Best Fossil

Known from the late Carboniferous, approximately 300 million years ago, Meganeura monyi was a giant flying insect with an estimated wingspan of about 65 centimeters. Its dragonfly-like appearance has led to the familiar label of giant dragonfly, but it belongs to the extinct group commonly called gr...

Homo floresiensis is an extinct species of small-bodied hominins whose remains were first discovered in 2003 in the Liang Bua cave on the island of Flores, Indonesia. The species is commonly nicknamed "hobbits" due to the unexpectedly diminutive stature and brain size of the fossilized skeletons. An...

The Berlin specimen of *Archaeopteryx* represents one of the most complete and significant fossils documenting the evolution of birds. Discovered in Germany, this Jurassic-era dinosaur fossil provides crucial evidence for the transitional form between reptiles and avian species. It is a valuable res...

The fossil remains of Lucy represent an exceptionally well-preserved specimen of Australopithecus afarensis, dating back approximately 32 million years. Discovered in Ethiopia, this early hominin skeleton provides crucial insights into human evolution. Its relatively complete condition allows paleoa...

Tiktaalik roseae is an extinct lobe-finned fish from the Late Devonian, known from fossils discovered on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, Canada, in 2004. It combined fish characteristics, including scales and fin rays, with a mobile neck, robust ribs, a flattened skull, and limb-like internal bones cap...

Lyuba, a female woolly mammoth calf discovered in Siberia in 2007 and dated to approximately 42,000 years ago, is one of the most complete and best-preserved mammoths ever found, with intact organs and stomach contents.

Borealopelta markmitchelli, a nodosaurid ankylosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Alberta discovered by miner Shawn Funk in 2011, preserves original skin, scales, and reddish-brown pigmentation in extraordinary three-dimensional detail.

Sinosauropteryx prima was a small compsognathid theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous deposits of Liaoning, China. Described in 1996, specimens preserve a covering of simple filamentous structures, providing early direct evidence that non-avian dinosaurs could possess feather-like integument....

The London Archaeopteryx, described by Richard Owen in 1863 and held at the Natural History Museum London, was the second specimen recognized and helped establish the genus as a transitional bird-dinosaur.

The Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx is a Late Jurassic fossil from the Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria and one of the most complete examples of the genus. It preserves a toothed skull, clawed fingers, a long bony tail, and detailed impressions of asymmetrical flight feathers, combining traits associ...

Neanderthal 1 is a partial hominin skeleton discovered in 1856 in the Feldhofer Cave in Germany's Neander Valley. The remains include a distinctive skullcap and portions of the postcranial skeleton, and they became the name-bearing specimen for Homo neanderthalensis. Their recognition helped establi...

LB1 is the principal fossil specimen of Homo floresiensis, a small-bodied hominin discovered in 2003 at Liang Bua cave on the Indonesian island of Flores. The partial skeleton includes a skull and indicates an adult individual about one meter tall, leading to the informal nickname Hobbit. Associated...

Years of careful excavation were needed to free Little Foot from the rock of South Africa's Sterkfontein cave system. Catalogued as StW 573, the unusually complete australopithecine skeleton was recognized through bones identified gradually beginning in the 1990s. Dating studies place the specimen a...

The Taung Child consists of a fossilized juvenile skull and a natural brain endocast, a cast formed within the skull that preserves aspects of the brain's outer shape. Discovered at Taung in South Africa in 1924, it was described by Raymond Dart in 1925 as Australopithecus africanus. Dart identified...

A juvenile skeleton discovered by Kamoya Kimeu near Lake Turkana in Kenya in 1984 provides an unusually detailed view of early Homo. Known as Turkana Boy and catalogued as KNM-WT 15000, the individual lived about 1.6 million years ago. Researchers commonly assign the specimen to Homo ergaster or to...

Ardi preserves a combination of features relevant to climbing and movement on the ground. Catalogued as ARA-VP-6/500, this partial skeleton of Ardipithecus ramidus comes from Ethiopia's Afar region and is about 4.4 million years old. The remains were discovered in the 1990s and presented in a major...

Known as Lucy, AL 288-1 is a partial skeleton of Australopithecus afarensis discovered by Donald Johanson's team at Hadar, Ethiopia, in 1974. Dated to about 3.2 million years ago, it preserves roughly 40 percent of the skeleton. Surviving material includes portions of the pelvis and legs as well as...

CM 84 serves as the holotype of Diplodocus carnegii, the reference specimen on which the species name is based. Excavated in Wyoming in 1899, the long-necked diplodocid sauropod skeleton is housed at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. The species honors industrialist Andrew Carneg...

Hard sandstone made the recovery of Scotty a lengthy undertaking. This Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, catalogued as RSM P2523.8, was discovered near Eastend in Saskatchewan in 1991 and is held by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. Excavation and preparation took many years because the surrounding rock had...

Stan Sacrison found the Tyrannosaurus rex specimen known as Stan in South Dakota in 1987. Catalogued as BHI 3033 and excavated by the Black Hills Institute, it preserves a substantial portion of the skeleton, including much of the skull. Several healed injuries make the fossil useful not only for an...

Discovered by Sue Hendrickson in South Dakota in 1990, Sue is a large and unusually complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton catalogued as FMNH PR 2081. The Field Museum in Chicago acquired the fossil at auction in 1997 for $8.36 million and prepared it for public display. Approximately 90 percent of the...

The T. rex Sue fossil represents an exceptionally well-preserved specimen of *Tyrannosaurus rex*. Discovered in South Dakota in 1990, it’s notable for its near-complete skeleton and remarkable state of preservation, offering unprecedented insight into the anatomy and biology of this iconic predator....

Waeringoscorpio westerwaldensis is a Devonian fossil scorpion from Germany, described in 2008 and noted for preserved gill-like structures.

Velociraptor mongoliensis was a small dromaeosaurid theropod that lived in what is now Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous. Specimen IGM 100/25 forms part of the Fighting Dinosaurs fossil, which preserves a Velociraptor grappling with a Protoceratops, including the predator's enlarged sickle-shaped...

Eramoscorpius brucensis is a Silurian fossil scorpion from Ontario, named in 2015 and interpreted as an early semi-terrestrial form.

The Homo naledi remains consist of hundreds of fossilized bones belonging to an extinct species of hominin, discovered in the Rising Star Cave system in South Africa in 2013. The fossils exhibit a mosaic of primitive and derived traits, including a small brain size comparable to australopithecines a...

Anomalocaris canadensis was a large marine animal of the Cambrian Period known from fossils in Canada's Burgess Shale and related deposits. It had stalked compound eyes, a circular mouth structure, paired frontal appendages for handling prey, and lateral swimming flaps along its body. Classified amo...

Microraptor gui, a crow-sized dromaeosaurid from the Early Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of China, is notable for bearing pennaceous flight feathers on all four limbs, suggesting biplane-like aerodynamics.

Acanthostega gunnari was a Late Devonian stem tetrapod known from fossils found in East Greenland. It possessed limbs with eight digits, but its limb proportions, tail fin, and internal gills indicate that it remained primarily aquatic rather than moving effectively on land. The animal provides impo...