Scientists, especially those who study fossils, love to classify things. They slot each new find into a time period and categorize the fossils by species. It's all part of understanding what they're seeing and how it fits into the big picture of life. When it comes to fossils, paleontologists are experts at determining age and using that information to learn more about geology and biology.
Paleontologists, as well as amateur fossil hunters, are constantly discovering new treasures, each of which is classified and named. Some names describe the creature -- for example, Triceratops means a dinosaur with a three-horned face -- and others pay tribute to the location or person who discovered the fossils, like Albertosaurus discovered in Alberta, Canada.
However, one classification that paleontologists have not officially ascribed to their fossilized finds is the category "strange."
What makes a fossil strange? For some people, it's how and where it was discovered, and what it tells us about the prehistoric world. For others, the strangeness has more to do with the look of the unfamiliar and unimaginable creatures that once roamed the Earth. It's fascinating to see a plant or animal preserved as a fossil that dates back millions of years, and to learn from that fragment how the planet changed and living things evolved.
Not all the fossils in this article are as strange and scary as the species that roamed the fictional Jurassic Park, but they're just as interesting. As the saying goes, "Truth is stranger than fiction."
This Microraptor fossil came from a 130-million-year-old forest that existed in what is now Liaoning Province, China.
Image Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
10: Sponges: Not as Dry as You May Think
Among the most recent fossil discoveries is the oldest, smallest and most telling of any ever uncovered, and geologists found them quite by accident. They are sponges, and they sit on the lowest branch of the tree of life. While the simple organism is not as large or lumpy as others you'll read about, the discovery of these animals is significant in that they predate what were thought to be the oldest fossils by 70 million years.
Scientists believe that 635 million years ago, most of the planet was covered in ice and there were very few living things on Earth. Therefore, when two geologists stumbled upon the nearly microscopic fossils, they didn't suspect they had discovered evidence of the oldest life forms that had survived this early ice age.
Princeton University geologist Adam Maloof and an assistant were hiking in South Australia on what had once been ocean reefs. They noticed many of the rocks had similar shapes imprinted on them, and for a while they ignored the find. Eventually, after seeing so many of the patterned rocks, they decided to take a closer look, suspecting they had found a much younger organism. They were wrong.
The fossils, measuring about 1 centimeter (0.4 inches), are believed to have spent their lives swaying in the ocean currents, surviving on the carbon in the water as it was filtered through minute tunnels within the sponge. How they survived the ice age is still a mystery [source: Viegas].
9: New Long-necked Dinosaur (Re)discovered
The 130-million-year-old dinosaur fossil discovered near Hastings in southeast England was unearthed in the 1890s only to be tucked away on a shelf in London's Natural History Museum for another century. The fossil, labeled BMNH R2095, was simply considered part of a dinosaur vertebra, and it sat untouched and ignored for 113 years. All that changed in 2006, when a visiting dinosaur researcher happened upon the fossil, causing quite a stir.
When Mike Taylor, a researcher who for years had been looking at nothing but sauropod fossils, saw the specimen, he knew it was different from the other members of that dinosaur's family. Based on his knowledge, he knew it shared some features with its relatives, including elephant-like legs, a long neck and a small head, and like them, it was a plant eater. Although it was from the same family, the fossil, only 1 foot (30 centimeters) in length, revealed that this creature had a unique set of features; thus, it was actually a new dinosaur [source: Taylor].
Named Xenoposeidon, meaning "alien sauropod," the giant most likely lived 130 million years ago, was 66 feet (20 meters) in length and weighed 2.8 tons [source: Owen]. Unfortunately, because the initial discovery was more than a century ago, pinpointing a spot to search for more evidence of the creature is virtually impossible. However, the new species gives other scientists something to be on the lookout for.
8: Living Fossil Is a Survivor and Healer
The story of how the gingko tree survived is like several science-fiction tales in one. The scene is the Jurassic Period, when dinosaurs roamed the swampy land. The climate was warm, and ferns, conifers, cycads and gingkos were the prominent plant life. Then, something traumatic took place, wiping out the dinosaurs, plants and other living things.
Today, millions of years later, the gingko tree is all that remains from that time, having outlived the dinosaurs and survived extreme global warming. Not only did the plant survive, but it thrives in harsh conditions and is even used medicinally.
