Author: Hei

Millions of years ago, a river flowed through what is now North Florida. Along its banks, something extraordinary happened: multiple elephant relatives died and were buried in the same place, creating what scientists now describe as an astonishing fossil site. The animals were gomphotheres — extinct relatives of modern elephants — and they lived in…

It looked like something from a nightmare — but this strange creature was swimming through Jurassic seas 165 million years ago. Paleontologists have identified a previously unknown genus and species of vampyromorph coleoid from an exceptionally preserved fossil discovered at the Middle Jurassic La Voulte-sur-Rhône Lagerstätte in France. Named Vampyrofugiens atramentum, the ancient animal belonged…

It looks like something that drifted in from another planet. But this bizarre, remarkably detailed fossil was once a living creature that moved across the seafloor of ancient Australia nearly 280 million years ago. The fossil belongs to Jimbacrinus bostocki, a strange-looking crinoid discovered near Gascoyne Junction in Western Australia. Dating to the Permian Period,…

Imagine walking along a beach and stumbling across a piece of rock — only to discover that hidden inside was the fossil of the largest-known invertebrate ever to live on Earth. That is exactly what happened at Howick Bay in Northumberland, England, in January 2018. A chunk of sandstone had fallen from a nearby cliff…

Imagine looking up into the prehistoric sky and seeing an insect with a wingspan of 2.5 feet flying overhead. It sounds impossible today — but around 275 million years ago, a giant dragonfly-like predator called Meganeuropsis permiana really did take to the skies. The enormous insect lived during the late Permian Period, roughly 45 million…