Latest articles by Vasika Udurawane

fossils
about 5 years ago by Vasika Udurawane

The giraffe's heavyweight cousin gets a facelift

The biggest creature to have ever chewed a cud was a gigantic and bulky relative of giraffes and okapis. It had none of the balletic grace but instead got all the weight and brawn.
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fossils
about 5 years ago by Vasika Udurawane

What killed the real-life King Kong?

One of the most mysterious huge animals in the fossil record is the ape Gigantopithecus. Only a few bones have ever been found, and we still do not know the secrets to its existence. One thing though, is quite clear: Thanks to a team from the Seckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt, we finally know why it is no longer among us today.
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fossils
about 5 years ago by Vasika Udurawane

Supersized crocs ruled the ancient seas

Around 120 million years ago, there lived a monstrous marine crocodile relative named Machimosaurus rex. Its massive jaws could crush turtle shells and it terrorized the warm seas that covered what are now the deserts of Tunisia.
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plants and animals
about 5 years ago by Vasika Udurawane

In memoriam: Top 10 recently extinct animals

They once shared our world, some as recently as a few years ago. From the lions that fought at the Colosseum to the blind dolphins of China, they were exceptional in life and remain iconic in death. They are the most memorable of all recently extinct animals.
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fossils
about 5 years ago by Vasika Udurawane

The menacing reign of the terror birds

Racing across the plains of Argentina were strange feathery shapes, taller than a man. They pecked their prey to death with hooked beaks mounted on heads as big as that of a horse’s. These were the terror birds, the dominant predators of their day and age.
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Vasika
Udurawane

Writer