Mammoths, sabre-toothed cats, and giant ground sloths may be among the most iconic animals of the ice age, but the diversity of life during this time in Earth’s history extends well beyond them and includes one of the smallest and most peculiar of canids: Speothos pacivorus, the Pleistocene bush dog. A new study by Juan [&hellip ..read more

What happens when the presence of a single species impacts everything in an environment? Dr Tom Smith joins us to discuss ecosystem engineers ..read more

If there was a Period of Earth’s history that could be called ‘the one with the weird vertebrates’, it would be the Triassic. And if you don’t believe me, I ask you to turn your attention first to the erythrosuchids that had almost comically oversized heads, then to the massive dicynodonts who replaced their tusks [&hellip ..read more

If I asked you to imagine a crocodilian you would no doubt conjure up a semi-aquatic ambush predator covered in scales, scutes, and with a long snout, lined with sharp teeth, capable of delivering bone-breaking bites. Most modern crocodilians fit this description, a testament to how conserved their anatomy and ecology is. This little diversity [&hellip ..read more

Langebaanweg is a Mio-Pliocene aged fossil locality on the west coast of South Africa (about 120 Km from Cape Town), that has produced a staggering diversity and abundance of fossil material. In the first part of this series I went over the history of the site from its discovery, through six decades of research, most [&hellip ..read more

In 2017, the femur of a mammoth was discovered by Sally and Neville Hollingworth in a commercial gravel quarry close to the village of Cerney Wick, on the Gloucestershire/Wiltshire border in England. Subsequent exploration of this site yielded further remains of Pleistocene megafauna including horses, bison, hyena and elk, as well as Neanderthal hand tools. In the following years, the excavations at Cerney Wick expanded in scope into what is now the largest palaeontological dig in the UK. The potential for public interest in the site and its finds was quickly realised and the documentary ‘Atte ..read more

Near a small coastal town on the west coast of South Africa, amid rolling dunes and fynbos vegetation lies a palaeontological gem. The site is called Langebaanweg, named for the nearby town, Langebaan. A word believed to derive from Dutch for the long strip of calm water created by the saltwater lagoon, which characterises this part of the coast.  There are a lot of things that make Langebaanweg special, its age, its rarity, its extraordinary productivity and its long research history. In this multi-part feature, we will explore why more people should know about the site, the things we ha ..read more

Found in the fossil record between the Jurassic and the middle Miocene, Notosuchia was a highly diverse and strange group of crocodylomorphs, most notable for their terrestrial lifestyle. Joining us for today’s episode is Dr Yohan Pochat-Cottilloux from the Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, who specialises in the study of crocodylomorphs. Together, we will explore the wide range of scientific methodologies that have so far been used to study the lives of these strange reptiles and discuss how they may have looked and behaved. Interpretative drawings of the posture of Zulmasuchus querejazus (ab ..read more

Sauropods are a group of magnificent, long-necked dinosaurs that are well known for their gigantism. Existing from the end of the Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (201 to 66 million years ago), they hold special places in the hearts and imaginations of dinosaur lovers around the world thanks to their unique body shapes and their ability to achieve such vast numbers on the scales. For example, famous genera such as Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus measured up to 26m in length, and weighed 14,800kg and 46,000kg respectively. These colossal sizes have puzzled scientists for years: how had creatu ..read more

It’s been two centuries since the first dinosaur, Megalosaurus, was named by William Buckland and to commemorate the date, the Natural History Museum hosted ‘200 Years of Dinosaurs: Their Rise, Fall, and Rebirth’. This international conference provides a snapshot of dinosaur research in 2024, demonstrating just how far our understanding of this group has come since 1824. In our coverage of this event, we speak to many of the leading palaeontologists in the field, as we look back over the last 200 years of research and consider what the next 200 might reveal. It has now been 200 years since th ..read more