video

Coral Reefs Changing Over Time

How do we know what coral reefs looked like hundreds of years ago? Often times, we...

video

Smithsonian Paleobiologist Brian Huber

Brian Huber studies fossil organisms known as “forams” to learn about climate...

video

Evolution of Whales Animation

Whales have existed for million of years. Watch this animation, from the Sant Ocean...

slideshow

A Squalodontid Success

On a beach in Piña, Panama the tide is rolling out. Faint outlines of skeletal...

slideshow

Rudist Reefs

About 100 million years ago, during the heyday of the dinosaurs, reefs were built...

Photo

The First Filter Feeder

Today, filter feeders like clams, sponges, krill, baleen whales, fishes, and many...

Photo

Ancient Entoproct Community

For a long time, scientists thought that some small tentacled fossils were early...

Photo

Fossil Jellyfish

How long have jellyfish lived in the ocean? This jellyfish fossil is from the...

Photo

Smithsonian Scientists Describe a New Fossil Whale

Monodontids, the group of whales that includes living belugas and narwhals, are...

Photo

Jorge Velez-Juarbe

Jorge Velez-Juarbe is Predoctoral Fellow in the Department of...

Photo

Exploring Chile's Marine Fossil Record in the Atacama Desert

Smithsonian curator of fossil marine mammals Nick Pyenson and a team of...

Photo

A Mississippian Marine Habitat (359 - 318 Million Years Ago)

Crinoids (echinoderms related to sea stars and sea urchins) dominate the Paleozoic...