Animals, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 15, 2021

'Strange beast' in amber is a very weird lizard

A fossil locked in a piece of amber dating to about 99 million years ago belongs to a newfound and highly bizarre species of extinct lizard. The fossil also helped scientists revise the lineage of another amber-locked discovery, also dating to that part of the Cretaceous period (145.5 million to...

Aug 2, 2021

One of world's rarest chameleons, once feared extinct, found in African rainforest

Scientists have found one of the world's rarest chameleons clinging to survival after fearing it had become extinct since its initial discovery in the 1990s because of massive deforestation, a new study finds. Researchers discovered a population of Chapman's pygmy chameleons (Rhampholeon chapmanorum) surviving in small patches of rainforest in...

Aug 29, 2022

Mummified, spread-eagled Triassic 'shovel lizards' look like roadkill and likely died in a drought

About 251 million years ago, groups of pig-size herbivores with tusks and beaks huddled together, died, shriveled up and then fossilized looking like squashed roadkill, with impressions of their pebbly skin still present in the rocks around them. These strange layers of fossils suggest that recurring drought was a big...

Sep 21, 2022

Lizards: From tiny geckos to giant Komodo dragons

Lizards are a diverse and ancient group of reptiles that live around the world today. There are thousands of lizard species, and each has special adaptations and traits. There are lizards with frills, lizards with horns, and lizards with wings. Most lizards have four legs, but some get by on...

Dec 2, 2022

Ancient lizard with teeth like butcher knives 're-calibrates the whole shebang' of reptile evolution

A palm-size lizard with teeth as sharp as butcher knives is so old that it shifts the origins of modern lizards and snakes back by 35 million years, a new study reveals. Paleontologists found the fossilized remains of the tiny, razor-toothed reptile embedded in a rock hidden in storage at...

May 31, 2023

This psychedelic-eyed gecko isn't what we thought it was

Researchers in Australia have discovered a new species of gecko with beautiful psychedelic eyes. The stunning lizards evaded detection for decades due to their similarities with a closely related species. The new species, called the lesser thorn-tailed gecko (Strophurus spinula), is about 2.4 inches (6.1 centimeters) long and has a...

Oct 30, 2023

Newly discovered Cretaceous sea monster named after world-ending Norse serpent

Scientists have named an ancient species of giant sea lizard with angry eyebrows and a stumpy tail after Jörmungandr, a sea serpent from Norse mythology. The fearsome creature, Jǫrmungandr walhallaensis, lived 80 million years ago in an ancient sea in what is now North Dakota. If you put flippers on...

Nov 4, 2023

Earless monitor lizards: The 'Holy Grail' of reptiles that looks like a mini dragon

Name: Earless monitor lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis) Where it lives: Borneo, near streams in lowland rainforests What it eats: Earthworms, crabs and fish Why it's awesome: Earless monitor lizards are dragon-like reptiles that are so rare they're dubbed the Holy Grail of herpetology — the study of reptiles and amphibians. The...

Nov 10, 2023

Surprise discovery of snake-like lizard feared extinct leaves scientists amazed

Researchers in Australia have rediscovered a secretive lizard with tiny legs that they thought may be extinct after it evaded detection for more than 40 years. A team from the Queensland Museum and James Cook University spotted Lyon's grassland striped skinks (Austroablepharus barrylyoni) — which haven't been seen since 1981...

Jan 24, 2024

Watch chameleon erupt in color 'as if uttering her last words' in her final moments before death

In dramatic new footage, a chameleon erupts in stunning colors while in the throes of death. Using time-lapse photography, researchers captured the colorful last few hours of the reptile's short life — and the remarkable changes that took place in that time. In her last moments, her skin erupts with...

Sep 14, 2011

Battle of Ancient Beasts: Huge Crocodile vs. World's Largest Snake

In what might seem like a scene from a monster movie, an ancient 20-foot crocodile and the world's largest snake may have battled it out in Colombian forest rivers 60 million years ago. The new crocodilian was discovered in a Colombian coal mine, the same area where the large snake...

Nov 6, 2011

Ancient Monster Croc Sported Shield on Skull

LAS VEGAS — A newly described species of ancient crocodile with a strange, shield-like skull may have chowed on 13-foot (4-meter) -long fish in Cretaceous-era rivers. The croc is known by a chunk of skull excavated in Morocco and acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum of Canada from a collector....

Jan 31, 2012

Ancient Crocodile Wore Shield on Its Head

A giant prehistoric crocodile once bore a shield on its head, an ornament never before seen on these reptiles that may have been used to intimidate enemies and attract mates, researchers say. 'Shieldcroc' is the earliest ancestor of our modern crocodiles to be found in Africa, said researcher Casey Holliday,...

Feb 9, 2012

Rare Pygmy Nile Crocodile Found in New Spots

Conservationists working in Uganda are finding new areas that are home to one of the least known crocodilians in Africa, the pygmy Nile crocodile. A team of Ugandan researchers trained by the late John Thorbjarnarson, a noted crocodilian expert with the Wildlife Conservation Society, is conducting population surveys of these...

May 7, 2012

Ancient Crocodile Was World's Largest

Scientists have announced the discovery of a newfound crocodile species that may have been the largest to ever roam the Earth. The colossal reptiles trolled East African waters between 4 million and 2 million years ago, and may have snacked on human ancestors, researchers said. The largest fossil specimens recovered...