Chinese pterodactyl wings its way to the United Kingdom
University of PortsmouthThe first ever specimen of a pterodactyl, more commonly found in China and Brazil, has been found in the United Kingdom.
The first ever specimen of a pterodactyl, more commonly found in China and Brazil, has been found in the United Kingdom.
Among dinosaurs of ancient Colorado, scavenging and possibly cannibalism were responses to a resource-scarce environment, according to a study published May 27, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Stephanie Drumheller of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and colleagues.
While smaller dinosaurs needed speed, huge predators like T. rex were optimized for energy-efficient walking, according to a study published May 13, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Alexander Dececchi of Mount Marty College, South Dakota and colleagues.
100 million years ago, ferocious predators, including flying reptiles and crocodile-like hunters, made the Sahara the most dangerous place on Earth.
Scientists of the University of Vienna examined parts of a vertebral column, which was found in northern Spain in 1996, and assigned it to the extinct shark group Ptychodontidae. In contrast to teeth, shark vertebrae bear biological information, like body size, growth, and age and allowed the team surrounding Patrick L.
A new feathered dinosaur that lived in New Mexico 67 million years ago is one of the last known surviving raptor species, according to a new publication in the journal Scientific Reports.
A topic of considerable interest to paleontologists is how dinosaur-dominated ecosystems were structured, how dinosaurs and co-occurring animals were distributed across the landscape, how they interacted with one another, and how these systems compared to ecosystems today.
During the Middle Jurassic Period, the Isle of Skye in Scotland was home to a thriving community of dinosaurs that stomped across the ancient coastline, according to a study published March 11, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Paige dePolo and Stephen Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and colleagues.
Dinosaur blood vessels, giant viruses, and antibiotic-building enzymes
The fossilized tail of a young dinosaur that lived on a prairie in southern Alberta, Canada, is home to the remains of a 60-million-year-old tumor.
Scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks have identified a new species of thalattosaur, a marine reptile that lived more than 200 million years ago.
Several groups of reptiles persisted in Jurassic Africa even as volcanism ruined their habitat
A remarkable new species of meat-eating dinosaur, Allosaurus jimmadseni, was unveiled at the Natural History Museum of Utah. The huge carnivore inhabited the flood plains of western North America during the Late Jurassic Period, between 157-152 million years ago, making it the geologically oldest species of Allosaurus, predating the more well-known state fossil of Utah, Allosaurus fragilis.
Presentations on natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes and their impacts will be held in Scott Hall and are open to the public at the Rutgers Geology Museum’s 52nd Annual Open House. There will also be hands-on activity sessions for kids, a mineral sale and rock and mineral identification in Scott Hall, and make-and-take stations in the Rutgers Geology Museum. Field Station Dinosaurs will bring its baby Hadrosaurus puppet and will also offer hands-on activities for visitors. All events are free and no preregistration is required.
Without a doubt, Tyrannosaurus rex is the most famous dinosaur in the world. The 40-foot-long predator with bone crushing teeth inside a five-foot long head are the stuff of legend.
A 91-million-year-old fossil shark newly named Cretodus houghtonorum discovered in Kansas joins a list of large dinosaur-era animals. Preserved in sediments deposited in an ancient ocean called the Western Interior Seaway that covered the middle of North America during the Late Cretaceous period (144 million to 66 million years ago), Cretodus houghtonorum was an impressive shark estimated to be nearly 17 feet or slightly more than 5 meters long based on a new study appearing in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Invisible footprints hiding since the end of the last ice age – and what lies beneath them – have been discovered by Cornell University researchers using a special type of radar in a novel way.
Discovery provides valuable insight into evolution of theropod dinosaurs around the world
A rocky start in college hasn’t stopped alumnus Zachary Heck (BS Geology, ’16) from pursuing his prehistoric passions. Having a year off due to academic suspension helped him get back on track, giving him time to a begin career in paleontology before he even graduated.
Tyrannosaurus rex, one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs on the planet, had an air conditioner in its head, suggest scientists from the University of Missouri
Modern flamingoes employ filter feeding and their feces are, as a result, rich in remains of microscopically-small aquatic prey. Very similar contents are described from more than 150 million year old pterosaur droppings in a recent paper in PeerJ.
The 165-million-year-old fossil of Microdocodon gracilis, a tiny, shrew-like animal, shows the earliest example of modern hyoid bones in mammal evolution.
The males of one species of butterfly are more attracted to females that are active, not necessarily what they look like, according to a recent research conducted at Augustana University.The paper, “Behaviour before beauty: Signal weighting during mate selection in the butterfly Papilio polytes,” found that males of the species noticed the activity levels of potential female mates, not their markings.
