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The hoof, preserved in section as a very thin clay layer, caps the end toe bone in the foot of an adult mummy of the duck-billed dinosaur Edmontosaurus annectens. Photograph courtesy of Tyler Keillor/UChicago Fossil Lab ========================================================= For the first time ever, we’ve been able to prove that some dinosaurs had hooves, thanks to two remarkably well-preserved mummified dinosaurs retrieved from Wyoming’s Badlands. The specimens are the duck-billed dinosaurs Edmontosaurus annectens that, thanks to a "fluke preservation event" are near-perfect 66 million years later. Known as “clay templating,” that process essentially encased the dinosaurs shortly after burial with a mask...

Seventy-three million years ago, Alaska’s ancient rivers flowed with the early ancestors of today’s salmon and pike. Researchers have identified three new species, including Sivulliusalmo alaskensis, the oldest known salmonid. Credit: Shutterstock ================================================================ Scientists have discovered the world’s oldest salmon in Arctic Alaska’s Cretaceous fossil. During the Cretaceous Period, dinosaurs ruled the land, but the waterways of the Arctic were home to creatures that would seem surprisingly familiar today. About 73 million years ago, Alaska’s rivers and streams supported an abundance of ancient fish related to modern salmon, pike, and other northern species. According to a new study published in...