Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world. Fossil discoveries unlock chapters of our planet’s storied ...

More than 99% of birds can fly. But that still leaves many species that evolved to be flightless, including penguins, ostriches, and kiwi birds. In a study in the journal Evolution, researchers ...

Fossils reveal that prehistoric cicadas’ wings evolved to help them evade hungry predators with feathers and beaks, scientists say. By Jack Tamisiea Today, few critters are as abundant as cicadas.

Flight is a rare skill in the animal world. Among vertebrates, it evolved only three times: in bats, birds, and the long-extinct pterosaurs. Pterosaurs were the pioneers, taking to the skies more than ...

Reconstruction of a Late Triassic landscape (approximately 215 million years ago). A lagerpetid, a close relative of pterosaurs, is perched on a rock, observing pterosaurs flying overhead. Tübingen, ...

Mesozoic Pompeii -- The evolution of an airframe -- The origin of birds -- Archaeopteryx : an ancient wing -- Protoavis : a precocious Triassic bird -- Basal avialans : the long-tailed birds -- ...

An ancient archaeopteryx fossil is offering new insight into the early evolution of birds from dinosaurs. Dating back around 150 million years, this remarkable discovery is helping scientists ...

We’ve known for a long time that birds are the closest living relatives of dinosaurs, but new clues are shedding light on a transitional phase in how feathers came to be. Feathers are one of nature’s ...

Want to help us out? Take the survey: https://s.si.edu/3lnUCaH Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don't miss any videos: https://s.si.edu/3rnWsfq The Wright Brothers were the first humans ...