Fossilised circles in the sand on South Africa’s coast may be artwork by our early ancestors: If you have walked on a dune surface after windy conditions have settled, you may have been privileged to recognise one of Nature’s wonders: scratch circles. These are structures formed when the end of a tethered object is passively …
Pollen in pee: fossilised urine from a small African mammal helps us understand past environments: The lessons pollen can teach us are not to be sneezed at. Elisa Manzati If you are allergic to pollen, you are likely to curse the existence of these microscopic particles. You’re not alone: up to 30% of the world’s …
New discovery: fossilised giant zebra tracks found in South Africa: An illustration of two giant Cape zebras alongside a much smaller plains zebra. Maggie Newman Tens of thousands of years ago, a huge horse species walked, trotted and galloped across the shifting sands of what is today South Africa’s Cape south coast. The Giant Cape …
My job is full of fossilised poop, but there’s nothing icky about ichnology: The author and a colleague on the hunt for fossil traces. Morena Nava If you had told 18-year-old me that I would, one day, be an ichnologist I wouldn’t have believed you – or even known what that was. But, more than …
Fossilised teeth reveal first mammals were far from warm blooded: Artist's impression of early mammals. John Sibbick/University of Bristol, Author provided Warm blood is one of the key traits that led to the success of mammals as they evolved from scurrying beneath the feet of dinosaurs to spreading into the wild and wonderful collection of …