Fossils

Sphenodraco scandentis would have climbed among the trees of ancient Jurassic forests.

How echinoderms evolved such an unusual shape has long troubled biologists. 

Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae is going on display in our Earth Hall.

Two new species of ancient fungi are shedding light on the origins of these deadly parasites.

Scientists have taken a step forward in understanding how our species survived outside Africa.

The early evolution of pterosaurs is a mystery – and the ancient climate might explain why.

Dive into the modern megalodon myth and weigh up the evidence.

Studying an ancient extinction could help at-risk mussels, scallops and clams today.

Fossil footprints could push back the origins of the amniotes by as much as 40 million years.

At more than half a billion years old, Mosura fentoni sheds new light on how arthropods evolved.

The ‘king’ of the dinosaurs might not be the all-American predator it appears to be.

A rare fossil has been identified as an ancient species of internal parasite.

The new species, named Pararhincodon torquis, is a distant relative of the collared carpet sharks.

Marmoretta oxoniensis was a climber, not a swimmer.

The fossil expands the Denisovan's known range by thousands of kilometres and provides new insights into how this species looked.

Rare evidence about the lives of an ancient group of arthropods has been uncovered in the USA.

The earliest example of an important and widespread group of dinosaurs has been found in North Africa.

Dark brown was in fashion for mammals and their relatives over 150 million years ago.

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

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

Baminornis zhenghensis shows early birds already had some of their key characteristics by the Late Jurassic.

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

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

The remains of the earliest dinosaurs could lie beneath the Amazon rainforest and the Sahara Desert.

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

The UK’s biggest-ever site of dinosaur footprints has been discovered in Oxfordshire.

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

Spinosaurs, tyrannosaurs and relatives of Velociraptor once stalked England’s south coast.

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

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.

The story of how animals first set foot out of the water and onto land just became more complex.

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.

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

Every species extinction is bad, but the impacts are worse when we consider the ecosystem functions that are also lost.

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

Some of Earth’s most successful herbivores may have had hundreds of thousands of teeth in their lifetime.

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

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.  

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.

Some of the best three-dimensionally preserved fossil trilobites have been revealed from Morocco.

The iconic marine molluscs might be alive today had Earth not been struck by a meteorite.

A new species of 237-million-year-old reptile has been uncovered in Brazil.

By the end of the Jurassic Period, dinosaurs ruled our planet. But how they became such a diverse group remains a mystery.

Scientists are trying to unravel the mysteries of an extinction event that occured in North America at the end of the Jurassic.

While the researchers describing Buronius manfredschmidi claim it is a new species, not all scientists are convinced.

After more than a century of searching, the head of one of the largest ever birds has been found.

Musankwa sanyatiensis is just the fourth dinosaur species ever found from Zimbabwe.

An ancient worm may have dragged itself along the sea floor, consuming whatever prey it could find.

The first animal communities could have impacted on how complex life evolved over 550 million years ago.

Scientists now know more about how the three-metre-long Oncorhynchus rastrosus might have looked.

A fossil jawbone, which may belong to the largest marine reptile ever discovered, has been found in Somerset.

Kermitops gratus highlights the number of specimens waiting to be described in the world’s museums.

This rare find gives scientists an insight into how trees shaped life on land 390 million years ago.

They might not have legs, but snakes are outpacing their relatives in the race to evolve.

The discoveries that changed our understanding of dinosaurs over the past two centuries.

A new study of Tridentinosaurus suggests that preserved skin is just black paint.

Discovered in Scotland, Ceoptera evansae has been named as a new species of pterosaur. 

The first modern humans to live in northern Europe arrived more than 45,000 years ago.

A jawbone fragment overlooked for more than 100 years was once part of a nine-metre-long ancient whale.

Going back to basics could help to unlock the mysteries of our origins.

A case of mistaken fossil identity has been resolved after 20 years.

An extraordinary dinosaur fossil has revealed what young tyrannosaurs were eating over 70 million years ago.

