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Dinosaurs to supercrocs: Niger's bone keepers preserve its ancient fossils

The Sahel country is one of the few African nations to boast rare dinosaurs, but safeguarding them is a challenge. Niamey, Niger – In a corner of the sprawling grounds of Niamey’s only museum – a unique, open-air style arrangement in Niger’s capital that doubles as a zoo – imposing fossil replicas of long-extinct animals stand in a corrugated iron stall. On a recent late Friday afternoon, the Boubou Hama National Museum was busy with scores of excited children. They shrilled, delighted by the

Newly Discovered Fossils Reveal Unknown Humanlike Relative

Researchers have uncovered fossils belonging to a previously unknown ancient human relative. And they may have lived in the same time and place as the earliest-known members of the genus Homo, from which modern humans evolved, according to a new study. A team of archeologists working at Ethiopia’s Ledi-Geraru research project area unearthed a set of fossilized teeth that likely belonged to an unidentified species within the Australopithecus genus, known for having both human- and ape-like trait

North America's Oldest Known Pterosaur

A Smithsonian-led team of researchers have discovered North America’s oldest known pterosaur, the winged reptiles that lived alongside dinosaurs and were the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight. In a paper published today, July 7, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers led by paleontologist Ben Kligman, a Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, present the fossilized jawbone of the new species and describe the sea gu