Mammals are not especially diverse. Roughly 6,800 mammal species are known to exist, compared with about 8,800 species of amphibian, 11,000 species of bird and 12,500 of reptile. Yet when most people ...

We can study animals from all over the world thanks to science, but what about those that no longer exist? The list of extinct mammals could go on for ages, but each animal has a unique story. With ...

Around 11 million years ago, a cooling climate fragmented warm, humid forests in Africa, Asia, and Europe, giving rise to savannas. Many mammals evolved to take advantage of these wide-open spaces, ...

A plantation worker photographed this new genus of mammal in New Guinea, thought to have been dead for 6,000 years.

"Prehistoric World" is a new book by Aaron Woodruff, the museum's collection manager for vertebrate paleontology. It includes profiles and illustrations of prehistoric mammals such as Livyatan ...

Many mammals have fur the color of brown and black. Why don't they have more exotic colors, like purple and neon pink?

You can say this about mammals: We've had a good run. Over the 250 million years since the first mammals diverged from reptiles and birds, we hairy, warm-blooded vertebrates have come to dominate the ...

From its long, flexible trunk to its loud trumpeting sounds, there’s a lot to admire about an elephant. But how much do you know about these massive creatures? Where do they live? How big can they get ...

Mammals primarily exhibit muted earth tones due to their reliance on melanin and a lack of structural color complexity in fur. This drab coloration evolved as a survival mechanism to hide from ...