Mackerel sharks (Lamniformes) are a group consisting of some of the most iconic sharks we know, including the mako shark (the fastest shark in the world), the infamous great white shark and Megalodon, the biggest predatory shark that has ever roamed the world’s oceans.
When an asteroid smacked into the Earth 66 million years ago, it triggered mass extinctions all over the planet.
Bad news, Jurassic Park fans--the odds of scientists cloning a dinosaur from ancient DNA are pretty much zero.
The Smithsonian’s Sidedoor has returned with new episodes and a new host. Now in its fourth season, the podcast invites listeners to step behind the curtain into a fascinating world of Smithsonian stories.
Tyrannosauroid dinosaurs have a long evolutionary history and include iconic giants like Tyrannosaurus rex. Now an international research team including Alan H. Turner, PhD, from Stony Brook University, have uncovered the skeleton of a small tyrannosaur from Late Cretaceous rocks in New Mexico.
Before they evolved the ability to fly, two-legged dinosaurs may have begun to flap their wings as a passive effect of running along the ground
The duck-billed hadrosaurs walked the Earth over 90-million years ago and were one of the most successful groups of dinosaurs.
The complete skeletal remains of a new species of Mongolian dinosaur fill in a gap in the evolution of hadrosaurs, according to a study released April 17, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Khishigjav Tsogtbataaar of the Mongolian Academy of Science, David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum, and colleagues.
A new study into one of the world’s oldest types of fish, Coelacanth, provides fresh insights into the development of the skull and brain of vertebrates and the evolution of lobe-finned fishes and land animals, as published in Nature.
Paleontologists from Hokkaido University in Japan, in cooperation with paleontologists from the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis announced plans this week for Mission Jurassic, a project that will support paleontological excavation of a fossil-rich plot of land in northern Wyoming. The project will bring together scientists from around the world, including the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, to reveal dramatic new secrets about the world of millions of years ago.
University of Alberta paleontologists have just reported the world’s biggest Tyrannosaurus rex and the largest dinosaur skeleton ever found in Canada. The 13-metre-long T. rex, nicknamed “Scotty,” lived in prehistoric Saskatchewan 66 million years ago.
A new, wallaby-sized herbivorous dinosaur has been identified from five fossilized upper jaws in 125 million year old rocks from the Cretaceous period of Victoria, southeastern Australia.
Dinosaurs were unaffected by long-term climate changes and flourished before their sudden demise by asteroid strike.
Not by meteorite alone did the dinosaurs die off. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory research scientist Kyle Samperton and colleagues present the most compelling evidence yet that massive volcanic eruptions in the Deccan Traps region of India contributed to the fall of the dinosaurs – also known as the end-Cretaceous mass extinction – approximately 66 million years ago.
A research team has discovered a previously unknown species of marsupial that lived in Alaska's Arctic during the era of dinosaurs, adding a vivid new detail to a complex ancient landscape.
Tiny, opossum-like animal lived alongside dinosaurs in Alaska's polar forests roughly 69 million years ago and faced months of winter darkness.
The rich levels of biodiversity on land seen across the globe today are not a recent phenomenon: diversity on land has been similar for at least the last 60 million years, since soon after the extinction of the dinosaurs.
An exceptional sauropod dinosaur specimen from the middle Cretaceous of Tanzania represents a unique species and provides new insights into sauropod evolution, according to a study published February 13, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Eric Gorscak of Midwestern University, Illinois, and Patrick O’Connor of Ohio University, USA.
A new oviraptorosaur species from the Late Cretaceous was discovered in Mongolia, according to a study published in February 6, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Yuong-Nam Lee from Seoul National University, South Korea, and colleagues.
Scientists have just discovered a dinosaur relative that lived in Antarctica 250 million years ago. The iguana-sized reptile's genus name, Antarctanax, means "Antarctic king."
Long-necked dinosaurs (sauropods) could orient their forefeet both forward and sideways. The orientation of their feet depended on the speed and centre of mass of the animals.
Fossils from ‘Valley of Whales’ suggest B. isis predated smaller whales and fish
Spectacular flying reptiles armed with long teeth and claws which once dominated the skies have been rediscovered, thanks a palaeontology student’s PhD research.
Researchers used 3D computer modeling to simulate heat exchange in dinosaurs
Ankylosaurs likely regulated their body temperature with convoluted nasal passages that acted as heat exchangers between air and body, according to a study published December 19, 2018 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jason Bourke from Ohio University, USA, and colleagues.
More than 85 well-preserved dinosaur footprints - made by at least seven different species - have been uncovered in East Sussex, representing the most diverse and detailed collection of these trace fossils from the Cretaceous Period found in the UK to date.