What happened? Scientists studying plant fossils theorize that the sudden change in the carbon-dioxide levels almost 200 million years ago was caused by the impact of an asteroid crashing to Earth, near what is now the Yucatan Peninsula. They believe the impact released gasses from the limestone rocks in the surrounding sea. The theory was developed after studying 65-million-year-old gingko leaf fossils, which had fewer carbon-dioxide absorbing pores, indicating more CO2 in the air [source: BBC News].
Although dinosaurs and other plant life became extinct, the gingko biloba tree survived, and thus is called a living fossil. The hardy tree that grows in some of the toughest conditions seems almost impervious to weather, insects and disease. And as if the gingko's fortitude weren't enough, its fanlike leaves are used for healing and in medications for circulatory problems, dizziness and short-term memory loss [source: Raver].
7: Bird Fossils Set Record for Wingspan
Have you ever wondered why there aren't many bird fossils? It's not for a lack of birds, but because bird bones are so fragile, they can't survive the fossilization process. Scientists have always believed that large birds flew among the dinosaurs millions of years ago, but until recently, they have not had the fossils to prove it.
In September 2010, scientists announced the discovery of a giant seabird in northern Chile. With nearly 70 percent of the creature surviving as a complete fossil, they can now say with certainty that there were indeed giant birds. The specimen, called Pelegomis chilensis, lived five to 10 million years ago and has a wingspan measuring 17 feet (5.2 meters) -- twice that of an albatross [source: Mayr].
In addition to its size, bony teeth along its long slender beak also distinguish the giant bird. Scientists have discovered smaller birds with teeth in a variety of locations around the world, but Pelegomis chilensis is the largest bird with this characteristic. Scientists believe that the teeth were quite useful in allowing the seabird to hold onto its slippery prey grabbed from the ocean water.
Today, scientists are studying the new fossil to learn more about the physics of flight in large birds that once soared across the sky, at least in northern Chile.
6: Fossilized Leaf Reveals Existence of Zombie Ants
What do you get when you cross an ant with a mind-abducting fungus? A zombie ant. And, while fungus and ants seem like two rather insignificant living things, when the fungus is a parasite, the result is a zombie ant that unwittingly ends up spreading the thing that kills it.
Scientists have long known about the work of parasites. As it turns out, parasites have been taking over the minds of host creatures and turning them into zombies for millions of years. In August 2010, scientists from the University of Exeter announced the discovery of a 48-million-year-old fossilized leaf infected by an ant, which had been under the control of a zombie parasite.
Here's what the leaf fossil, discovered in Germany's Messel Pit, one of the richest fossil sites in the world, revealed about how the fungal parasite operated:
Spores from a fungus entice an ant to leave its colony.
The ant, now under the control of the fungal parasite, is attracted to a leaf that contains the fungus.
The ant, in its zombie-like state, bites down on the major vein of the leaf.
The ant dies, but hangs on to the leaf for weeks while the fungus grows inside its body.
The spores are released and other ants are infected.
The discovery of the leaf fossil with the ant's bite marks reveals that parasitic behavior is not as new as once thought.
5: Beelzebufo the Devil Frog: As Mean as He Sounds
He's no Kermit the Frog. In fact, the 70-million-year-old frog fossil discovered in Madagascar looks like it could be an evil character from an animated movie about swamp monsters. The beach-ball-sized amphibian -- called Beelzebufo or "devil frog" -- is estimated to weigh about 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) and measures 16 inches (41 centimeters) high.
This comedic-looking frog earned the title "devil frog" because like its ancestors, the ceratophyrines, these large-mouthed creatures grab and gobble anything within reach. Because Beelzebufo is even bigger than its relatives are, scientists believe that the frog was also bolder and meaner. It had a protective shell and powerful jaws that could latch onto and devour small animals, including baby dinosaurs.
However, it's not just the frog's size that scientists find strange: Equally puzzling is where the fossils were found. While Beelzebufo was discovered in Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa, its closest relatives live in South America, raising the question of how the continents were once connected. One theory suggests that Madagascar separated from Africa 160 million years ago, and another proposes that South America and Madagascar were linked through Antarctica. Somehow, the massive frogs made their way from the isolated chunk of land in the Indian Ocean -- it's just not entirely clear how and when [source: Handwerk].
Even the name "Beelzebufo" is intimidating -- and when you look at his size in comparison to a pencil, he's even more shocking.
