When thinking about paleontology, many people instantly think of dinosaurs. But dinosaurs are only a small fraction of the species that have inhabited the earth since the dawn of life. “Palaios” is the Greek word for “ancient”, and paleontology means the study of ancient life. Be prepared to learn about the diversity of microbes, plants, and animals from their origins billions of years in the past, including several mass extinctions and how life continued afterwards.

When it comes to paleontology, the University of Alberta in Canada has produced several top-class courses that have made it into this Best Courses Guide (BCG).

I’ve already taken some of the courses in this BCG, but would love to make the time to finish more of them. It’s a fascinating subject! And for related courses, see our Biology, Botany, Zoology, Genetics, and Ecology BCGs.

Click on the shortcuts for more details:

• Top Picks
• BCG Stats
• Why You Should Trust Us
• How We Made Our Picks and Tested Them

Here are our top picks

BCG Stats

• 8 courses are free and 2 are paid
• 6 courses offer a certificate of completion
• The most featured provider is Coursera with 5 courses
• The most featured institution is the University of Alberta with 4 courses.

Best General Paleontology Course

First there was the universe with the laws of physics. Atoms combined into molecules, which we study using chemistry. Geologists and paleontologists study past life, and now life on Earth has countless forms. Origins – Formation of the Universe, Solar System, Earth and Life is a comprehensive, 12-module look at the origins and history of life that was also featured in our Biology BCG. Learn about:

• The formation of elements and the Solar System
• Earth’s geological principles and early life
• Microbial life and the Cambrian Explosion
• Macrobial Life and Eukaryotic Evolution
• Climate changes, Snowball Earth, and cell evolution
• Evolution of marine animals, major faunas, and adaptations
• Changing oxygen levels and their consequences
• Terrestrial plant evolution and adaptations
• Insect biodiversity, adaptations, and specializations
• Vertebrate adaptation to land and mass extinctions
• Climate change and molecular clock technique
• Evolution of primates, early humans, and human colonization
• Modern biodiversity across various habitats
• Reflect on the course’s impact on understanding life’s evolution and diversification on Earth.

“…an absolute treasury of information was provided during this course…” – from my in-depth review.

Best Course About Dinosaurs

Dino 101: Dinosaur Paleobiology is deservedly on Class Central’s Best Online Courses of All Time list. It includes links to various sites including a geological timeline and fossil viewer. You will learn:

• Dinosaur diversity and how to identify features of the major dinosaur groups
• Taphonomy and how fossils form
• How dinosaurs ate, moved around, grew, reproduced, and defended themselves
• Dinosaur Origins, evolution, definition of a species, and extinction
• Geologic time, stratigraphy, paleogeography, and plate tectonics.

“I loved this course! The coverage of dinosaur topics and issues was comprehensive … and I learned much about the science of paleontology more generally …” – Russell Blackford.

Best Invertebrate Paleontology Course

GEO GIRL (Rachel) has created a series of videos on various paleontology and geology topics while she works on her PhD dissertation. If you are interested in invertebrates (animals without backbones), Brachiopoda – Invertebrate Paleontology is popular, with over 13K views. Learn about:

• What brachiopods are
• The difference between brachiopods and mollusks
• Brachiopod anatomy, morphology, classification, evolution
• Different shaped brachiopods, including hints to remember what each shape looks like.

GEO GIRL has produced several videos about various fossil invertebrates:

• Porifera (Sponges)- Morphology, Classification, & Evolution
• Bryozoa (Ectoprocta)
• Foraminifera (Forams)
• Echinoderms (Crinoids, Starfish, Sand Dollars, & More)
• Mollusca (Pt 2): Bivalves & Gastropods
• Arthropoda (Pt. 2) Trilobites
• See more GEO GIRL videos.

“Fantastic video, I’m doing my master’s thesis on brachiopods and found the style of info given here to be a very good method of talking about the background of the brachiopoda …” – @nimanator, YouTube learner.

Best Course About Early Vertebrate Evolution

In Paleontology: Early Vertebrate Evolution, you’ll learn about:

• Palaeozoic lineages within a phylogenetic framework. What does it mean to have a backbone?
• Other vertebrate novelties such as fins, jaws, and tetrapod limbs that help animals swim, bite, and walk on the land
• Sedimentology, key Canadian fossil localities, and meet some living fossils.

“An excellent course, like all of the Paleontology courses from Alberta. Well presented and explained, enthusiastic presenter and good visuals.” – Anonymous.

Best Course on Ancient Marine Reptiles

Paleontology: Ancient Marine Reptiles covers:

• Evolutionary changes in air-breathing terrestrial animals that returned to the water; “the aquatic problem”
• Diversity, adaptations, convergence, and phylogenetic relationships of extinct marine reptiles, particularly ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs
• How each group solved the aquatic problem, leading to specializations for feeding, locomotion and reproduction
• Fossils and localities from Canada and around the world.

“This is the third MOOC I have done from the University of Alberta and I feel like a crazed deadhead junkie waiting for the next course to drop! I … absolutely loved this course …” – M Anderson.