Fossils are physical evidence of prehistoric animals and plants, but there may be more to them than you ever realised. 

The oldest disease-causing fungus on record has been found in the Natural History Museum’s collection.

Crocodiles have a deep and varied evolutionary past.

Jaculinykus yaruui is thought to have dug for food using an enormous thumb on each hand.

Katydids have been using ultrasounds for millions of years to try and avoid predators hearing them.

It takes time, endless patience and skill to transform a fossil into a museum-worthy exhibit. 

A question that has puzzled scientists for over 150 years may finally have been answered.

Our Evolution Garden shows how plant life has changed over time and includes lots of examples that dinosaurs would recognise.

Dental plaque may help to reveal what prehistoric humans ate.

Trilobites survived for more than 250 million years. But what made them some of the most successful early animals?

Sharks have been around for millions of years. Their teeth are some of the most common fossils you can find.

This ancient human was once thought to be the first to make stone tools, but is this true?

For the first time ever, researchers have found a trilobite’s final meal.

Researchers are hot on the trail of Morocco’s missing dinosaurs.

If you know what you’re looking at, little bits of bone can add up to something big. 

Though the Portland plesiosaur made headlines in the 1960s, it has never been formally described.

New research on the 450-million-year-old Eriptychius suggests it could be a ‘missing link’ in the evolution of the vertebrate skull.

A species of bacteria that lived 407 million years ago would have flourished among early land plants.

A marine predator living over 500 million years ago might bridge the gap between insects and their ancient relatives.

Whiskers may have been crucial to allow seals to adopt a life in water.

The new species, named Venetoraptor gassenae, suggests that the lagerpetids were more diverse than previously realised.

Elephants and their relatives evolved in a previously unappreciated way.

Discover a treasure trove of fossils just off Britain’s south coast.

Discover seven highlights from our exhibition Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur and uncover the secrets of the largest known animal to have ever walked the planet. 

Fossils found in Peru are redefining the history of whale evolution.

All it takes is a bit of practice and plenty of patience.

A 500-million-year-old murder mystery has been solved.

A new statue is joining the world’s oldest display of extinct wildlife in south London.

Our ancient relatives may have reached southeast Asia over 10,000 years earlier than thought.

The ancient relative of some of the largest ever animals may have been lighter than some humans.

An ichthyosaur fossil found in Svalbard is finally revealing its secrets 15 years after it was discovered.

A previously unappreciated group of lifeforms are changing what we know about the evolution of life on Earth.

New claims argue that the ancient human species Homo naledi buried their dead and made engravings.

The bivalves appear to have been left behind in history’s biggest ever burst of evolution.

A new fossil predator has offered an insight into the chaotic final years of the largest extinction of all time over 250 million years ago.

Protathlitis cinctorrensis is the latest to be discovered in Spain, adding to the evidence that spinosaurs first evolved in Europe.

Exceptionally well-preserved fossils from the Cambrian period have helped fill a gap in our understanding of the origin and evolution of major animal groups alive today.

Digital reconstructions of broken fossils have revealed more about the life of an ancient crocodile-like predator.

New research suggests that ichthyosaurs may have pre-dated the age of the dinosaurs after surviving Earth's largest mass extinction event.

The insects were frozen in time after being caught in amber, revealing rare evidence of how dinosaurs and insects interacted.

The isolated teeth were identified using machine learning models, and could represent some of the earliest relatives of birds ever discovered.

52-million-year-old fossils of Icaronycteris gunnelli offer researchers a deeper look at how bats evolved.

Explore our collections and discover some of the many specimens you won't see on a regular visit to the Museum. 

The Cretaceous Period is famous for ending with a massive asteroid impact, but what was our planet like in the millions of years before that?

Rather than keeping them permanently exposed, like crocodiles, a new study suggests the teeth of theropods would have been kept behind lips.

Amphibians the size of crocodiles once lurked along the shores of ancient South Africa.

