The sudden appearance of complex animals has led scientists to argue that animals must have a “hidden history”, a period in ...

Animals seem to appear in the fossil record fairly suddenly, a little over half a billion years ago. Yet rocks can preserve microscopic life in remarkable detail and still contain no animals, even ...

In a discovery that reshapes our understanding of life’s origins, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found new evidence suggesting that the first animals on Earth were ...

Prehistoric animals once roamed — and ruled — planet Earth. Some of them, like the giant sloth or the woolly rhino, were generally gentle. Others, like the saber-toothed tiger and the dire wolves, ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more. This ...

In the shadow of South Australia's largest mountain range beneath the outback soil lies a fossil record that reveals a rich history of life on Earth. Fossils found at Nilpena Ediacara National Park ...

Hundreds of animals, from tiny ants to mighty hippos, are shaping the Earth's surface as powerfully as floods and storms. These animals effectively act as landscape engineers, reorganizing soils and ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. When we think about the scope of our world’s diversity, ...