Best Origin of Birds Course

I grew up being taught that all the dinosaurs were extinct, but by the time I finished Paleontology: Theropod Dinosaurs and the Origin of Birds, I was convinced that the age of dinosaurs did not end 65 million years ago. In another excellent course from the University of Alberta (also in the Best Online Courses of All Time list), learn about:

• Bird anatomy, adaptations for flying, and traits originating over 230 million years ago
• Survival and success of non-avian theropods after the Permian mass extinction
• Coelurosaurs: herbivores and carnivores including tyrannosaurs and raptors
• Complex social behaviors likely in dinosaurs and theories on flight development
• Evolution of avian lineage after dinosaur extinction, enabling habitat exploration, diversification, flight, flightlessness, insectivory, swimming, and predation
• Continuing dominance of the skies by theropods.

“…This class was astounding! It had the right level of detail. The instructors’ enthusiasm for their subject was infectious. I found myself wanting more when the class was done…” – Glennn Wooten

Best Course on Prehistoric Ecosystems

With my love of how living things on Earth relate to each other, I really enjoyed HKUx: Dinosaur Ecosystems | 恐龙的生态系统 | Los Ecosistemas de los Dinosaurios. You’ll learn about:

• What it would be like to live in the world of dinosaurs in the late Cretaceous period
• The fossil site of Erlian, China, now in the Gobi desert, plus leading international museums and institutions to find out how we reconstruct dinosaur ecosystems from fossil and modern evidence
• Meat eating theropod dinosaurs, plant eating sauropodomorphs and ornithischians as well as non-dinosaur reptiles, mammals, fish and invertebrates
• Amazing drawings by award-winning paleoartist Julius T. Csotonyi who joins HKU’s vertebrate paleontologist Dr Michael Pittman, Professor Xu Xing from Beijing, and Dr Diego Pol of Argentina.

“… I liked the real-life problems and applications, lab videos, and recent discoveries … All in all, a great course, I’d like to see a sequel.” – Kristina Šekrst.

Most Popular Course on Vertebrate Paleontology

Vertebrate Paleontology will teach you plenty of details about:

• Fossil formation, vertebrate evolution, functional morphology, cladograms, and the geological time-scale.
• Our ancestry from sea squirts, brain and backbone
• Bony fish, fish jaws, scales, tails, and prehistoric sharks
• How vertebrates conquered land, tetrapods, amphibians, reptiles, and eggs
• Where Dinosaurs came from; saurischian and ornithischian dinosaurs
• Feathers, flight, and birds, fossil mammals, and early humans.

Also see Invertebrate Paleontology and Paleobotany from the same instructor.

“I have enjoyed all the videos and look forward to seeing more. They have helped me to rekindle my interest in paleontology and dinosaurs…” – Calvin Page.

Also Great Overview of Paleontology

Although there is no free audit or certificate available for Introduction to Paleontology, the positive reviews on the Wondrium site earned its place in this BCG. The first nine lectures are an overview of Earth’s deep history, fossil formation, taxonomy, and related topics before exploring life from its origins. Learn about:

• Geological history, minerals, and fossils including microfossils and fossil timekeepers
• The origin of life, biodiversity, arthropods, the spread of forests
• The Permian extinction and subsequent recovery
• Dinosaurs, whales, insects, plants, grasses, and flowers
• Komodo Dragons, mammoths, mastodons, and cloning
• Neanderthal man.

“…Dr. Sutherland is whimsical, engaging, and boy, does he know his stuff…” – Information Sponge, Wondrium learner.

Best Dinosaur Flashcards Course

Studying Paleontology Flashcards sorts dinosaurs into families, orders, types, periods, and species for you to learn, but you won’t find other groups of prehistoric life in this course. The three chapters include:

• Families and orders of dinosaurs: abelisaurids, carcharodontosauridae, ceratopsians, coelurosaurs, hadrosaurids, ornithischian, ornithopod, and saurischian dinosaurs
• Sauropods, spinosaurids, stegosauria, theropods, thyreophora, and tyrannosaurids
• Types of dinosaurs: bipedal, carnivorous, herbivorous, raptors, and flying dinosaurs
• Jurassic and Triassic period dinosaurs.

Why You Should Trust Us

Class Central, a Tripadvisor for online education, has helped 60 million learners find their next course. We’ve been combing through online education for more than a decade to aggregate a catalog of 200,000 online courses and 200,000 reviews written by our users. And we’re online learners ourselves: combined, the Class Central team has completed over 400 online courses, including online degrees. I’ve personally completed over 150 online courses in a variety of topics including paleontology.

How We Made Our Picks and Tested Them

Trying to find “the best” can be daunting, even for those of us who live and breathe online courses. Here’s how I approached this task.

First, I combed through Class Central’s Catalog and the internet to find a variety of free and paid open courses, some with certificates. You don’t need to enroll in a university to learn about paleontology.

When choosing courses, I considered the following factors:

• Renowned Institutions: I looked for recognized institutions in paleontology
• Instructor experience: I sought instructors with extensive experience in paleontology and engaging presentation styles
• Course content: I examined courses that covered a range of topics and presentation styles, including the basics and more advanced topics. I watched some course videos to sample courses I hadn’t already taken
• Learner reviews: I read learner reviews (when available) to get a sense of the quality of each course, leveraging the Class Central database with its thousands of course ratings and reviews written by our users as well as available course provider reviews.

Then, I defined the scope for these recommendations. A paleontology course can cover various topics, so I chose top courses from a range of sub-fields.

Ultimately, I used a combination of data and my own judgment to make these picks. I’m confident these recommendations will be a reliable way to learn about paleontology.