THE LAST ICE AGE

The massive ice sheets of the Pleistocene covered much of the planet. They contained so much of the Earth's water that sea levels dropped to 100 metres lower than they are today.

FIRST ITALIAN FOSSILS OF AGRIOTHERIUM

Agriotherium / Short-Faced Bear

Fossil remains of Agriotherium, the short-faced giant bear, have been found in Collepardo, Italy. A fragment of a mandible was unearthed back in 2015 in the province of Frosinone. Thanks to several years of research and a recent CT scan, the team from Sapienza University of Rome were finally ready to publish.

Agriotherium is one of the largest of the mighty carnivores that lived in Europe back in the Pleistocene. They weighed as much as 900 kilos (almost 2,000 lbs) and grew up to 2.5 meters tall. These ancient bears roamed prehistoric Italy amid a humid and temperate climate, competing for food resources with some of our ancestors as they only becoming extinct 2.6 million years ago.

CAMBRIAN SEA ANEMONE

A stunning Cambrian soft-bodied Sea Anemone from outcrops near Malong, China. Collection of Marc R. Hänsel

PREHISTORIC BUGS: WANNERIA DUNNAE

Wanneria dunnae, an impressive trilobite from British Columbia's Eager Formation near Cranbrook. Trilobites were among the earliest fossils with hard skeletons. They were the dominant form of life at the beginning of the Cambrian Period. This specimen of Wanneria dunnae from the East Kootenay of British Columbia is typical of the group. Trilobite eyes were compound like those of modern crustaceans and insects. The eyes of these earliest trilobites are not well-known as the visual surface dropped away and was lost during molting long before they ever became fossils.