10-million-year-long Mammal Layover in Mexico Primed the Pump for the Great American Biotic Interchange Between North and South America

Published in the journal Science, a new study by NHM researchers shows that Mexico acted as a biodiversity "holding pen" for 10 million years ahead of the Great American Biotic Interchange that opened the floodgates between North and South America 2.8 million years ago.
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The Beasts of Pampa La Brea, a Peruvian Tar Pit

Discover some of the Ice Age titans of Talara, the asphaltic site in Northwest Peru
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Newly Described Snake from the Age of Dinosaurs, Tametara mirim, Reveals the Ancient Brains and Surprising Diversity of Snakes 

Newly Described Snake from the Age of Dinosaurs, Tametara mirim, Reveals the Ancient Brains and Surprising Diversity of Snakes 
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Keiko’s Tooth: A Killer Whale, a Movie Star, and the Hidden Power of Museum Collections

Assistant Mammalogy Collections Manager Amanda Killian on finding the Free Willy star's tooth and the ever-growing value of natural history museum collections
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New Study More Than Triples the Estimates of Insect Species From 6 Million to 20 Million

Ground-breaking study explodes the number of estimated insects, emphasizing the need for conservation and natural history collections
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Fossils Under San Pedro High School Reveal a Pleistocene Beach in a Miocene Sea

Discover some of the last fossils and the lasting impact of the bone beds beneath San Pedro High School
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Scientists and Engineers Measure How Birds Send Heat into Space for the First Time

A new study from scientists at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, UCLA, Indiana University, and Cal State University, Dominguez Hills reveals the hidden reflectance of bird feathers through the prism of light, heat, and color
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Meet Masripithecus: Newly Described Ancient Ape Fills a Gap in Evolutionary History of Primates

An international team of researchers add a new chapter in the story of apes—including us humans—starting around 18 million years ago in North Africa
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Uncovering L.A.'s Ice Age Past

Take a dip into the science of the tar pits in this video, a rare look under the surface at the fossilized bones of Ice Age predators, from dire wolves to mighty mammoths.

One Tropical Bird's History Through the Lens of Lice

NHM's new Ornithology Collections Manager, Juliana Soto-Patiño, discovers the evolutionary origins of the mysterious Sapayoa aenigma through its parasitic louse 
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