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

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

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 ...

A remarkable fossil discovered in southern China has offered scientists a rare glimpse into our distant evolutionary past.

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

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 ...

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 ...

The cradle of vertebrate evolution was limited to a zone of shallow coastal waters, no more than 60 meters deep. In those waters, fish — the first vertebrates — appeared roughly 480 million years ago, ...

The vertebrate body plan emerged in concert with extensive changes to anterior chordate morphology, including assembly of a craniofacial skeleton, expansion of the anterior neuroepithelium into a ...