavo
Apr. 19, 2017—Analysis of the microscopic wear on the teeth of three man-eating lions reveals that painful dental disease may have been what drove the cats to hunt humans instead of larger prey.
Climate change helped kill off super-sized Ice Age animals in Australia
Jan. 26, 2017—A new study has compared the diet of a variety of Australian megafaunal herbivores from the period when they were widespread (350,000 to 570,000 years ago) to a period when they were in decline (30,000 to 40,000 years ago) by studying their fossil teeth. The analysis suggests that climate change had a significant impact on their diets and may well have been a primary factor in their extinction.
Fossils at the Fort is March 19
Mar. 10, 2016—Fossils at the Fort is a free annual event providing young and old with an opportunity to journey into Middle Tennessee's astonishing ancient past.
Cougars’ diverse diet helped them survive the mass extinction that wiped out the saber-tooth cat, American lion
Apr. 22, 2014—Cougars may have survived a mass extinction that took place about 12,000 years ago because they were not particular about what they ate.
Evidence shows starvation did not cause saber-tooth cat extinction
Dec. 26, 2012—The latest study of the microscopic wear patterns on the teeth of the American lions and saber-toothed cats that roamed North America in the late Pleistocene found that they were living well off the fat of the land in the period just before they went extinct.