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New Web Site Has the Scoop on Pterosaurs
The great thing about the Internet is that it makes it easy to find out about just about anything. The drawback is that not all that information is accurate. Sites like Wikipedia are handy but are only as good as the information being put into them, but if you are a fan of the prehistoric flying re...
January 11, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Poor, Dumb, Infected Dinosaurs
Every bone tells a story. It is easy to think of a bone as a static thing, a part of an animal's body that does not change, but in truth bones are constantly being remodeled throughout the life of an organism. This was true of dinosaurs just as much as any vertebrate living today, and the fossil bo...
January 08, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Drawing an Allosaurus, Step by Step
About a year ago I tried my hand at drawing a Tyrannosaurus according to a how-to DVD. I thought it wasn't too shabby, but to paraphrase the response of my editor, it seems that my talents are better suited to writing.Artist Ronnie Tucker, however, is more skilled with pencil and paper than I, and ...
January 07, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Dinosaur Sighting: Roadside Dinosaurs in Israel
Most of the Dinosaur Sightings featured on this blog come from the United States, but I am always pleased when a submission comes in from abroad. Our latest photo comes from Jeremy Price and his son Eitan, who spotted this pair of dinosaurs outside of a restroom at a roadside attraction along Isra...
January 06, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Mary Anning, an Amazing Fossil Hunter
Though she had little formal education, Mary taught herself geology, paleontology, anatomy and scientific illustration, and her finds were key to the development of the theory of evolution
January 05, 2010 |
By Sarah Zielinski
Top Dino Discoveries of 2009
It has been a good year for dinosaurs. Every month multiple new, interesting discoveries have been announced that either introduce us to new dinosaurs or tell us something new about those already familiar to us. I have been able to cover only a small fraction of all these stories here on Dinosaur T...
December 31, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Blog Carnival #15: Dino Documentaries, Paleo Art Tips, Why Dinosaurs Matter and More...
That’s Entertainment: In the wake of the “Clash of the Dinosaurs” fiasco, David Hone at Archosaur Musings, has drafted a brief “manifesto” on the dumbing-down of dino documentaries. “If you want your show to be a trashy dinosaurs fighting show then fine, do it,” Hone writes, “but please don’t pret...
December 30, 2009 |
By Mark Strauss
Alternate Evolution and Avatar
Like many other people over the holiday break, I saw James Cameron's blockbuster film Avatar. It was absolutely amazing. Set on a far-off world in the not-too-distant future, the film is a sort of Last Samurai or Dances With Wolves in space, but what really grabbed my attention were the creatures t...
December 29, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
A Plesiosaur That Ate Ichthyosaurs for Lunch
Finding an articulated fossil skeleton is always a delight for paleontologists. Not only do such specimens illustrate how all those bones went together, but sometimes there are little associated bonuses that could not be seen if the skeleton had been scattered. In the case of a 161- to 155-million-...
December 28, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Were Feathered Dinosaurs Venomous?
Though its dinosaurs looked pretty good, Jurassic Park was not particularly accurate as far as science was concerned. One of the real howlers that sent paleontologists reeling was the decision to make Dilophosaurus, one of the largest of the early predatory dinosaurs, the dinosaur equivalent of a s...
December 22, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Scientist, Filmmakers Clash Over Dinosaur Documentary
Earlier this month, the Discovery Channel premiered the four-part documentary miniseries Clash of the Dinosaurs. I was not all that impressed. It was good to see some scientists get some air time, but overall the hyperbole and repetitiveness of the show made watching it a bit of a chore.Some of the...
December 21, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Tawa hallae and the Making of Meat-Eating Dinosaurs
Part of what so fascinates us about dinosaurs is that they came in such a wide array of forms. Stegosaurus, Velociraptor, Brachiosaurus, Triceratops, Spinosaurus and more; they were all very different creatures. Yet we also know that dinosaurs share a common ancestry. If we had the bones of every d...
December 17, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Were Dinosaurs Meant to Fly?
One of the most important insights Charles Darwin had was that evolution does not follow a pre-ordained path. There is no evolutionary endpoint that organisms are striving toward. The "endless forms most beautiful" we observe in nature are both shaped by adaption to local conditions and constrained...
December 16, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Doing the Hadrosaur Hop
I always feel a bit sorry for hadrosaurs. They are sometimes referred to as the "cows of the Cretaceous," herbivorous dinosaurs that lacked the impressive armor, spikes, and horns of their relatives the ankylosaurs and ceratopsians. This does not mean that hadrosaurs were entirely defenseless again...
December 15, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Dinosaur Sighting: Return of the "Thunderbeast"
Apparently Oregon's dinosaur statue parks were where it was at in the 1980s.This week's sighting comes to us courtesy of the Barry family, who stopped by "Thunderbeast Park" back when it was still in operation. The park has since been shut down, but that rumor has it that this Tyrannosaurus still l...
December 10, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
New Dinosaur Helps Fill Out the Early History of "Raptors"
When the big-screen adaptation of Jurassic Park premeired in 1993, "raptors" instantly became some of the most popular dinosaurs. For scientists, though, they posed a troublesome problem. There were only a few types of raptor, technically called dromaeosaurs, known at the time, and paleontologists...
December 09, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Did Caterpillars Starve Dinosaurs to Death?
I love discarded hypotheses for the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Some ideas, such as a global pandemic, sound at least somewhat reasonable, but others seem to have come out of left field. One particular paper, published in the Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera in 1962 by entomologist...
December 08, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Dinosaurs Clash on the Discovery Channel
Ever since the time of their discovery, dinosaurs have fascinated scientists with their arsenals of teeth, claws, spikes and armor. Clearly the extinct creatures often fought each other to the death, and for the past century and a half artists have been envisioning what such epic battles must have ...
December 04, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Worst... Dinosaurs... Ever...
It is not very difficult to bring dinosaurs back to life anymore, at least in movies. Film special effects have progressed to the point where virtual dinosaurs can easily be built to spec on the computer and directed with precision. If anything, sometimes it seems like there are too many computer-g...
December 03, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Dinosaur Sighting: Stars and Stripes Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus is one of the most immediately recognizable of all dinosaurs (it is hard to miss something with a tiny head, a back decked with bony plates, and a tail tipped in spikes), and this sculpture makes it even harder to ignore. Decked out in a top hat and stars and stripes, this piece of art...
December 02, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
