Scientists estimate Vasuki indicus was up to 15m long, weighed a tonne and would have constricted its prey Fossil vertebrae unearthed in a mine in western India are the remains of one of the largest snakes that ever lived, a monster estimated at up to 15 metres in length – longer than a T rex. Scientists have recovered 27 vertebrae from the snake, including a few still in the same position as they would have been when the reptile was alive. They said the snake, which they named Vasuki indicus, would have looked like a large python and would not have been venomous ..read more

Protemnodon viator believed to have weighed up to 170kg – double the size of the largest species alive today Supersized marsupials roamed the Australian continent for millennia. But until now the understanding of giant kangaroos – or Protemnodon – has been confined to isolated bones and difficult-to-distinguish species. Scientists have now identified three new species of the extinct giant kangaroo – Protemnodon viator, Protemnodon mamkurra and Protemnodon dawsonae, which lived from 5m to 40,000 years ago. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your da ..read more

Lagan Valley Regional Park, Belfast: To a bird, subtle variations in song can say a lot, and these two seem to be sizing each other up A single fink. I stop for the call’s repeat. Instead, the confirmation that a chaffinch has joined the dawn chorus comes with a brief trill culminating in a wheezy flourish. The song is a little like the bird itself: a common thing that’s riven with significance. For the chaffinch is first among finches. With its chinking call, it named itself into Old English as finc – or finch – a name that extended to other species. Centuries later, the poet Gerard Manley Ho ..read more

Georges-Louis Leclerc proposed species change and extinction back in the 1740s, a new book reveals Shortly after Charles Darwin published his magnum opus, The Origin of Species, in 1859 he started reading a little-known 100-year-old work by a wealthy French aristocrat. Its contents were quite a surprise. “Whole pages [of his book] are laughably like mine,” Darwin wrote to a friend. “It is surprising how candid it makes one to see one’s view in another man’s words.” In later editions of The Origin of Species, Darwin acknowledged Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, as one of the “few” peopl ..read more

Researchers have found fresh evidence that may connect the mysterious Denisovans to the early human species Homo longi They remain one of the most elusive groups of humans to have walked on earth. Evidence from the DNA traces left by Denisovans shows they lived on the Tibetan plateau, ­probably ­travelled to the Philippines and Laos in south Asia and might have made their way to northern China more than 100,000 years ago. They also interbred with modern humans. What Denisovans looked like or how they lived has remained a­ ­mystery, however. Only a jaw ­fragment, a few bits of bone and one  ..read more

Fossil of giant river dolphin found in Peru, whose closest living relation is in South Asia, gives clues to future extinction threats Scientists have discovered the fossilised skull of a giant river dolphin, from a species thought to have fled the ocean and sought refuge in Peru’s Amazonian rivers 16m years ago. The extinct species would have measured up to 3.5 metres long, making it the largest river dolphin ever found. The discovery of this new species, Pebanista yacuruna, highlights the looming risks to the world’s remaining river dolphins, all of which face similar extinction threats in th ..read more

I’ve built up a collection from a beach in Weymouth that could help to establish what biodiversity in the UK was like over the course of millions of years All photos by Alexander Turner My interest in fossils began at the age of 10 in my back garden in Glastonbury, Somerset, where I discovered ammonites. With hindsight, it wasn’t beauty that drew me to them, but the magic of discovery. I was drawn in by their sheer age, and the unfathomable nature of the distant past. After my degree in natural sciences in 1965 I wanted to go as far away as I could, so I applied to teach biology in Ghana. It ..read more

Modern imaging techniques reveal item thought to be well preserved lizard-like fossil is painted carving Generations of palaeontologists have marvelled over a 280m-year-old fossilised lizard-like reptile, Tridentinosaurus antiquus, discovered in the Italian Alps in 1931. Thought to be one of the best-preserved specimens of the species, palaeontologists believed there were even traces of carbonised skin on the surface. Now modern imaging techniques have revealed that this treasured fossil is, in fact, a carving covered in black paint ..read more

Traits associated with the neurodevelopmental disorder could have helped early humans when foraging for food Traits common to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), such as distractibility or impulsivity, might have been an evolutionary advantage for our ancestors by improving their tactics when foraging for food, researchers have said. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder with symptoms including impulsiveness, disorganisation and difficulty focusing. While estimates of prevalence have varied, diagnoses have been rising in many countries, including the UK ..read more

We all know people who find it hilarious to prod and poke, pinch and tickle, all in the name of fun. But are humans the only ones who like to tease each other? Or are other animals in on the act? Ian Sample talks to Prof Erica Cartmill about her work on apes and teasing and asks, given how annoying teasing is, why do apes, and humans, do it? Watch young great apes tease and annoy their elders here ..read more