What ancient goat teeth reveal about ancient human-animal relationships

Why our ancestors didn't have crooked teeth

The ancient human fossil record is filled with specimens with pretty nice teeth. So why do modern humans have dental problems? Scientists can't be certain, but one hypothesis suggests the evolutionary shrinking of the human jaw crowded our mouths,...

How do we know what prehistoric humans ate?

Without recourse to ancient menus, how can historians know what our ancient human ancestors—as far as 3 million years ago—ate on a daily basis? Researchers evaluate several factors, including the type of teeth the species had evolved, chemical analysis of the teeth, patterns of wear and tear on teeth, as well as food scraps found in the vicinity of ancient remains. Learn the approach to discovering ancient hominin diets.

What we know about aurochs, the ancestors of modern cattle

The relationship between humans and cattle is invaluable and longstanding. Evidence suggests cattle's wild, larger, and now-extinct ancestors, the aurochs, were also linked to early humans. Similarly valuable for their milk and labor power, yet significantly more threatening due to their size, aggression, and speed, auroch domestication was slow and complex. Discover new information about the fascinating ancestors of modern cows and the potential of re-introducing the species with selective breeding.

Vikings had pretty bad teeth

Vikings, the medieval marauders of northern European land and seas, were actually famous for their excellent hygiene. Despite this, evidence from Viking burial grounds points to one exception: their teeth. Roughly 60% of those Vikings studied had at...

Ancient humans and other early hominins were closer than you might think

Evidence that human ancestors and other early hominins coexisted continues to accumulate, raising the question of just how close these ancient people truly were. This article details how evidence is changing the theory that early hominins like...

Ritual Maya dental ornaments may have prevented tooth decay

Analysis of Maya dental sealants shows they used plant resins and gums—some derived from pine with antibacterial properties—suggesting gemstone tooth inlays may have helped reduce infection while serving ritual and symbolic purposes.

Extreme heat is neurologically impairing animals

Dog bites increase in summer, birds struggle to learn, and goats pick more fights. Scientists are unraveling new details about how heat impairs animals' neurological systems.

Cats began cozying up to humans around 10,000 years ago

The feline family is a hugely diverse group of lions, panthers, and kitties that have spread all over the world. The ancestors of the cats we love today helped solve rodent problems when humans first invented agriculture. They've been worshipped, loved, and scorned by humans since.

Fossilized bite marks suggest some dinosaurs may have engaged in cannibalism

An excavation site near the Colorado-Utah border contained Allosaurus bones with tooth marks of other Allosaurus, which may have occurred in response to a dry season in the area. The Tyrannosaurus and Majungasaurus have also been shown to eat their own.

Georges Cuvier used his knowledge of anatomy to prove extinction had occurred

Extinction had been viewed as impossible because a divine plan for the world would not rationally involve the loss of any of God’s creations. However, mammoth and mastodon bones differed from elephants’, and it seemed impossible that such creatures could be hiding elsewhere on Earth.

Pets of ancient Greece: crickets and ferrets and hedgehogs, oh my!

Ancient Greece left behind literature and art in which geese, doves, dogs, and the like are seen keeping people company or holding vigil for their return. Were these considered pets as we understand the term today, and where did ancient Greeks fall on the timeless question of cats versus dogs? Did Odysseus let Argos onto the sofa? This magazine article explores evidence of pets and their treatment in ancient Greece.

A cave painting might be the oldest illustrated story ever recorded

A nearly 44,000-year-old cave painting may be the oldest story ever recorded, offering viewers a tale of human-like creatures on a hunt. This article details the discovery of the cave and its archaeological implications.

Animals' stomach lining produces cheese

Cheesemaking would be impossible without rennet, the enzyme that separates milk’s liquid and solid components. Rennet occurs naturally in the stomach lining of young goats, cows, and lambs to help them digest milk, a process that also allows cheesemakers to use it to make curds. Now we have plant-based rennet that comes from thistles, artichokes, and other similar plants.

