A geologist conducting routine field surveys in a San Mateo County preserve stumbled onto a fossilized Pacific mastodon molar in "immaculate condition", a find paleontologists are calling the most complete specimen ever recovered from the region. Brigid Lynch discovered the tooth partially submerged in a wooded creek bed while working on a California red-legged frog […] The post Fossilized mastodon tooth surfaces in California creek bed, stunning paleontologists appeared first on American Almanac .
A geologist conducting routine field surveys in a San Mateo County preserve stumbled onto a fossilized Pacific mastodon molar in "immaculate condition", a find paleontologists are calling the most complete specimen ever recovered from the region. Brigid Lynch discovered the tooth partially submerged in a wooded creek bed while working on a California red-legged frog habitat restoration project in a Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains. She initially thought it was an oddly shaped rock. It was not. Paleontologists later confirmed the fossil was an intact upper left third molar from an adult Pacific mastodon, ABC News reported . The tooth measures roughly 8.5 inches long, 7 inches deep, and 3…Open
A scientist working to save a threatened frog species stumbled across a fossilized Pacific mastodon molar in a San Mateo County creek bed, a find experts are calling the most complete specimen of its kind from the region. Brigid Lynch, a geomorphologist at the consulting firm Balance Hydrologics, was surveying a wooded creek inside a […] The post Geomorphologist finds remarkably preserved mastodon tooth in San Francisco Bay Area creek appeared first on American Almanac .
A scientist working to save a threatened frog species stumbled across a fossilized Pacific mastodon molar in a San Mateo County creek bed, a find experts are calling the most complete specimen of its kind from the region. Brigid Lynch, a geomorphologist at the consulting firm Balance Hydrologics, was surveying a wooded creek inside a Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains earlier this year when she spotted the nine-inch tooth sitting in plain sight. She was there for a habitat restoration project aimed at protecting the California red-legged frog, a threatened species. Instead, she found the remains of an animal that vanished from North America between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago. Lynch told…Open
A British antique collector paid $85,000 for a taxidermied head mislabeled as a fox, then confirmed through X-ray and CT scans that it belonged to a Tasmanian Tiger, an apex predator extinct since 1936. James Cranfield, a 38-year-old natural history relics dealer who specializes in collecting unusual fox heads, was scrolling an auction site when […] The post Flea market 'fox head' turns out to be one of two known Tasmanian Tiger specimens on Earth appeared first on American Almanac .
A British antique collector paid $85,000 for a taxidermied head mislabeled as a fox, then confirmed through X-ray and CT scans that it belonged to a Tasmanian Tiger, an apex predator extinct since 1936. James Cranfield, a 38-year-old natural history relics dealer who specializes in collecting unusual fox heads, was scrolling an auction site when he spotted a listing for a "19th century fox head" consigned to Auctioneum, an auction house in Bristol, England. The image stopped him cold. The proportions were wrong. The teeth were wrong. Cranfield counted eight upper incisors in the photograph, two more than any fox has ever carried. He believed he was looking at the head of a thylacine, commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger, a carnivorous…Open
Scientists have used fossilized insect wings and advanced modeling to recreate the strange calls that once filled Jurassic forests, offering a glimpse into a long-lost world that challenges our assumptions about the past. A team led by Dr. Fernando Montealegre-Zapata from the University of Lincoln analyzed 20 fossils from nine insect species, all found in […] The post Researchers reconstruct sounds of Jurassic insects from fossilized wings appeared first on American Almanac .
Scientists have used fossilized insect wings and advanced modeling to recreate the strange calls that once filled Jurassic forests, offering a glimpse into a long-lost world that challenges our assumptions about the past. A team led by Dr. Fernando Montealegre-Zapata from the University of Lincoln analyzed 20 fossils from nine insect species, all found in China’s Inner Mongolia region and dating back roughly 165 million years. These ancient bugs, ancestors of today’s grasshoppers and katydids, left behind wing structures with microscopic ridges and a scraper known as a plectrum, clues that helped the team reconstruct their calls. Using microscope scans, laser measurements, computer modeling, and machine learning, the researchers…Open
Scientists digging in Egypt's southwestern desert have uncovered fossilized remains of five extinct shark species dating to the Late Cretaceous period, a find that includes the first fossil record of its kind for Egypt and the African continent. Archaeologists excavating phosphate beds in the Duwi Formation, a geological deposit laid down when sea levels ran […] The post Five extinct shark species unearthed in Egypt's desert from the age of dinosaurs appeared first on American Almanac .
Scientists digging in Egypt's southwestern desert have uncovered fossilized remains of five extinct shark species dating to the Late Cretaceous period, a find that includes the first fossil record of its kind for Egypt and the African continent. Archaeologists excavating phosphate beds in the Duwi Formation, a geological deposit laid down when sea levels ran between 320 and 850 feet higher than they stand today, pulled 14 fossilized shark teeth from what was once a warm, tropical marine environment. The discovery, published in the journal Cretaceous Research , represents a new assemblage of extinct lamniform sharks, an order that includes some of the most formidable predators ever to patrol the world's oceans. The find matters because it…Open
Cairo University researchers pulled 14 fossilized shark teeth from a remote Egyptian plateau, identifying five extinct species that once prowled a warm sea where sand and rock now stretch for hundreds of miles. The teeth came from the Abu-Tartur Plateau, a phosphate-rich highland in Egypt's Western Desert roughly 400 miles southwest of Cairo. The plateau […] The post Fossilized shark teeth reveal a prehistoric ocean hidden beneath Egypt's desert appeared first on American Almanac .
Cairo University researchers pulled 14 fossilized shark teeth from a remote Egyptian plateau, identifying five extinct species that once prowled a warm sea where sand and rock now stretch for hundreds of miles. The teeth came from the Abu-Tartur Plateau, a phosphate-rich highland in Egypt's Western Desert roughly 400 miles southwest of Cairo. The plateau sits between the Kharga and Dakhla oases, today one of the country's most important mining and fertilizer sites. More than 70 million years ago, it was the floor of a tropical ocean. A team led by Cairo University recovered the fossils from a phosphate layer at the site and matched them against specimens found elsewhere in the world. Their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal…Open
Researchers discovered evidence of enormous Kraken-like creatures who hunted in the seas some 100 million years ago, competing with large apex predators.