A serendipitous discovery revealed that a beautiful mineral has been hiding a secret for over 170 years.

The discovery was made three decades after the species was first uncovered as scientists try to understand more about how sauropods evolved in what is now eastern Asia.

The oldest colonial animal might actually be one of the oldest types of seaweed.

Museum Palaeontologist Cassius discusses and promotes inclusivity within science and other workplaces.

Get to know some of the largest dinosaurs to have ever walked the planet. 

Kumimanu fordycei weighed an estimated 150 kilogrammes, demonstrating that penguins became large early in their evolution.

A fossil found in northern Britain is revealing insights into the behaviour of a 166-million-year-old carnivorous dinosaur.

It may have been a case of matter over mind for dinosaurs which lived around water.

Early humans, and an ancient relative, may have been using complex stone tools as early as three million years ago. 

The ancient flying reptile would have used its toothed snout with a flared end to filter-feed.

More than 250 titanosaur eggs have been uncovered in India, revealing more about the lives of some of the largest animals which ever lived.

Fighting for mates may be a behaviour that dates back over 400 million years.

Katydids are the earliest known animals to evolve complex communication using sound.

Though it may have gone extinct over 600 years ago, understanding more about Astrochelys rogerbouri could help to save its living relatives. 

The skulls of early herbivores are helping scientists to understand how a diverse group of dinosaurs evolved different ways of eating plants.

Competition between ankylosaurs may be responsible for their iconic tail clubs.

A new species of extinct lizard has been described from the Museum's collections. 

Leeches, mites and plants found at the site are revealing the ecosystems ancient animals walked over 260 million years ago.

A chink in the armour of giant South American armadillos may have left them vulnerable to human hunting.

Algae and bacteria were on the menu for the early animal Kimberella shortly before it was buried over 500 million years ago.

Measuring almost four metres in length, Leviathanochelys aenigmatica reveals that giant turtles were more common than previously thought.

Fossils discovered in Sussex were compared to human remains found in Spain from a similar time period to see if the populations are linked.

The first complete ichthyosaur skeleton has resurfaced, despite being thought destroyed during World War Two.

The question of how the Neanderthals died out remains one of the biggest mysteries in human evolution.

The most complete Jurassic fossil lizard ever found has been discovered in Scotland.

While their function remains uncertain, the sinuses provide an insight into how ancient human skulls changed over time.

Neanderthals may have lived in small groups of around 10 to 20, with females moving between the different communities. 

Scavengers could help to preserve the soft tissue of the ancient reptiles by removing flesh and fluid from the body shortly after death. 

Living over 200 million years ago, Scleromochlus helps to show how ancient reptiles took their first steps towards flight.

Professor Svante Pääbo, considered a founding father of palaeogenomics, has helped to reveal how humans evolved, and how we relate to our closest relatives.

A fossil from China has filled in a major gap in the evolutionary tree for life on Earth.

Fierce debate has raged about the origins of the tiny ancient human species Homo floresiensis, nicknamed the 'hobbit'.

The dental record of a small animal has pushed back the origin of mammals by 20 million years. 

The description of an extinct lizard-like animal may help reveal why its kind were rapidly pushed to the edge of extinction.

Researchers have reconstructed one of the first gliding reptiles in extraordinary detail.

As the world recovered from a volcanic extinction event, Lesothosaurus may have banded together to help ward off predators.

For the first time the records of ancient British birds have been formally incorporated into the British List.

While the evolutionary history of the bears remains uncertain, it contributes evidence to suggestions that panda bears could have evolved in Europe. 

The 560-million-year-old specimen of Auroralumina attenboroughii reveals that the origins of complex life may date back further than was previously known. 

Measuring almost two metres tall, Leptoptilos robustus would have lived in a unique ecosystem which included the mysterious miniature human relative Homo floresiensis. 

The tiny arms of Tyrannosaurus rex may bring ridicule, but a new dinosaur reveals they were part of a much larger trend.

