The most effective conservation strategies for protecting vertebrates on a global scale are those aimed at mitigating the effects of overexploitation, habitat loss and climate change, which are the ...

Some animals in the world possess the ability to regenerate tissues, allowing them to regrow parts of limbs or entire limbs ...

Learn how a second pair of eyes helped this 518-million-year-old fish evade predators.

Scientists have uncovered an unexpected genetic shift that may explain how animals with backbones first emerged and became so diverse.

This particular species of pantylid (dubbed Tyrannoroter heberti after its discoverer) existed 307 million years ago and harbored some surprises within its tiny skull. Using a CT scan, researchers ...

New research from the University of St Andrews has discovered a crucial piece in the puzzle of how all animals with a spine—including all mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians—evolved. In a paper ...

Every mammal, every fish, every vertebrate (creatures that have a spine) has two eyes. It’s been that way for millions and ...

Scientists have uncovered a surprising genetic shift that may explain how animals with backbones—from fish and frogs to ...

Biologists have considered nearly every major taxon of animals as the key starting point for the evolution of vertebrates. We survey these ideas, many of which are no longer tenable in the light of ...

Those of you who took high school biology may remember the lancelet, also known as the amphioxus. Its simplified body plan is notable for containing a number of features that it shares in common with ...