All articles tagged with #ancient ecosystem
Archaeologists discovered over 6,000 fossils, including early human remains and ancient animal species, beneath Indonesian seas, revealing a thriving ecosystem from over 140,000 years ago and providing new insights into early human life and migration in Southeast Asia.
The oldest fossilized forest, dating back 390 million years, has been discovered in southwest England, featuring palm-like Calamophyton trees that were unlike any modern trees. The forest provides insight into life during the Devonian Period, when sea levels dropped to create massive continents. The trees, which lacked roots, leaves, and a vascular system, grew close together and shed hundreds of twigs, shaping the landscape and infusing the soil with organic matter. The discovery sheds light on the early interaction between water and land and the transformative impact of ancient plants on Earth's landscape.
A fossil discovered in northeast China reveals an herbivorous dinosaur, Psittacosaurus, being attacked by a mammal, Repenomamus, challenging the traditional view of dinosaurs as dominant and mammals as submissive. The fossil, preserved in remarkable detail due to an ancient volcanic eruption, shows the mammal biting into the dinosaur's ribcage, suggesting an active attack. While some scientists believe the dinosaur may have already been weakened or recently deceased, the fossil provides evidence of a more complex and rich Cretaceous food web, with smaller mammals occasionally preying on dinosaurs.
Fossils from the Paja Formation in Colombia are helping researchers understand the ancient ecosystem that supported a diverse range of apex predators, including massive marine reptiles. By analyzing the size and teeth of various species, researchers are reconstructing the trophic food web of the early Cretaceous period. The findings may offer insights into how the ecosystem flourished after a mass extinction event.