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Remarkable fossils rewrite the story of how animals conquered the land

Palaeontologists have found new evidence that the early ancestors of amphibians, reptiles and mammals did not have a larval stage with external gills like modern frogs or salamanders

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Pigeons lock their eyes in place when they are flying

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Walking shark found in Papua New Guinea is new to science

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Wolves seen hunting European bison in rare camera-trap recording

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Millions of fossil whale bones found in deep-ocean ‘necropolis’

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Frozen squirrel scat preserves ancient DNA from hundreds of species

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The best new popular science books of June 2026

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The best new popular science books of June 2026

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Himalayan wolf-dog hybrids emerge as a threat to wolves and people

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Lascaux Cave is a Palaeolithic cave situated in southwestern France, near the village of Montignac in the Dordogne region, which houses some of the most famous examples of prehistoric cave paintings. Close to 600 paintings ??? mostly of animals - dot the interior walls of the cave in impressive compositions. Horses are the most numerous, but deer, aurochs, ibex, bison, and even some felines can also be found. Besides these paintings, which represent most of the major images, there are also around 1400 engravings of a similar order. The art, dated to c. 17,000 ??? c. 15,000 BCE, falls within the Upper Palaeolithic period and was created by the clearly skilled hands of humans living in the area at that time. The region seems to be a hotspot; many beautifully decorated caves have been discovered there. The exact meaning of the paintings at Lascaux or any of the other sites is still subject to discussion, but the prevailing view attaches a ritualistic or even spiritual component to them, hinting at the sophistication of their creators. Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1979, along with other prehistoric sites in its proximity. Valley, France.

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New ��˾þ� recommends a smart new account of human exceptionalism

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Extinct relative of koalas discovered in Western Australia

Fossils reveal that there were at least two kinds of koala when humans first arrived in Australia, but one died out about 30,000 years ago when the west of the continent dried out

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The greatest David Attenborough documentaries you really need to watch

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New ��˾þ� recommends New York's Bone Museum and Gecko Gallery

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Why dinosaurs lived much more complex lives than we thought

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Scorpions reinforce their claws and stingers with metals

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