Generally speaking, the animals alive today are mere shadows of their former selves – everything from worms to otters to penguins to sharks were bigger and meaner in the distant past. And birds were ...

A tiny, overlooked wrist bone called the pisiform may have played a pivotal role in bird flight and it turns out it evolved far earlier than scientists thought. Fossils from bird-like dinosaurs in ...

Until around 45,000 years ago, Australia was home to Genyornis newtoni, a fearsomely huge bird weighing roughly 230kg – almost six times as much as an emu – and standing 2 metres tall. This giant, ...

For thousands of years, the Hawaiian petrel has soared over the Pacific Ocean, feeding on fish and squid. Now, using evidence preserved in the birds’ bones, scientists at the Smithsonian’s National ...