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Feathers are central to the ability of modern birds to fly and to maintain body temperature. Structures of this kind are now known from many non-avian dinosaurs that were closely related to birds, and feather-like coverings have even been identified in the more distant pterosaurs. Across these animals, feathers appear in a wide variety of forms. Some are simple, filamentous down-like structures, while others show the complex architecture typical of flight feathers. Among the

During the Late Cretaceous, global sea levels were much higher than today. As a result, much of Europe—being relatively low-lying—was fragmented by shallow seas into a vast archipelago composed of numerous islands. Such a landscape fostered unusual ecosystems. Island environments often impose strong ecological constraints, including limited space and restricted resources. Under these conditions, large animals frequently evolve smaller body sizes as an adaptation to island lif

The Miocene epoch (approximately 23 to 5.3 million years ago) represents the most recent warm interval in Earth's geological history. From the late Miocene through the Pliocene (about 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago) and continuing into the Pleistocene Ice Age (about 2.6 million years ago to the present), the planet's average temperature has generally followed a long-term cooling trend. For this reason, studying Miocene ecosystems provides an important bridge for understanding h

Bergmann's rule is a biological pattern describing how body size in warm-blooded animals tends to vary with climate. According to this rule, individuals belonging to the same lineage of endothermic animals generally become larger as latitude or elevation increases. In other words, species inhabiting colder environments often possess larger bodies than their relatives living in warmer regions. A familiar example is the polar bear, which is substantially larger than other bears

How fast can evolution proceed? This question has long fascinated scientists, particularly when considering how quickly life can recover after a mass extinction and refill the ecological niches left empty by vanished organisms. Since the beginning of the Paleozoic Era, Earth has experienced five major mass extinction events. The third of these, the Permian–Triassic extinction event (often abbreviated as the P–Tr event), occurred about 251.9 million years ago and was the most

Map of New Zealand, showing that its territory is mainly composed of the North and South Islands（圖片來源：NordNordWest，採用  CC BY 4.0  授權） New Zealand is an island nation composed mainly of two large landmasses, the South Island and the North Island. Because these islands have remained isolated from other continental landmasses for approximately 52 million years, the country developed an exceptionally distinctive ecosystem. One of the most striking characteristics of this ecosyste

Plesiosaurs (Plesiosauria) were one of the most iconic groups of marine reptiles during the Mesozoic Era. Their evolutionary history began in the Triassic and continued until the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, spanning roughly 140 million years. Fossils of these animals have been discovered across the globe, indicating that they were widely distributed and highly diverse. Their general body plan is familiar: a long neck, a compact torso, and four powerful flipp

A dry and desolate plateau in modern Argentina once formed part of a dynamic ancient basin more than 320 million years ago. During that time, rivers, lakes, and glaciers alternated across the landscape. This region, known today as the Paganzo Basin, accumulated sedimentary deposits reaching a thickness of nearly 4,500 meters and preserves geological records of rhythmic glacial and interglacial cycles during the Late Paleozoic ice age. Within the lowermost unit of this basin,

Body coloration plays an important role in the behavior, physiology, and habitats of animals, and mammals are no exception. Modern mammals display a wide variety of colors and patterns. Yet the coloration of early mammaliaforms that lived during the Mesozoic Era has long remained largely unknown. A recent study addressed this question by analyzing the coloration of six Mesozoic mammaliaforms discovered in northeastern China. These fossils span a long time interval, from the M

Acanthocephalans are a group of obligate parasitic animals, with nearly 1,500 species currently known. Their life cycles are complex and usually involve two or more hosts. During the larval stage they parasitize invertebrate hosts such as crustaceans and insects, whereas the adult stage occurs in vertebrate hosts including fishes, birds and mammals. Because they are obligate parasites, acanthocephalans lack a mouth and digestive tract. Adult individuals live in the digestive

The evolutionary trends of organismal body size have long attracted the attention of biologists. Over the past century, several hypotheses have been proposed to explain why body size changes over time. Beyond the well-known Bergmann's rule, which links body size to temperature and latitude, other principles have also been suggested. Cope's rule proposes that lineages tend to increase in size through evolutionary time, while Foster's rule suggests that habitat size and isolati

Understanding the interactions among species within an ecosystem is essential for reconstructing how ecological systems function and evolve. Fossils, however, rarely preserve such information. Most fossil records capture the morphology of individual organisms rather than the relationships those organisms maintained with other species in the same environment. In this study, researchers uncovered a miniature ecosystem that once existed beneath tree bark. The entire system was p

Life reconstruction of Mirasaura grauvogeli （感謝Rick Stikkelorum提供） A fossil of a small diapsid reptile discovered in the Vosges Mountains of northeastern France has revealed an unusual body structure dating to roughly 247 million years ago in the Middle Triassic. The specimen is remarkable for a series of dorsal skin appendages arranged along its back. These structures resemble feathers in overall appearance, yet they are neither true feathers nor comparable to the scales or

During the Middle Jurassic, an unusual armoured dinosaur roamed the floodplains of what is now Morocco in North Africa. This dinosaur, Spicomellus afer , possessed an extraordinary body covered with elaborate armour. Its discovery represents the earliest known fossil record of ankylosaurs and pushes the evolutionary history of this group back by at least thirty million years. The find has dramatically reshaped palaeontologists' understanding of how ankylosaur body armour and

The Bahariya Formation, located in what is now the Western Desert of Egypt, is one of the most significant fossil-bearing geological formations in Africa. It is particularly well known for its sediments dating to the Late Cretaceous Cenomanian stage, roughly 100 million years ago. Since the German palaeontologist Ernst Stromer first investigated this formation in the early twentieth century, it has become an important site for studies of dinosaur diversity and ancient ecosyst

Deep within the frozen ground of Siberian permafrost, traces of life have endured far longer than once imagined. Among the molecular remnants preserved in ancient remains, DNA has long served as the primary window through which scientists investigate the genetics of extinct organisms from the Cenozoic era. RNA, however, tells a different story. This molecule is far more fragile and typically breaks down rapidly after death, making it widely regarded as an unlikely survivor ac

Powered flight is a locomotor strategy that evolved in several animal lineages and provides substantial ecological advantages. Animals capable of powered flight can travel longer distances, reach higher speeds, and maneuver more effectively in complex environments. Throughout the history of life, four major groups have independently evolved powered flight: insects, pterosaurs, birds, and bats. Among them, insects represent the earliest lineage to acquire this capability and r

More than 160 million years ago, during the Middle Jurassic, a group of scorpionflies (order Mecoptera) became preserved within the fine lacustrine sediments of the Jiulongshan Formation in what is now northeastern China. These fossils, discovered in deposits belonging to the Yanliao Biota, have provided an unexpected window into the reproductive biology of ancient insects. Among eighty-seven fossil specimens examined, researchers discovered a peculiar morphological feature:

More than two centuries have passed since the earliest scientific investigations of dinosaurs began. It might therefore seem that palaeontologists already possess a comprehensive understanding of these prehistoric giants. In reality, dinosaur research still occupies an expanding frontier. Since the first dinosaur species, Megalosaurus bucklandii , was formally named in 1824, nearly fifty new dinosaur species have been described every year worldwide, and the pace of discovery

When scientists attempt to understand the origin of life and the early evolution of Earth's biosphere, they immediately encounter a major difficulty: the early geological record is incomplete, and the planet itself was undergoing intense environmental change. Life emerged in a world fundamentally different from the one we know today. Early Earth was dominated by widespread volcanism, vast oceans, and an atmosphere lacking oxygen. At the same time, the young crust was repeated