Julio Lacerda

Even though only two kinds of elephant are alive today the history of their family, scientifically known as Proboscideans, is one of success. They managed to live on most continents around the globe, from Southeast Asia to South America, and adapted to different climates and habitats. And few species were so successful as Stegodon.

For many decades, it was believed that the group of dinosaurs known as theropods (“beast-footed”) were all carnivores that filled the role of apex predators in prehistoric ecosystems. Now we know that things weren’t that simple. While herbivorous dinosaurs haven't been known to evolve carnivory, paleontologists have found multiple meat-eaters that gave up on their habit.

Since the 1990s, more and more dinosaur fossils with evidence of feathers have burst onto the scene. But recent discoveries are only the latest salvo in a long list of bombshells linking them to birds.

Amphicyonids were a family of carnivores that lived in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa for about 45 million years. They were part of a group of mammals called “Caniformia”, which includes animals such as seals, raccoons, weasels, skunks, otters, bears and dogs. The similarities of Amphicyonids and these last two are what gave them the colloquial name of “bear-dogs”.

Imagine that you are walking through a forest and see a great beast among the trees. It has a horse-like face, a big belly, short hoofed back legs and much longer arms with sharp claws on its “hands”. What you’re seeing is not a mythological creature or a hybrid monster, it’s an extinct chalicothere.

A newly discovered turtle named Inaechelys pernambucensis managed to survive not long after a mass extinction wiped out non-avian dinosaurs.

A new discovery suggests a completely different diet for Platybelodon, the strange “shovel-tusked” elephant relative.

For years, paleontologists speculated why the famous 18 meter (59 foot) long shark disappeared from the oceans around 2.6 million years ago. New evidence suggests competition and lack of food may have been the causes.

Around 56 million years ago, several groups of primitive primates mysteriously disappeared from the North American forests. Rodents have been considered a major cause of their extinction due to competition for food, but a new study says that’s unlikely.

Many species of birds today exhibit elaborate displays for attracting mates. We now have evidence that at least some of their long-dead relatives did the same.

508-million-year-old fossils of the shrimp-like Waptia is the first evidence of an animal caring for their offspring.

380-million-year-old fossilized forests help to tell a story about ancient climate change.

Ophiacodon was a reptile-like cousin of mammals that lived around 300 million years ago, but surprisingly an analysis of its bones indicates that it was already warm-blooded long before true mammals evolved.

The tiny fossil of a tree-climbing bird shows they evolved and radiated quicker than previously thought after the asteroid impact that killed off the non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

The huge fish, dubbed “Texas supershark”, measured more than 26 feet (8 meters) long and lived well before the age of dinosaurs.

While adult megaherbivores were too large for predators to take down, juvenile mammoths, mastodons, and ground sloths might have fallen prey to packs of sabretooth cats, cave lions and giant hyenas. This balance made sure there was enough plant matter for smaller animals to thrive on during Ice Age North America.

By chemically analyzing fossilized eggshells and comparing them to the surrounding environment, scientists could take a glimpse at some dinosaurs’ body temperatures. They found them to be unlike both reptiles and birds, but rather something in between.

Even though it has no obvious petals, Montsechia is thought to have been one of the earliest flowering plants that appeared on Earth.

Modern comb jellies are jellyfish-like invertebrates that look like floating plastic bags and often sport trailing tentacles. But their prehistoric relatives traded their arms for heavy armor.

The majority of living cockroaches are scavengers, feeding on detritus along the forest floor or inside our kitchens. But 100 million years ago, a terrifying roach hunted other insects with spiky limbs.

A team of researchers from the University of Otago created a comprehensive guide to the history of baleen whales based on the most complete family tree ever made for the group.

By consuming the bones of plesiosaurs, mosasaurs and other big marine animals when they died, Osedax worms quite literally ate their fossil record.

A very well-preserved fossil from Argentina offers some clues to these incredible birds’ vocal capabilities.

A pair of bird-like dinosaurs that died and were buried together have successfully been identified as a male and female pair in one of the first cases of paleontologists identifying a dinosaur’s sex.

A failed attack from a predatory fish on a pterosaur millions of years ago has resulted in a one-of-a-kind discovery.

Prehistoric fossils discovered in China show that tiny creatures resembling moles and monkeys lived in trees and below ground as dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Hearing underwater and through air require very different ear structures. Modern lungfish and salamanders can show us how our first land-living ancestors managed the transition 300 million years ago.

When we think of rodents, small animals come to mind. But the biggest rodent ever was the size of a buffalo and used its teeth like an elephant.

Four fossils previously identified as lizards now known to be dinosaur-age primitive snakes.

A fossil from China showing a 160-million-year-old mother with six babies around her suggests that several extinct reptile groups might have been good parents.

A 20-pound gopher-like mammal lived among dinosaurs in Madagascar around 66 million years ago, and its discovery shed some light on a very obscure group of animals.

This little pointy dinosaur with a sharp beak and spiky cheekbones shows how different waves of Triceratops’ relatives came from Asia.

The primitive crocodiles were efficient swimmers but were also capable of galloping across the plains