Image Credit: Illustration by Luci Betti-Nash, courtesy of Stony Brook University
4: Fossils Reveal Whale's Descendents Walked on Land
Studying fossils is like putting together a giant puzzle, but first the pieces must be discovered. Sometimes scientists have part of the picture and can guess what the missing piece may be, but until it's discovered, it remains a mystery. Such was the case with the evolution of whales.
Scientists have known for years that whales descended from mammals that walked on land 50 million years ago. However, missing from the puzzle was how and when they evolved from four- footed land animals to the ocean swimmers we know today.
In 2007, scientists who believed whales were descended from an animal similar to a dog discovered the fossil of a 48-million-year-old hoofed mammal in India. The fossil, the size of a fox, had many of the same characteristics as aquatic mammals, including bone structure and density, and teeth [source: ScienceDaily]. One mystery was solved, and fossils discovered the following year provided more answers.
Early whale fossil discoveries revealed they had hind legs and a tail even as they moved to the sea. Over 15 million years, the limbs diminished in size, and whales eventually developed fluked tails. Yet scientists were unclear how they moved through the water during this transition phase. The 2008 discovery of a whale fossil revealed that their swimming technique evolved from a doggy-paddle, to paddling with back legs only, to wiggling their hips, and finally, to propelling themselves with their fluked tails [source: ScienceDaily].
Another piece of the puzzle was complete.
3: Bird Fossils Provide Answers
Scientists are in the business of asking questions and discovering answers. For years, paleontologists questioned:
What is the relationship between ancient birds and dinosaurs?
Did birds take flight from the trees down or from the ground up?
If birds had feathers, what color were they?
The recent discoveries of rare, well-preserved bird fossils, along with modern technology, seem to provide the answers. In 1861, the first birdlike fossils were unearthed and catalogued as the dinosaur Archaeopteryx. The creature had both reptilian features and the feathers of a bird. For years, scientists discounted the feathers, assuming they had nothing to do with flight. However, the 2003 discovery of several four-winged dinosaurs named Anchiornis huxleyi forced the scientists to take a fresh look at Archaeopteryx. They determined the feathers were in fact used for flight down from the trees, similar to a flying squirrel [source: ScienceDaily].
The discovery of Anchiornis huxleyi was significant for other reasons. Not only did it earn the position of the oldest known bird at 150 million years, but it also presented evidence of a link in the evolution of dinosaurs to birds [source: ScienceDaily].
Applying modern technology to Anchiornis huxleyi, another group of researchers set out to discover the true color of its feathers by studying the microscopic pigment sacs on the fossils. They compared them to living birds and filled in the colors. No doubt this new palette will raise more questions about the role color played in the creature's life [source: Zimmer].
Archaeopteryx has been studied for decades, but in recent years, scientists were finally able to determine that its feathers really were used for flight.
Image Credit: iStockphoto/Thinkstock
2: Fossils of Mini Dinosaurs Unearthed
When you think of a dinosaur, what comes to mind: a giant T-Rex or a long-necked creature many times the size of an elephant? Fossils recently unearthed in Canada reveal that, in addition to the massive beings, there were also little dinosaurs running around the forest floor. Being low to the ground, the tiny creatures played a different role in the ecosystem than that of their giant relatives. The miniature dinosaurs provide a clue into migration patterns of the creatures believed to have moved from South America through North America to Asia.
The strange-looking Albertonykus borealis, discovered in 2008 in Alberta, Canada, appears to stand upright on long, skinny legs. Its short arms have huge claws, and its birdlike head has a sharp beak with jaws that act as tweezers. Although it looks like a scrawny chicken, scientists believe that the 70-million-year-old dinosaur used its arms as tools to rip open logs and its beak to pick out termites [source: ScienceDaily].
An even smaller dinosaur species, Hesperonychus, was discovered a year later, again in Canada. Half the size of a small house cat, the carnivore most likely dined on small mammals, insects and possibly baby dinosaurs. When the fossils were first discovered, scientists believed the creature's distinct feature, a claw, was from a juvenile of another species. They were surprised to learn it was an adult. This discovery helps complete the picture of the ecosystem in North America millions of years ago [source: ScienceDaily].
1: Horny Dinosaurs Discovered in Utah
During the Late Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, much of North America was warm and swampy. High sea levels actually divided continent in two, with the eastern portion called Appalachia and the western landmass called Laramidia. This western section, which includes Utah and Arizona, is rife with fossils. It's in Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument that the fossils of two new strange-looking, plant-eating dinosaurs were recently discovered.
