Scientists studying the fossil remains of giant prehistoric kangaroos have found that even animals weighing more than 200kg may not have been too big to bounce, overturning long-held assumptions about the limits of hopping.
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide live within 100 kilometres of a volcano that has experienced at least one significant eruption. Yet the warning signs that signal a shift from relatively mild activity to a high-impact eruption remain unclear. A major new £3.7 million University of Bristol-led research project aims to change this.
Sponges are among earth’s most ancient animals, but exactly when they evolved has long puzzled scientists. Genetic information from living sponges, as well as chemical signals from ancient rocks, suggest sponges evolved at least 650 million years ago.
Complex life began to develop earlier, and over a longer span of time, than previously believed, a groundbreaking new study has revealed. The research sheds new light on the conditions needed for early organisms to evolve and challenges several long-standing scientific theories in this area.
Crocodiles were not always the aquatic predators we know today. Living crocodiles evolved from ancient lineages that were equally at home on land as water.
A near-complete skeleton collected from the UK’s Jurassic Coast has been identified as a new species of ichthyosaur, a type of prehistoric marine reptile that ruled the ancient oceans.
Paleontologists at the University of Bristol have officially identified a new species of dinosaur from Triassic fossil beds in South Wales, near Penarth – more than 125 years after the specimen was initially reported.
A new fossil from Devon reveals what the oldest members of the lizard group looked like, and there are some surprises, according to a research team from the University of Bristol. The study is published today [10 September] in Nature.
The modern coelacanth is a famous ‘living fossil’, long thought to have died out, but first fished out of deep waters in the Indian Ocean in 1938. Since then, dozens of examples have been found, but their fossil history is patchy. In a new study, Jacob Quinn and colleagues from the University of Bristol and University of Uruguay in Montevideo have identified coelacanths in museum collections that had been missed for 150 years.
New research analysing the bite strength of 18 species of carnivorous dinosaurs has shown that predatory dinosaurs followed different evolutionary paths.
As the climate warms and regional drying becomes more frequent, peatlands – some of the planet’s most important carbon sinks – are increasingly under threat. But a study, led by an international team including scientists from the University of Bristol, has shown peatland ecosystems may have a natural defence through the combined forces of plant changes and microbes.
A new study has uncovered evidence that a giant marine reptile from the Early Jurassic period used stealth to hunt its prey in deep or dark waters – much like owls on land today.
The puzzling behaviour of Titan’s atmosphere has been revealed by researchers at the University of Bristol for the first time.
A new study has shed unprecedented light on the highly variable and climate-sensitive routes that substances from Siberian rivers use to travel across the Arctic Ocean. The findings raise fresh concerns about the increasing spread of pollutants and the potential consequences for fragile polar ecosystems as climate change accelerates.
Two Palaeontology and Evolution students from the University of Bristol have undertaken the first ever study which describes the incredible range of fossils which were sucked into a Neptunian dyke, a deep, fissure like cave on the ancient coastline.
More mammals were living on the ground several million years before the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs, new research led by the University of Bristol has revealed.
Ancient frog relatives survived the aftermath of the largest mass extinction of species by feeding on freshwater prey that evaded terrestrial predators, University of Bristol academics have found.
Sabre-toothed predators – best know from the infamous Smilodon – evolved multiple times across different mammal groups. A new study, published today in Current Biology reveals why: these teeth were ‘functionally optimal’ and highly effective at biting into prey.
Two University of Bristol professors have been presented awards by the Palaeontological Association for their contributions to academia, outreach and human knowledge.
A ground-breaking University of Bristol study has shed light on how lizards and snakes -the most diverse group of land vertebrates with nearly 12,000 species - have evolved remarkably varied jaw shapes, driving their extraordinary ecological success.
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