University of California, RiversideMany experts didn’t think such tiny prehistoric fossils would ever be found. Fortunately, ...

when the diversity of our mammal ancestors exploded. But Neil isn’t yet convinced. “This is mostly a Jurassic sample with only one specimen from the Eary Cretaceous,” adds Neil. “The idea that ...

A joint research team from China and abroad has for the first time found that mammaliaforms from the Jurassic and Cretaceous ...

Our earliest mammalian ancestors avoided the dominant dinosaurs by only coming out at night and having uniformly dark, grey-brown fur for camouflage.

New evidence uncovered in east Africa indicates ancient hominins began crafting tools from animal bones far earlier than previously thought. If confirmed, our human ancestors started shaping bones by ...

What you’d be less likely to notice are your closest relatives. Early mammals were small, strictly nocturnal, and altogether less showy–verging on downright drab, as supported by a study ...

Unlike other modern mammals, however, these early ancestors’ fur was dull and plain and didn’t exhibit any patterns, like stripes and spots, that we see on many mammals today. Much of this ...

"These extinct early mammals had distinct lifestyles, ranging from ground-dwelling and burrowing to gliding through the treetops like modern-day flying squirrels," Li Ruoshuang, the paper's first ...