Bestselling and Award-Winning Writing
Welcome! Here you'll find details about Riley Black’s books, her latest articles, and where to see her enthusing about paleontology. Dig in!
A tail impression most likely made by a type of protomammal called a caseid. Near the top right, a V-shaped notch indicates the animal’s cloaca. Credit: Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
Why did our ancestors ever give up the cloaca?
Read MoreA stacked image of the blastoid Pentremites, an extinct relative of crinoids and starfish. Credit: Diego Delso CC BY-SA 4.0
Strange bite marks on ancient relatives of sea urchins indicate some prehistoric fish were intent on making poor decisions.
Read MoreBabies of the earliest four-legged animals did not undergo metamorphosis and were more like mini-adults. Art: Berit Goding
Ancient baby amphibians change the story of how, and why, our ancestors came out of the water.
Read MoreAdelphailurus kansensis, a cougar-like sabercat. Art by Jesús Gamarra.
A misidentified fossil skull turned out to be a near-complete cranium of an early, cougar-like sabertoothed cat.
Read MoreA modern Alopias, or thresher shark. Prehistoric forms likely lacked the elongated, stunning tail. Credit: Thomas Alexander CC BY-SA 4.0
Mysterious teeth reveal an ancient thresher shark that lived, and fed, like a great white.
Read MoreThe snaggletooth shark that dropped this tooth more than 10 million years ago.
The single species of modern snaggletooth shark offers clues to how big sharks convergently evolved to bite big prey.
Read MorePraearcturus gigas is the largest scorpion yet known, from a time before our ancestors walked on land. Credit: Franz Anthony
The earliest terrestrial predators were immense scorpions.
Read MoreA fossil thought to be the oldest octopus turns out to be something just as rare, even if rotten.
Read MoreThe attack probably occurred at the surface. Credit: Miles Mayhall
What bit a plesiosaur so hard that it left a tooth in the reptile’s neck?
Read MoreA mako-like restoration of Otodus megalodon, the largest predatory shark of all time. Credit: Riley Black
We know megalodon babies grew up in nurseries, but what did these sharks do when storms came around? Great white youngsters might give us some clues.
Read MoreGiant predatory sharks related to today’s great whites and makos evolved during the Cretaceous. Credit: Columbus State University
Sharks comparable to today's great whites evolved earlier than expected, revealing the repeated evolution of giant predatory sharks.How many australopithecines were eaten by crocodiles? The world may never know. Credit: Tyler Stone/University of Iowa
A new fossil croc from Ethiopia gives form to what early humans like “Lucy” had to watch out for at the water’s edge.
Read MoreThe embryo is near-unprecedented find. Credit: Sophie Vrard
A trio of ancient embryos may reveal a potent secret as to how the protomammal Lystrosaurus survived one of the worst extinctions of all time.
Read MoreEosphorosuchus very rudely interrupted by Hesperosuchus in the middle of a Coelophysis snack. Credit: Julio Lacerda
In 1948, paleontologists collected big fossil blocks from Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. The better part of a century later, an unexpected, short-snouted croc has emerged from one of the blocks.
Read MoreMosasaurs venturing into freshwater would have found abundant food. Credit: Christopher DiPiazza
A large tooth indicates that big mosasaurs, over 30 feet in length, swam the same rivers where dinosaurs like T. rex and Triceratops drank.
Read MoreThe claws of Megachelicerax give away its relationship to spiders, horseshoe crabs, and other chelicerates. Credit: Masato Hattori
Paleontologists have uncovered the oldest known relative of spiders and horseshoe crabs, Megachelicerax, rewriting the story of how claws came out of the water.
Read MoreA small patch of sauropod skin suggests long-necked dinosaurs were surprisingly colorful. Art by Tess Gallagher.
Patches of fossilized dinosaur skin contain long-sought clues to the coloration of long-necked sauropod dinosaurs.
Read MoreThe toothed bird Gorgonavis socializing in Early Cretaceous Spain. Art by Roc Olivé.
A resin-encased skull has revealed an unexpectedly snouty fossil bird - a bird with teeth.
Read MoreBrachiosaurus was among the largest of the Morrison Formation sauropods, including at Dry Mesa.
Long-necked herbivores were titans of the Jurassic, but their offspring fed many carnivorous mouths.
Read More“The Bite” by artist Jen Hall
A mystery tooth embedded in a dinosaur skull uncovers a surprising T. rex hunting strategy.
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