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Categories: Biology: Botany, Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds
Published True giant wombat gives Diprotodon podium a wobble
(via sciencedaily.com) While the Diprotodon -- the extinct megafauna species that is distantly related to wombats but was the size of a small car -- is commonly (but incorrectly) thought of as Australia's 'giant wombat', researchers have shed light on a large species that does belong in the modern-day wombat family. The complete skull of this true fossil giant wombat, found in a Rockhampton cave in Queensland, Australia and estimated to be around 80,000 years old, has been described for the first time.
Published Smilodon's sabre teeth
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have tested the biting efficiency of Smilodon, an extinct species of carnivore close to the extant felines. Using high-precision 3D scans and simulation methods, the team has just revealed how these animals managed to bite despite the impressive length of their teeth.
Published Dinosaurs were on the up before asteroid downfall
(via sciencedaily.com) Dinosaurs dominated the world right up until a deadly asteroid hit the earth, leading to their mass extinction, some 66 million years ago, a landmark study reveals. Fresh insights into dinosaurs' ecosystems -- the habitats and food types that supported their lives -- suggests that their environments were robust and thriving, right up until that fateful day, at the end of the Cretaceous period.
Published Fossil overturns more than a century of knowledge about the origin of modern birds
(via sciencedaily.com) Fossilized fragments of a skeleton, hidden within a rock the size of a grapefruit, have helped upend one of the longest-standing assumptions about the origins of modern birds.
Published Mammoth problem with extinction timeline
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Paleontologists say environmental DNA is not always helpful in identifying when animals like mammoths went extinct because genetic material found in sediment could have come from animals that died thousands of years earlier.
Published The evolution of Asia's mammals was dictated by ancient climate change and rising mountains
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study compiles data on more than 3,000 species to show how climate and geologic changes across Asia over the last 66 million years have shaped the evolution of the continent's mammals.
Published Planet's rarest birds at higher risk of extinction
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study finds that bird species with extreme or uncommon combinations of traits face the highest risk of extinction.
Published More than one way to build a black bird
(via sciencedaily.com) For a species of flycatcher in the remote Solomon Islands, scientists have so far found at least two genetic pathways leading to the same physical outcome: all-black feathers. This change was no random accident. It was a result of nature specifically selecting for this trait.
Published Fossil bird's skull reconstruction reveals a brain made for smelling and eyes made for daylight
(via sciencedaily.com) Piecing together the crushed skull of a fossil bird that lived alongside the dinosaurs helped researchers extrapolate what its brain would have looked like: big olfactory bulbs would have meant that this bird, the earliest known animal to eat fruit, had a better sense of smell than most modern birds. And the bones around its eye sockets revealed that it would have been better at seeing by day than at night.
Published Could South American volcanoes have triggered whale extinctions?
(via sciencedaily.com) Today, increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are warming up the planet. Climate change can disrupt the balance of ecosystems and contribute to endangerment and extinction of some species. New research suggests that a period of intense volcanism in the Central Andes may be the missing link in the story of past climate changes that led to the extinctions of ancient marine mammals.
Published Reign of Papua New Guinea Highland's megafauna lasted long after humans arrived
(via sciencedaily.com) A giant kangaroo that once roamed on four legs through remote forests in the Papua New Guinea Highlands may have survived as recently as 20,000 years ago -- long after large-bodied megafauna on mainland Australia went extinct, new research indicates. Palaeontologists, archaeologists and geoscientists, have used new techniques to re-examine megafauna bones from the rich Nombe Rock Shelter fossil site in Chimbu Province in a bid to better understand the intriguing natural history of PNG.
Published Revealing the genome of the common ancestor of all mammals
(via sciencedaily.com) An international team has reconstructed the genome organization of the earliest common ancestor of all mammals. The reconstructed ancestral genome could help in understanding the evolution of mammals and in conservation of modern animals. The earliest mammal ancestor likely looked like the fossil animal 'Morganucodon' which lived about 200 million years ago.
Published These female hummingbirds evolved to look like males -- apparently to evade aggression
(via sciencedaily.com) 1 in 5 adult female white-necked jacobin hummingbirds look like males. New research shows that this is a rare case of 'deceptive mimicry' within a species: Females with male-like plumage are trying to pass themselves off as males, and as a result receive a benefit in the form of reduced aggression from males.
Published Did primitive cetaceans feed like marine reptiles?
(via sciencedaily.com) Did the first ancestors of whales pick up where the mosasaurs left off 66 million years ago, after the extinction of all the large predatory marine reptiles? A study has looked into the possible convergences in morphology and behavior that may exist between these two groups of large marine predatory animals.
Published Inside the head of one of Australia's smallest fossil crocs
(via sciencedaily.com) Approximately 13.5 million years ago, north-west Queensland was home to an unusual and particularly tiny species of crocodile and now scientists are unlocking its secrets.
Published Ocean cooling over millennia led to larger fish
(via sciencedaily.com) To investigate whether paleoclimatic temperature shifts are correlated with body size changes, biologists decided to test this hypothesis using tetraodontiform fishes as a model group.
Published Nearly a hundred genes have been lost during the woolly mammoth's evolution
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study shows that 87 genes have been affected by deletions or short insertions during the course of the mammoth's evolution. The researchers note that their findings have implications for international efforts to resurrect extinct species, including the woolly mammoth.
Published CT scanner captures entire woolly mammoth tusk
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers successfully captured CT images of an entire woolly mammoth tusk. Researchers were able to do a full scan of the tusk in its entirety -- or in toto -- using a newer clinical CT scanner. The new technology allows for large-scale imaging without having to do multiple partial scans.
Published Early hunting, farming homogenized mammal communities of North America
(via sciencedaily.com) Whether by the spear or the plow, humans have been homogenizing the mammal communities of North America for 10,000-plus years, says a new analysis of 8,831 fossils representing 365 species.
Published New study challenges old views on what's 'primitive' in mammalian reproduction
(via sciencedaily.com) Which group of mammals has the more 'primitive' reproductive strategy -- marsupials, with their short gestation periods, or humans and other placental mammals, which have long gestation periods? For decades, biologists viewed marsupial reproduction as 'more primitive.' But scientists have discovered that a third group of mammals, the long-extinct multituberculates, had a long gestation period like placental mammals. Since multituberculates split off from the rest of the mammalian lineage before placentals and marsupials had even evolved, these findings question the view that marsupials were 'less advanced' than their placental cousins.