Category: Palaeontology
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Insects already had a variety of defense strategies in the Cretaceous
Analyses of amber show that insect larvae were already using a wide variety of tactics to protect themselves from predators 100 million years ago. Early life stages of insects fulfill important functions in our ecosystems. They decompose dead bodies and wood, forming soil and returning various elements into material cycles. Not least, they are a…
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First high mountain settlers at the start of the Neolithic already engaged in other livestock activities apart from transhumance
An archaeological find in the Huescan Pyrenees allowed researchers to identify for the first time livestock management strategies and feeding practices which demonstrate how the first high mountain societies, at the start of the Neolithic period, were already carrying out complex livestock and farming activities, instead of being limited to the transhumance of sheep and…
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Rise of archery in Andes Mountains dated to 5,000 years ago — earlier than previous research
When did archery arise in the Americas? And what were the effects of this technology on society? These questions have long been debated among anthropologists and archaeologists. But a study led by a University of California, Davis, anthropologist, is shining light on this mystery. Focusing on the Lake Titicaca Basin in the Andes mountains, anthropologists…
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Deep-sea Ordovician lingulide brachiopods and their associated burrows suggest an early colonization of proximal turbidite systems
Ferguson, L. The paleoecology of Lingula squamiformis Phillips during a Scottish Mississippian marine transgression. J. Paleontol. 37, 669–681 (1963). Google Scholar Emig, C. C., Gall, J. C., Pajaud, D. & Plaziat, J. C. Réflexions critiques sur l’écologie et la systématique des Lingules actuelles et fossils. Geobios 11, 573–609 (1978). Article Google Scholar Pickerill, R. K.,…
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Mysterious fruit shown to be the oldest known fossils of the Frankincense and Myrrh family
Early in the 1970s, a paleontologist working on the outskirts of an Indian village found small, bead-like fossils embedded in the gray chert dotting the surrounding fields. The site was notorious for turning up plant fossils that were difficult to identify, including the fruit of an extinct species resignedly given the name “Enigmocarpon.” The new…
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Humans might have driven 1,500 bird species to extinction — twice previous estimates
The Hawaiian crow, or ʻalalā (Corvus hawaiiensis), has been pushed to the brink of extinction by waves of human migration through the Pacific. It exists only in captive breeding programmes in 2023.Credit: ZSSD/Minden Pictures via Alamy Around one in nine bird species has gone extinct in the past 126,000 years, according to a study published…
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Mesopotamian bricks unveil the strength of Earth’s ancient magnetic field
Ancient bricks inscribed with the names of Mesopotamian kings have yielded important insights into a mysterious anomaly in Earth’s magnetic field 3,000 years ago, according to a new study involving UCL researchers. The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), describes how changes in the Earth’s magnetic field imprinted on…
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How an overlooked study over a century ago helped fuel the Colorado River crisis
When it comes to the Colorado River, history often repeats itself — but it doesn’t have to. That’s the take-home message from CU Boulder hydrologist Shemin Ge, who will present a little-known piece of history from the river this Thursday at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San Francisco. The story of hydrologist Eugene…
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Morocco earthquake had unusual deep slip, according to new modeling
In their rapid characterization of the magnitude 6.8 Al Haouz earthquake in Morocco, researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) suggest that the earthquake ruptured roughly 25 kilometers deep beneath the surface. The USGS source modeling, published in The Seismic Record, shows a compact source for the earthquake with slip occurring…
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Researchers, Coast Salish people analyze 160-year-old indigenous dog pelt in the Smithsonian’s collection
Researchers from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History led a new analysis that sheds light on the ancestry and genetics of woolly dogs, a now extinct breed of dog that was a fixture of Indigenous Coast Salish communities in the Pacific Northwest for millennia. Anthropologist Logan Kistler and evolutionary molecular biologist Audrey Lin analyzed…