The purpose of narwhal tusks has mystified researchers for centuries

Nicknamed the "unicorn of the sea," narwhals have no teeth aside from two canines that grow directly forward as tusks. For roughly 85% of females, they stay embedded in the bone. For males, they grow into large, spirally tusks that are full of nerve endings and blood vessels. Scientists today believe that tusks likely formed for sexual selection purposes and eventually evolved to assist in other processes, such as hunting.

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

Gladiators followed a mostly vegetarian, high-calcium diet

Analysis of skeletons from a gladiator cemetery at Ephesus by researchers at the Medical University of Vienna found little meat consumption but unusually high calcium levels—likely from drinking wood ash mixed with water to promote weight gain and protect vital organs.

Why don't giraffes get hypertension?

The average blood pressure of a giraffe is about double that of a human, yet they don't suffer from the symptoms of high blood pressure that humans do: stiffening of the left heart ventricle, shortness of breath, fatigue, or swollen legs and ankles. This article explains how giraffes have evolved to have the "biological equivalent of support stockings."

The Ishango bone suggests mathematics was born about 20,000 years ago

Ancient civilizations developed mathematical systems for various purposes, including the Egyptians for the construction of the pyramids and the Ancient Greeks for logical reasoning in theorems. However, these systems were predated by the Ishango bone—found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo—whose notches suggest a base ten system, prime numbers, and simple mathematical operations.

Some animals have little or no bacterial populations in their gut

Gut microbiomes are essential to human health, but many animals have a much smaller, transient, or even nonexistent microbiome. The discoveries have advanced our understanding of the evolution of the human microbiome.

Scientific advances have transformed understanding of Stonehenge’s builders

Techniques such as radiocarbon dating, DNA analysis, and isotopic testing have revised scholars' understanding of Stonehenge. This article presents evidence suggesting that societies were more cooperative and less violent than earlier theories had suggested.

Cadaver dogs are helping archaeologists uncover decaying history

Archaeologists are increasingly relying on dogs to help find decaying bodies at burial sites, some of them up to thousands of years old. This is helping archaeologists to detect past remains without ever touching a shovel, which means there's less...

The human cost of creating medieval monsters

The concept and creation of monsters have been used since time immemorial to communicate social norms and the consequences of breaking them. Some so-called monsters were judged as such solely due to having features that would be considered birth defects in modern times. This in-depth article explores the human cost of creating medieval monsters, many of whom were defined by a physical appearance that deviates from the expected.

What we can learn from animal societies' ethics

The Chinese market for donkey hides has created a new source of diseases

Since 1992, China’s donkey population has dropped more than 80 percent. This report examines how China’s booming demand for a traditional medicine known as e-jiao, made from collagen from donkey hides, is leading to the slaughter of 6 million African donkeys annually, and providing a new source for zoonotic diseases.

Why do humans have such long childhoods?

Humans have over twice as long childhoods than other animals with similar lifespans like whales and elephants. A human child can grow for nearly 20 years before they become a reproducing adult. Researchers believe there's a connection between long childhoods and human's unusually large brain size, though the science is not totally clear. Dive into what scientists know here.

Watch David Attenborough's unexpected interaction with a family of gorillas on 'Life on Earth'

On the border between Rwanda and the modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, Attenborough used specific vocalizations and behaviors to approach a female gorilla peacefully, only to have two of her children lie down on him. Through a comical exchange, the incident helps show the creatures to be the opposite of the aggressive, violent stereotypes about them.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

Apeirophobia is an overwhelming fear of living forever, perhaps stemming from the brain's inability to conceptualize an infinite life.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Hookworm infection, though risky, may help fight certain autoimmune conditions by tamping down the immune system's inflammatory response.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

Poison ivy is in the same family as mangoes, cashews, and pistachios—and they all produce oily urushiol in their raw, unprocessed state—but they are typically prepared in ways to avoid causing human discomfort.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

One of the most famous portraits ever taken is 'Afghan Girl' (1984) by Steve McCurry, yet the subject Sharbat Gula went much of her life without being identified or benefitting from the image's success.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.