Evolution

New research is shedding light on the lives ancient humans who lived in a lush and green Sahara Desert.

Find out what taxonomy means and why it’s important to classify life on Earth.

The ancient human species Homo luzonensis is one of the most recent branches to be added to the human evolutionary tree.

Understanding one of the largest groups of plants in the world could help tackle world hunger.

Our species has been living in tropical forests for at least 150,000 years.

Explore impressive adaptations animals have evolved for coping with sub-zero temperatures.

Finding out exactly when feathers evolved, and which animals had them, could offer important new insights into the distant past.

It’s believed that biofluorescence helps the birds to stand out or hide in their tropical forest habitats.

Find out how Homo sapiens left Africa and migrated to other regions of the world, including Europe, Asia and America.

Vegavis iaai might offer new insights into the origins of modern birds.

Find out key facts about our species, Homo sapiens, and how we evolved.

Conch snails make death-defying leaps to evade deadly predators.

Millions of years before modern birds evolved, their dinosaur ancestors were soaring through the air.

Our species mated with the Neanderthals much later than thought, tearing up the timeline of human evolution.

Threordatoth chasmatos was one of the last survivors of a once-widespread group of lizard-like animals.

Researchers are probing what it means to be a separate species.

The whale-sized shastasaurids went extinct over 200 million years ago.

Buried alongside this individual were a range of symbolic objects.

The fossils show Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei lived alongside each other.

New research has revealed how birds changed from rigid raptors to flexible fowl.

A breakthrough fossil discovery is changing what we know about some of the largest mammals to ever walk the Earth.

A remarkable fossil could transform our understanding of how the intelligence of modern birds evolved.

Lomankus edgecombei has been preserved in fool's gold.

An evolutionary ‘air race’ may have been taking place in forests during the age of dinosaurs.

Algae and coral have lived together for over 380 million years.

Arthropleura's head reveals that millipedes and centipedes are closely related.

Some seabirds might have a ‘sixth sense’ at the end of their beak, new research reveals.

Find out the different ways scientists have of describing what species are, how they form and how many there are on Earth. 

Fossils discovered in northern Australia mark the beginning of a 25-million-year-old family.

The earliest ancestors of birds looked noticeably different from the creatures familiar to us today, reflecting their dinosaur origins.

The jawbone of Ontocetus posti helps to reveal how the animals became specialised suction feeders.

The social skinks are helping scientists answer fundamental questions about evolution.

Tiny teeth are revealing the roots of the modern mammal lifestyle.

Ferganoceratodus edwardsi suggests that many ancient lungfish are more closely related than first thought.

With wingspans that stretched a whopping 71 centimetres, these epic insects would have blocked out the Sun as they flew past.  

Genetically removing the prickles from crops could have huge benefits for agriculture.

A three-dimensional preserved fossil larva has been found to contain traces of internal organs.

A molar found in sand from south London could shed light on the last days of an ancient mammal.

Iron-rich enamel helps the world’s largest living lizard to keep its teeth sharp.

From hidden highlights to star sights and surprising sounds, explore 12 treasures in our new gardens.