Fossil bones and antlers in the collection hold clues about the life and disappearance of Europe's biggest ever deer.

Great whites and megalodon may have been competing for the same prey in the last years of the megalodon's life.

Genyornis newtoni may have become extinct after humans stole and ate its eggs.

Some dinosaurs, such as stegosaurs, may have needed to bask in the sun to keep their body temperature constant.

How we depict extinct animals has changed significantly over time, as artists keep up with the latest scientific discoveries.

Plankton which help feed the ocean, lock away carbon dioxide and even influence the weather may not be as vulnerable to climate change as feared.

The tooth of a young girl living hundreds of thousands of years ago may be from the Denisovans, an extinct hominid species of which very little is known. 

Male trilobites could have acted like modern horseshoe crabs, using claspers to grip females and increase their chance of fathering young.

We now know how whales evolved from furry, four-legged critters to giants of the ocean.

Some of the largest animals that ever lived retained their size right up until they were wiped out 200 million years ago.

It beats the previous record holder by tens of millions of years.

The world's first flying vertebrates may also have been some of the biggest show-offs.

With the finding yet to be published in a scientific journal, debate continues over whether this could be the case. 

Spinosaurs were some of the only dinosaurs that spent much of their lives in water.

Living over 40 million years before the sabre-tooth tiger, Diegoaelurus vanvalkenburghae may have preyed on rhinos and primates in the forests of California. 

The fossil uncovered in Montana suggests the ancestor of all squid and octopus had 10 arms, with some of these then lost by its descendants.

The finding could offer insights into the impact of climate change on its modern relatives. 

Bashanosaurus primitivus adds to evidence the group of dinosaurs may have originated in Asia.

Palaeontologists have reacted with scepticism over the claims.

Ancient plants measuring just two centimetres long could show what the ancestor of vascular plants looked like.

Scientists believe there could be many as yet unknown fossils to be uncovered in the region.

The neck of a diplodocid shows evidence of a disease that still affects birds today.

A new species of crocodile-like animal has been described from fossils unearthed in Tanzania. 

Modern humans arrived in western Europe about 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.

The unique ecosystem is one of the most diverse of the high Arctic.

The animals roamed Devon's vast grasslands thousands of years ago.

A group of fossilised snails and clams are challenging suggestions that ocean acidification contributed to the largest extinction in history. 

Evidence of increasing carnivory in ancient humans may just be a quirk of sampling.

The largest and most complete ichthyosaur ever found in the UK has been unearthed in the nation's smallest county.

The first large raptor to ever be discovered in the UK has been described as a new species. 

One of the largest invertebrates to have ever lived once roamed the beaches of ancient England.

The largest-ever flying animal acted like a giant heron, plucking prey from the water and launching itself into the air. 

An ancient relative of modern crocodiles and alligators shows that their semi-aquatic lifestyle dates back over 150 million years. 

Scientists have discovered how a bird of prey dubbed 'the flying tiger' could take down one of the heaviest birds that ever lived.

Ancient elephants that would have been born the size of a puppy lived for decades more than previously thought.

Neanderthals lived fast and died young, developing their teeth earlier than humans to power their rapid growth. 

The fossils of 'very weird animals' have helped show how elephants and walruses may have evolved their iconic tusks. 

A new ancestor of modern humans with the potential to rip up the family tree has been tentatively named.

A giant ground sloth that once roamed South America occasionally broke its plant-based diet to eat meat, researchers have found.

Rocks with the potential to hold fossils of Martian life have been identified by NASA's Perseverance rover. 

The oldest-known meat-eating dinosaur discovered in the UK has been named in honour of trailblazing Museum scientist Angela Milner, who passed away in August 2021.

Spicomellus afer is the oldest ankylosaur ever discovered. 

A new beautifully preserved fossil of a horseshoe crab has revealed that their brains have hardly changed since at least the Carboniferous Period.  

