Latest Pleistocene extinctions Stories
According to researchers, a wide-hipped Homo erectus fossil found in Ethiopia suggests that females of the pre-human species gave birth to developed babies with large heads.The finding leads some researchers to believe that helpless babies came along late in human evolution."We could look at this pelvis and then, using a series of measurements, we can calculate ... how big the baby's head could be at birth," said Scott Simpson, a paleontologist at Case Western Reserve...
The sabertooth cat (Smilodon fatalis), one of the most iconic extinct mammal species, was likely to be a social animal, living and hunting like lions today, according to new scientific research. The species is famous for its extremely long canine teeth, which reached up to seven inches in length and extended below the lower jaw.Instead of relying on the bones and teeth of the sabertooths to make their findings, scientists from UCLA and the Zoological Society of London concluded that the...
The Associated Press CAPLEN, Texas A homeowner whose beachfront property in Texas was destroyed during Hurricane Ike has found a football-size fossil tooth in the debris. Dorothy Sisk asked her colleague, Lamar University paleontologist Jim Westgate, to accompany her to her Bolivar Peninsula home after Ike hit. Together they found something unusual in the remains of Sisk's front yard: a 6-pound fossil tooth. Westgate believes the fossil is from a Columbian mammoth common in North...
Paleontologists located in the south of France have found a rare mammoth skull. The almost 1323 pound fossil was found near Saint Paulien, and resided there for 400,000 years, scientists estimate. The species discovered is being described as the "missing link" in mammoth evolution. Scientists will begin their investigation of the exciting find, called "extremely rare", this week.Researchers believe this could be one of the best-preserved mammoth specimens discovered. Only...
Woolly mammoths' last stand before extinction in Siberia wasn't made by natives - rather, the beasts had American roots, researchers have discovered. Woolly mammoths once roamed the Earth for more than a half-million years, ranging from Europe to Asia to North America. These Ice Age giants vanished from mainland Siberia by 9,000 years ago, although mammoths survived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean until roughly 3,700 years ago. "Scientists have always thought...
In the largest DNA study of the ancient wooly mammoths, Canadian scientists have discovered that the last Siberian wooly mammoths may actually have originated in North America. The study also raises questions about the role climate change may have played in the mammals' demise. They believe the mammoths likely survived through the period when the ice sheets were at their largest, even as other Ice Age mammals were wiped out.The woolly mammoth, also known as Mammuthus primigenius,...
Researchers recently uncovered a fossilized skull of a steppe mammoth in the Auvergne region of France, shedding light on the evolution of such beasts. The find is notably rare because while a handful of mammoth skeletons have been discovered, the skull is rarely intact. Paleontologists Frederic Lacombat and Dick Mol report that the skull belongs to a male steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii) that stood about 12ft tall and lived about 400,000 years ago, during Middle Pleistocene times.The...
Venezuelan workers found more than just oil, when they laid a pipeline near an ancient tar pit. They discovered a rich trove of fossils, including a saber-toothed cat-that scientists had never seen the likes of before the unearthing. The fossils date back 1.8 million years. The discovery includes skulls and jawbones of six scimitar-toothed cats, which is a variety of saber-toothed cat with shorter, narrower canine teeth compared to other species.Venezuelan paleontologist Ascanio Rincon led...
Miners in Romania uncovered the skeleton of a 2.5 million-year-old mastodon, thought to be one of the best-preserved skeletons in Europe.According to Laszlo Demeter, a historian and local councilor, the miners came across the remains in June during excavations at a coal mine near the village of Racosul de Sus."This is one of the most spectacular finds in Europe," said paleontologist Vlad Codrea, who examined the remains. "For Romania it is unique."Nearly 90 percent of the...
LOS ANGELES, July 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The screening of National Lampoon's "Homo Erectus" was so raucous last night, it looked like a scene cut straight from the film. The July 9th event was hosted by Ain't It Cool News, and shortly after filling the Hollywood Egyptian Theatre to capacity, threats of shutting down the screener rang from the upper echelons of management. Hollywood celebrities and attendees alike duked it out for the remaining seats. Luckily, amidst the caveman-like rioting,...
Latest Pleistocene extinctions 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...
The stag-moose (Cervalces scotti) is also known as the stag moose and was actually a deer that resembled a moose. It resided in North America during the Pleistocene era. Its range included New Jersey and Iowa, reach north from Arkansas to Southern Canada. It inhabited wetlands in these areas. This animal had long legs, a head resembling an elk, and huge, complex antlers. The stag-moose became extinct during the mass extinction of large mammals that occurred in the last Ice Age on North...
The shrub-ox (Euceratherium collinum) is a close relative of the modern musk-ox, and is an extinct member of the family Bovidae. It inhabited North America during the late Pleistocene, appearing before the first bovids entered North America from Eurasia. These muskoxen became extinct approximately 11,500 years ago. The shrub-ox was very large, approximately in between the sizes of a musk-ox and an American Bison. Research done on pellets left by these oxen shows that they browsed for food...
Harlan’s muskox (Bootherium bombifrons) is an extinct type of bovine, also known as the woodland muskox. It lived in North American during the late Pleistocene era, and was one of the most widely distributed oxen at that time. This bison died out around 11,000 years ago. Many fossils of Harlan’s muskox have been found in New Jersey, Texas, Oklahoma, Alaska, and California, including a nearly complete individual found in 1940. Three other types of muskoxen inhabited North America...
The steppe wisent (Bison priscus) or steppe bison was common to North America, Central Asia, Europe, and Beringia during the Quaternary period. It is thought that the steppe bison appeared around the same time as the aurochs , an extinct type of cattle, in Asia. Descendants of the steppe bison are often confused with the aurochs species. During the late Pleistocene era, the steppe wisent became extinct, giving rise to the modern wisent in Europe, and eventually the modern Bison in America....
