Latest Cenozoic Stories
April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online New light has been shed on the diet and food acquisition strategies of some of the earliest human ancestors in Africa, according to a new study led by Baylor University. Early tool making humans, known as Oldowan hominin, started to exhibit a number of physiological and ecological adaptations beginning around two million years ago. These adaptations, including an increase in brain and body size, heavier investment in their...
LONDON, May 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Thinking of hiring a car this summer? Leading car hire comparator ranks the top 10 holiday hotspots based on fuel prices Leading car hire website http://www.comparecarhire.co.uk has revealed a list of their top 10 holiday hotspots in order of fuel prices, letting holidaymakers who intend to hire a vehicle on their trip know where their money will go the furthest. The top 10 European...
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online A new study has once again shown that our human ancestors had no qualms about eating every part of their prey, including the brains. After uncovering fossils in Kenya, anthropologist Joseph Ferraro of Baylor University and his colleagues discovered that the earliest humans living in East Africa had a taste for multiple parts of the antelope. These early humans would even scavenge the leftovers of larger predators and finish off...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online In 2002 a fossil specimen of an ape skeleton was unearthed in Spain. The researchers who discovered the remains assigned it a new genus and species, Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, estimating that the ape lived about 11.9 million years ago. The researchers argued that the ape could be the last common ancestor of modern great apes, which include chimpanzees, orangutans, bonobos, gorillas and humans. Now a new study led by a University...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The hobbit human, a small-statured race that evolved separately from our own ancestor Homo erectus on an island of the Indonesian Archipelago some 50,000 years ago, has been discovered by Japanese scientists to have a bigger brain than once believed. Hobbit humans, named after the tiny folk from JRR Tolkein's novels, are collectively known as Homo floresiensis (Man of Flores). The remains of the ancient humans were discovered on...
Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online One of the largest studies on some of the most complete remains of early human ancestors has culminated in a comprehensive look into how an early hominid (Australopithecus sediba) moved and chewed. The study, collaborated on by an international team of scientists and published in six papers in the journal Science, details not only early traits but also describes notable features that set it apart from modern humans. The research...
COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Close examination of the lower jawbone, teeth and skeleton of the hominid species Australopithecus sediba proves conclusively that it is uniquely different from a closely related species, Australopithecus africanus, according to a series of papers authored by a scientific team that includes several Texas A&M University researchers. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120502/DC99584LOGO) Darryl de Ruiter,...
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A team of American scientists believe they have solved a geological mystery buried about 100 miles below California. According to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, geologists from Brown University, Columbia University, the University of Rhode Island and the University of Oregon identified the source of anomalous seismic readings as a fragment of the Farallon tectonic plate, which was pushed deep into the...
OSLO, Norway and TENERIFE, Spain, March 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- As we speak, the world's largest message-in-a-bottle is being towed 200 nautical miles off the coast of Tenerife, where it will be released to the ocean currents tonight. The bottle, which is registered as a boat, was constructed by the owner of Koeningsegg, baptized by world know explorer Jarle Andhoy - and Miss Tenerife - and will be tweeting photos live via satellite. To view the Multimedia News...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online The discovery of five-million-year-old fossils has resulted in the discovery of a new genus and species of extinct saber-toothed cat, according to research published in Wednesday’s edition of the peer-reviewed, open-access journal PLOS One. The fossils are part of the same lineage as the Smilodon fatalis, a carnivorous apex predator that could have weighed as much as 600 pounds and had long upper canine teeth, according to the...
Latest Cenozoic Reference Libraries
Commonly known as the Eurasian cave lion or the European cave lion, Panthera leo spelaea is an extinct subspecies of lion. It is thought to have lived during the Pleistocene epoch, and may have lived in the Balkans in southeastern Europe until 2,000 years ago. The range of this cave lion would have included northwestern North America, Asia, and areas of Europe and would have extended from Germany, Spain, and Great Britain to the Yukon Territory. Its range also extended from Turkistan to...
Miracinonyx, commonly known as the American Cheetah, is an extinct genus of large cats. It was native to North America during the Pleiotocene era(1.8 million to 11,000 years ago). The American cheetah held at least two species in its genus that are similar to modern cheetahs, including Miracinonyx inexpectatus and M. trumani. Similarities distinguished by bone fragments include a short face and nose for better breathing, and elongated legs used for swiftly hunting prey. These similarities are...
The Paramyladon, an extinct genus of ground sloth, was native to North America. It lived from the Pliocene era to the Pleistocene era, a period of about 4.889 years. Remains of this creature have been found as far south as Guatemala, throughout North America, and even as far north as Alberta, Canada. Paramyladon has been easily mistaken with another ground sloth called Glossotherium, due to major similarities. Barnum Brown created the Paramyladon genus in 1903 with a species of P....
Megalonyx, meaning “Great claw,” is an extinct genus of giant ground sloths in the family Megalonychidae. The genus was endemic to North America from the Hemphillian stage of the Late Miocene to the Rancholabrean stage of the Pleistocene epoch (10.3 million to 11,000 years ago). The species, M. leptostomus, was named in 1893. It lived from Florida to Texas, north to Kansas and Nebraska, and west to New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Fossils have been discovered in numerous...
Holmesina is an extinct genus of pampathere, a group of armadillo-like mammals that were distantly related to modern armadillos. Fossils of members of this genus have been found mainly in Texas and Florida. Members of this genus often traveled north in the faunal interchange and were well adapted to the North American climate, like the ground sloths, glyptodonts, armadillos and other South American immigrants. Like armadillos, the shells of Holmesina members were made up of flexible...
