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The studied Psittacosaurus under natural (upper half) and UV light (lower half). (Zixiao Yang, Author provided) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Strong but light, beautiful and precisely structured, feathers are the most complex skin appendage that ever evolved in vertebrates. Despite the fact humans have been playing with feathers since prehistory, there's still a lot we don't understand about them. Our new study found that some of the first animals with feathers also had scaly skin like reptiles. Following the debut of the first feathered dinosaur, Sinosauropteryx prima, in 1996, a surge of discoveries has painted an ever more interesting picture of feather evolution....

Taking away his best friend was a cold-blooded thing to do. An upstate New York man who kept a 750-pound pet alligator in his house is an emotional wreck after government agents hauled his pal away – and he sees the same heartbreak in Albert’s scaly face. “I know his look, and that happy face that you see is not there no more,” an emotional and sleepless Tony Cavallaro told The Post. “He looks very lost and very distraught. Cavallaro raised Albert since he was a hatchling 34 years ago, an elaborate pen in his home to house the gator....

VIDEO AT LINK................... May 20 (UPI) -- A 12-foot alligator was relocated from Florida's MacDill Air Force Base after twice being found in restricted areas. The 12-foot, 4-inch gator was first spotted at the Tampa base in April, when it found its way to the runway and parked itself by the landing gear of a plane. The reptile was ejected, but put in a second appearance last week outside the Med Group facility. Base officials made arrangements for the alligator to be permanently relocated to Gatorama and Crocodile Adventures in Palmdale, a facility located about 155 miles away. Gatorama dubbed...

Welcome to the party, Koleken inakayali, we'll clap for you. La Colonia Formation continues to deliver the new dinosaur goods. Image credit: © Gabriel Díaz Yantén Behold, the tiny arms of a new species of abelisaurid dinosaur, Koleken inakayali. Retrieved from La Colonia Formation in Patagonia, it dates back 70 million years and has an impressively miniature set of arms. Think T. rex’s were mini? You ain’t seen nothing yet. The new tiny-armed species looks similar to the iconic “meat bull” Carnotaurus, made famous from Jurassic World and that love scene in Prehistoric Planet. Koleken is different, however, both in...

May 17 (UPI) -- Wildlife trappers were called to a Florida school where an "absolute dinosaur of an alligator" came wandering up a path. The Pinellas County Sheriff's office said deputies responded to a report of a a large alligator on a pathway used by kids who walk to and from a nearby elementary school. Deputies contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for help relocating the 12.5-foot gator. "PCSO remained in the area to keep the public from accidentally stumbling across this absolute dinosaur of an alligator until trappers contracted through FWC arrived," the Sheriff's Office said on...

Japan's raccoon infestation has gotten considerably worse over the last decade, multiple Japanese news sources are reporting. Nearly 1,300 raccoons were captured during the 2022 fiscal year, said Tokyo's government. This is about five times the number that were captured 10 years ago, reported Kyodo News, a Japanese news agency. In 2013, the Japanese government reiterated the need to combat raccoons as an invasive species. Raccoons are not native to Japan, but were brought to the country in the 1970s following the popularity of the 1977 anime "Rascal the Raccoon."

When I saw this, I literally couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I mean, homosexuals have always argued that homosexuality is normal and natural because, well, there are animals that do it. But I always thought the argument was so dumb that no serious person would ever give it a second thought. And it really is that dumb. I mean, dumb to the point of complete and total absurdity. In fact, the Bible has a phrase for such stupidity: “Claiming to be wise, they became fools…” (Romans 1:22). But it absolutely blows my mind that these people want to broadcast...

Not quite a spider, not a scorpion either – where does Douglassarachne acanthopoda fit in? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Douglassarachne acanthopoda was a more experimental version of a modern harvestman, with distinctive armored legs. Image credit: Paul Selden ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This leggy, spiny fella is Douglassarachne acanthopoda, whom we’ll call Doug for short (only kidding). You might look at this fossilized specimen and confidently declare, “That there’s a spider.” But wait! While D. acanthopoda certainly shares many of the characteristics of modern arachnids, it has enough unique features to give palaentologists a headache when it comes to classifying it. Spiders and their ancestors have...

May 14 (UPI) -- A Florida woman out for her morning run came across an unexpected scene: a baby alligator beating the summer heat with a dip in a public fountain. Lauren Shrage said she and her dog were out for their morning run in Palm Beach Gardens when she spotted something in the water in the fountain next to the Mirabella community's entrance gate. She recorded video when she realized the object was actually a small alligator taking a dip in the cool water. "Are you having a good day?" Shrage asks the gator in the video. Shrage said...

A sailing vessel off Gibraltar has become the first this year to be sunk by orcas that have been targeting boats in the area since 2020. Crew members of the Alboran Cognac boat called rescue services for help around 9am on Sunday, saying that their ship had been damaged by orcas 14 miles from Cape Spartel, at the southern entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, in Moroccan waters. The sailors said they had felt hits on the hull, before their rudder was damaged and they noticed a leak threatening to sink their 50ft boat, local outlet El Pais reports. They...

Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam set up the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards a few years ago and were amazed at the success. This spurred them on to launch the Comedy Pet Photography Awards with a cash prize of £500 for the best overall photo. There are 30 finalists in the 2024 competition and you can vote for your favourite, click on your favourite image at this link: leave your email address, and that’s it. You will automatically be entered into a prize draw to win £100 and the overall winner will be announced on June 6. Our readers prefer cash;...

Art Weston reeled in a fearsome, 200lbs. prehistoric alligator snapping turtle Weston was trying to catch a record-breaking alligator gar when it happened The prehistoric beast had its mouth open and was ready to bite and claw them ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since 2009, Lee Crafton, or Lee Horselogger as he prefers to be called, has been traveling across the country in a horse-drawn carriage, and now he's on his fifth trip. His journey started in 2006 when he lost his ranch in East Glacier, Montana after 27 years and dropped out of his Ph.D. program. Lee took his life savings of $75 and a couple of horses and decided to explore the nation, traveling at just three miles an hour. Needless to say, Lee is not your typical 63-year-old. But one year prior to his career change, Lee was diagnosed with...

A zoo in China has come under fire after it was revealed that they painted chow chow dogs to look like pandas. The zoo, located in Jiangsu Province, showcased the "panda dog" on Labor Day holidays from May 1 to May 5. While thousands of people came to see supposed pandas, a few thought that their behaviour was strange as they shook their heads like dogs. Nevertheless, many people believe that they are real pandas, as per reports. Visitors' clips seemed to depict the puppies as having black limbs, ears, and eye rings, but their doglike characteristics were still clearly...

The officer had to undergo surgery and is on the road to recovery. A Texas police officer suffered a bite from an alligator after attempting to remove it from the road. Cleveland, TX Police Department An officer with the Cleveland Police Department is recovering after suffering a nasty bite from a huge alligator he was helping to corral. Sgt. David Edwards was helping officers and Liberty County sheriff's deputies remove the 10-feet-long alligator from the middle of the roadway on State Highway 105 bypass near U.S. 59 around midnight on Wednesday. As Edwards helped other officers attempting to place a...

FREEDOM, Pa. — It’s not every day you come across an alligator in our area. On Wednesday, a small gator was discovered in a creek in Freedom. Beaver Valley Regional Police got a call from someone who spotted the gator and officers safely captured it. For now, the two-and-a-half-foot reptile is being cared for at Off The Hook Exotic Pet Shop in Ambridge. The owner believes the gator was someone’s pet. “I don’t think someone dumped him in the creek on purpose. sometimes people take them out for some sunshine then they don’t realize they can climb a fence and...

Her experience brings new meaning to the "bear vs. man" question.While social media users debate if they’d rather be left alone in the woods with a bear or a man, one woman is considering herself “lucky” after surviving a real bear attack. A Scottish tourist was mauled by a bear in Romania. Friends Moira Gallacher and Charmian Widdowson were visiting the Carpathian Mountains when they encountered a group of bears, according to Scottish news outlet STV. Widdowson said, “We saw these bears — a mummy bear and a baby — they were gorgeous.” What the women didn’t know was that...

May 8 (UPI) -- Firefighters in Florida were called to a Starbucks cafe to eject an unruly customer from the drive-through: an alligator. North Port Fire Rescue said on social media that it was "just another day on the job" when crews were called to a local Starbucks. The post said firefighters "had quite the surprise" when they discovered the cause of the commotion was a coffee-craving crocodilian at the drive-through. "After coordinating with our friends at North Port Police Department, we safely relocated our scaly friend to a nearby pond," Fire Rescue officials wrote. "Who knew our mornings could...

A rare cast of a red-painted cow in a rock shelter, accompanied by a man ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New archaeological findings from the hyper-arid Atbai Desert, in Eastern Sudan, indicate the Sahara Desert was once a lush and green environment. Dr Julien Cooper from the Department of History and Archaeology, led a team of archaeologists in 2018 and 2019 on the Atbai Survey Project, discovering 16 new rock art sites in Wadi Halfa, one of the most desolate and driest areas of the Sahara. Almost all of the newly discovered artwork, which dates back 4000 years, features the presence of cattle. “It...

Human remains were spotted in the mouth of a 13-foot, 8.5-inch alligator on Friday, in a canal just north of the Florida Botanical Gardens in Largo. The gator was extracted from the water and “humanely killed,” the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release, adding that a dive team had also “recovered the remains of a deceased adult from the waterway.” VIDEO AT LINK.............. So far, no details regarding the identity of the victim have been shared, as the investigation is still ongoing. It’s also unclear whether the alligator was directly responsible for the person’s death. One local...