Mammoth ivory is appearing from melting permafrost and joining international markets.

Over the past few hundreds of thousands of years Sicily was home to two different miniature elephants.

When modern humans arrived in the islands of southeast Asia, they may have encountered a range of ancient human species. 

The often tightly wound shells of ammonites may be a familiar sight, but how much do you know about the animals that once lived inside?

It is shedding light on how the Columbian mammoth came to be. 

Many groups of dinosaurs were doing rather well right up until the end. 

If you can't get out to the beach to find fossils, why not make your own ammonites instead?

The skull shape of birds is just a tiny fraction of the diversity that would have been seen in their dinosaur ancestors.

New research on Turkana Boy is changing our understanding of the species Homo erectus.

The painting dates to at least 1,000 years ago.

Tracking the diversity of turtles could also give us clues as to how they might respond to increasing pressures in the future.

For over 100 years palaeontologists thought this dinosaur didn’t exist.

New scans reveal how dinosaur teeth developed. 

Africa and Eurasia were inhabited by a whole range of hominin species just a few hundred thousand years ago.

This may alter the recreation of some non-avian dinosaurs. 

Straight-tusked elephants were among the largest land mammals ever to have existed.

A far greater variety of dinosaurs lived here than we realised.

Dinosaur bones aren't the only way we can learn about the ancient reptiles that once roamed around our planet.

The meteorite formed as our solar system was being born. 

Find out how well you'd get along on a dino dig to search for famous Jurassic dinosaurs such as Brachiosaurus.

Explore an interactive story about Museum experts' adventure to Wyoming, USA, when they went off-grid in search of Jurassic dinosaurs.

Even though dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, we know about them thanks to fossils. Watch our animation to find out how dinosaur fossils formed.

Discover the story of the 11-tonne fossil that's been welcoming visitors to the Museum since 1887.

When did dinosaurs evolve, and what did the first dinosaurs look like?

A new species of stegosaurian dinosaur, Adratiklit boulahfa, has been described.

Discover how palaeontologists find and dig up prehistoric reptiles.

Have a go at our quiz about Museum palaeontologists' recent adventures on the Mission Jurassic dig.

Discover more about some iconic Neanderthal skulls.

Dr Susie Maidment shares what it’s like to be a dinosaur researcher, how she got into this career and advice for budding palaeontologists.

What can we learn from scanning snakes?

Much of the ocean remains unexplored, but scientists at the Museum are helping unravel the mysteries of the world beneath the waves.

The face of modern science is young, black, female and ambitious.

Discover the important contributions made by one of London's first woman geologists.

It is the oldest quadrupedal whale from the Americas.

Go behind the scenes at the Museum and discover the huge variety of beetles and parasites in the collection. 

The Cambrian explosion is one of the most important intervals in the history of life.

The new amoeba species is the earliest of its kind ever discovered.

Although spinosaurs were named in 1915, little was known about these giants until a 31-centimetre-long claw was discovered in the UK in 1983.

They include new dinosaurs, an ancient wombat and a giant shark.

Evolving before trees and weathering five mass extinctions, sharks are true survivors.

Australopithecus afarensis is one of the best-known early human relatives thanks to an extraordinary fossil called Lucy.

This long-necked skeleton is Attenborosaurus, an extinct marine reptile named after legendary broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

It likely went extinct at around the same time as Neanderthals.

Darwin collected fossils of these ancient giant sloths when he visited South America. 

Small primates were sailing the high seas long before humans existed.

Discover how sparkling roadside rocks paved the way for everything we know about Iguanodon.

Learn about the longest-surviving human species, which was also the first known to leave Africa.

Meet your long-lost relative and find out why their discovery has had such an impact on our family tree.

Fragments of bone from a Siberian cave reveal ancient human species were mating.

Movie star, established brawler and owner of a killer claw, Velociraptor has quite a reputation.

Just how big was megalodon and could this giant predator still be lurking in the dark depths of the ocean?