News

An international team of researchers has discovered that the asteroid that wiped out almost all the dinosaurs came down in spring. This is indicated by the growth and feeding patterns of fish that died immediately after the impact.

Early July 2020, a Dutch shrimp trawler in Belgian territorial waters hauled up nothing less than an elephant tusk in its nets.

In a new annual report, the scientists that monitor the environmental impact of offshore wind farms in the Belgian part of the North Sea summarise their latest findings. Once again, some surprising revelations are included.

Researchers from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, have recovered more than 300 skeletons of cave hyena cubs from a prehistoric cave in southern Belgium.

Biologists from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences found in a spider species that 'macho males' have an extra set of genes that is lacking in feminized males.

Palaeontologists from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences have described two primitive mammals from the Upper Cretaceous that lived about 70 million years ago. One was excavated in Inner Mongolia, the other in Romania.

Two of our Institute’s taxonomists - biologists specialised in the discovery, description and classification of species - have found 170 species of animals named after King Leopold III and Queen Astrid in our collection and in databases.

Palaeontologists have discovered that marine mammals developed thicker and heavier bones as an adaptation to a salty inland sea in Central Europe some 13 million years ago.

A team of researchers, including palaeontologist Sébastien Olive (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences), has described a 360 million-year-old shark jaw found in the Belgian Ardennes. It is an exceptional find because cartilage almost never fossilizes.

The new oceanographic research vessel Belgica will be operated by Genavir, specialised in the management of scientific vessels. The manager of the French oceanographic fleet will thus also become the first French shipping company to manage a ship under the Belgian flag.