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Palaeontology

3D recreation of 509-million-year old trilobite fossils

Palaeontologists have used CT scanners to recreate a trilobite preserved in volcanic ash
ABC News Current
Duration: 2 minutes 16 seconds

How the discovery of a 509-million-year-old fossil flipped palaeontology on its head

Scientists were taught that they would never find fossils in volcanic rock but a recent discovery shows the complete opposite.
Updated
A group of insectoid like creatures swimming away from a cloud of ash

Researchers had nothing but skeletons of this ginormous Australian bird. An artist brought it to life

Ever wondered how artists create images of dinosaurs and other extinct animals? We go behind the scenes with a palaeoartist to find out how he brought an ancient "giga-goose" to life from a pile of bones.
A giant bird with an emu like body but a bald skin head like a giant turkey with a very large beak.

How we made two hours of TV about an ancient true crime mystery

From filming in some of the most remote and inhospitable areas of Australia, to working with an A-list Hollywood actor, this is how the ABC Science team investigated what killed our ancient megafauna.
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Two men stand behind a video camera next to a highway. It's dusk and a mountain range is lit up in the background

Think you know your diprotodon from your procoptodon? Take our mega megafauna quiz to find out

Towering birds, terrifying lizards and massive marsupials once roamed Australia. How much do you know about our mega-sized past?
A baby diprotodon at the water's edge.

Giant kangaroos once roamed Australia. New fossils suggest they moved more like T. rex than Skippy

Scientists are piecing together a picture of how Australia's extinct giant kangaroos moved.
Updated
A giant, stubby-faced kangaroo

Outback fossil find confirms giant 'demonic pelicans' filled Australia's skies 100 million years ago

Fossilised remains thought to be 100 million years old have been identified as a new species of pterosaur, a powerful flying predator with a wingspan of up to 12 metres.
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An illustration of a winged creature that lived during the time of the dinosaurs

Australia's largest and most complete fossil of its kind returns to its outback home

The ancient specimen, which is the length of a ute tray, has travelled more than 1,500 kilometres across Queensland to its home in the outback.
fish fossil

Think regular geese are scary? Meet Australia's 230kg 'giga-goose'

Freshly discovered skulls of a giant prehistoric bird that lived in Australia until about 45,000 years ago reveal it had a "goose-like beak" and other aquatic adaptations.
A giant bird with an emu like body but a bald skin head like a giant turkey with a very large beak.

How fossils of giant ringtail possums, marsupial lions and monster koalas could hold clues to surviving climate change

The fossils of prehistoric megafauna, which have been perfectly preserved for hundreds of thousands of years, give scientists an insight into how climate change affects species. 
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Graphic of possum, teeth

'This was like a bonanza': What Tim Flannery's discovery in a museum drawer could tell us about Australia's monotremes

The "echidnapus" is one of the newly described ancient monotremes from a fossil hotspot in NSW that could give us more clues about an era when egg-laying mammals diversified.
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A painting of six prehistoric mammal like creatures that look like strange furry platypus of different sizes

Eleanor graduates with first-class honours as she pursues dream career in palaeontology

Eleanor Beidatsch is used to overcoming the odds, but even she thought a career in palaeontology would be a bridge too far.
A woman in a wheelchair with a dog wears a graduation gown and hat. She is near two people standing in black robes.

Shirley the giant prehistoric wombat-like marsupial now has an age. And she's old

Just over a decade ago, an outback cattle station worker in the NT stumbled across a rare diprotodon fossil sticking out of the red soil. Now fondly known as Shirley, scientists have discovered how old the marsupial is.
Diprotodon

Gigantic marine reptile identified from fossil found by 11-year-old girl and father

A fossil jawbone found by a young girl and her father on a beach in England belongs to a gigantic marine reptile dating back to 202 million years ago that appears to have been among the largest animals ever on Earth. 
An artists impression of an ichthyosaur washed up on the beach.

Scientists discover extinct marsupial double the size of the red kangaroo

Researchers from Flinders University have described three new species of extinct kangaroo, helping to solve a nearly 150-year-long scientific mystery.
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A skeleton of a giant extinct kangaroo placed over a white background. The bones are brown and arranged horizontally.

This obsessed 'dinosaur kid' just helped identify 12 new prehistoric Queensland beasts

Samantha Beeston spent endless hours in outback Queensland scanning hundreds of dinosaur bones that had been dug up over more than 15 years. 
Updated
A woman sits on the ground. There is a hole next to her and digging equipment. She is smiling

Meet Kermitops, the newly discovered prehistoric creature named after Kermit the Frog

There were definitely no muppets 270 million years ago, but there was a Kermit — or at least an ancestor of modern amphibians, according to scientists who uncovered its fossilised skull. 
ABC News Current

Researchers discover Earth's earliest fossilised forest in UK

Scientists discover the oldest fossilised forest known on Earth, dating back 390 million years, according to a new study.
A man stands next to a rock with marks in it.

Scientists race against tides to discover why 90,000-year-old footprints were made

Scientists believe footprints that were accidentally found on a Moroccan beach were made by five modern humans 90,000 years ago. 
Photos of a dozen fossiled footprints in brown sandy, rock

Excavating 70-million-year-old bones in dinosaur graveyard

After a lifelong fascination with dinosaurs, PhD candidate Nathan Enriquez spends three weeks in the remote Gobi Desert retrieving the remains of the long-necked Nemegtosaurus.
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A man holding a dinosaur bone

The story of 'Giganto', the world's largest ape, and why it disappeared forever

For two million years, Gigantopithecus blacki roamed the forests of what is now southern China. A new study claims to discover when — and why — it went extinct.
ABC News Current

From Kangaroo to K'gari, find out how eight amazing Australian islands were born

Australia is surrounded by stunning islands — you may even spend time on one this summer. Join us on a whistle-stop tour to explore how some of our most iconic isles rose from the sea.
A flat coral atoll at Cocos Keeling Islands

How a long-buried, 300-million-year-old coral oasis could hold secrets to fighting climate change

Once teeming with marine life, Cannindah Reef is now buried under Queensland cattle country. Could it help scientists protect the Great Barrier Reef as the climate changes? 
Coral bommies

Skull of giant sea creature found

The skull was found off the southern coast of England and belongs to a Pliosaur: an apex predator which roamed the ocean 150 million years ago.
Updated
ABC News Current
Duration: 3 minutes 7 seconds

Twenty years after skull fragment found on beach, researcher reveals what it belonged to

The fragment is believed to belong to the oldest-known megaraptorid — by at least 20 million years — and beach erosion could reveal even more fossils.
Illustration of dinosaur