The name of the first, Utahceratops gettyi, pays homage to the location of the discovery, the species and Mike Getty, the paleontologist who discovered the fossils. With a skull measuring 7 feet (2.3 meters) from front to back, a large horn over its nose, and blunt horns over its eyes that jut out to the side, Utahceratops was an imposing creature.
Slightly smaller, but no less strange, is Kosmoceratops richardsoni, meaning "ornate horned face." It was discovered by park volunteer Scott Richardson. Like its relative, it also has a nose horn and long, spiky side eye horns, as well as one horn on each cheekbone and 10 across the top of its head. With its 15 horns, Kosmoceratops is the "fanciest" of all dinosaur discoveries, and these headdresses were probably very appealing to dinosaurs of the opposite sex [source: ScienceDaily].
Since there are almost 2 million acres in the national monument, scientists expect these two horned creatures won't be the only new dinosaurs discovered there.
For more articles on interesting finds, check out the links on the next page.
BBC News. "Dino heatwave recorded in leaves." June 11, 2002. (Oct. 5, 2010) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2038599.stm
Handwerk, Brian. "Giant 'Frog From Hell' Fossil Found in Madagascar." National Geographic. Feb. 18, 2008. (Oct. 3, 2010) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/02/080218-giant-frog.html
Mayr, Gerald. "Fossil of giant, bony -toothed bird from Chile sets new record for wingspan." Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Sept. 15, 2010. (Oct. 4, 2010) http://www.vertpaleo.org/news/permalinks/2010/09/15/PRESS-RELEASE---Fossil-of-giant-bony-toothed-bird-from-Chile-sets-new-record-for-wingspan/
National Geographic. "Time Line: Rise of Life." (Oct. 3, 2010) http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/prehistoric-time-line.html
Owen, James. "'Strange' British Fossil Is Part of New Dino Family." National Geographic. Nov. 21, 2007. (Oct. 3, 2010) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071121-new-dinosaur.html
Ramos, Will. "Strange Rocks May Preserve Some of Earth's First Animals." Consortium for Ocean Leadership. Aug. 17, 2010. (Oct. 2, 2010) http://www.oceanleadership.org/2010/strange-rocks/
Raver, Anne. "Hardy Ginkgo Trees Are Fossils Minus the Rocks." The New York Times. Jan. 19, 1997. (Oct. 5, 2010) http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/19/style/hardy-ginkgo-trees-are-fossils-minus-the-rocks.html
ScienceDaily. "Amazing Horned Dinosaurs Unearthed on 'Lost Continent'; New Discoveries Include Bizarre Beast With 15 Horns." Sept. 22, 2010. (Oct. 6, 2010) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100922121943.htm
ScienceDaily. "Feathery Four-Winged Dinosaur Fossil Found in China Bridges Transition to Birds." Sept. 29, 2009. (Oct. 6, 2010) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090928205415.htm
ScienceDaily. "Fossil Reveals 48-Million-Year History of Zombie Ants." Aug. 18, 2010. (Oct. 4, 2010) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100818105730.htm
ScienceDaily. "It's All In The Hips: Early Whales Used Well Developed Back Legs for Swimming, Fossils Show." Sept. 18, 2008. (Oct. 5, 2010) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080917210028.htm
ScienceDaily. "Mini Dinosaurs Prowled North America." March 17, 2009. (Oct. 5, 2010) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090316173218.htm
ScienceDaily. "Parasite Causes Zombie Ants To Die In An Ideal Spot." Aug. 13, 2009. (Oct. 4, 2010) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090811161345.htm
Viegas, Jennifer. "Oldest Animal Life on Earth Found?" Discovery News. Aug. 17, 2010. (Oct. 2, 2010) http://news.discovery.com/animals/oldest-animal-fossils-sponge.html
Zimmer, Carl. "Evidence Builds on Color of Dinosaurs." The New York Times. Feb. 4, 2010. (Oct. 6, 2010) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/science/05dino.html
When you're surrounded by cubicles and concrete, it's easy to forget that we live on a planet packed full of breathtaking natural beauty, so take a trip with us as we explore 10 of the very best the Earth has to offer.
From The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show to the latest breaking news, TV makes more memories than there are viewers. Here are 10 of the most talked-about broadcasts in television history.
Comments ( )