Fossils
Megalosaurus and the Balance of Nature
The vision of dinosaurs that I grew up with in the 1980s is very different from the one we are familiar with today. It is no longer appropriate to show a Brachiosaurus wallowing in a lake or a Tyrannosaurus dragging its tail on the ground. Yet these changes are relatively minor compared to the tran...
November 24, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Introducing Aardonyx, the "Earth Claw"
The sauropod dinosaurs were the largest animals to have ever walked on the earth. They were so incredibly huge, in fact, that they had to move about on four legs—but since the earliest dinosaurs were bipedal, paleontologists have long known that the ancestors of giants like Brachiosaurus and Apatos...
November 12, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Large Dinosaurs Ran Hot
When dinosaurs were first recognized by European naturalists during the early 19th century, they were interpreted as being immense, lumbering reptiles similar to iguanas and crocodiles. Since that time our understanding of dinosaurs has changed substantially; early paleontologists such as Gideon Ma...
November 11, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Terrible Tyrannosaur Teens Bit Each Other on the Face
Humans youngsters often use their hands and arms to push and shove, but young Tyrannosaurus were obviously a bit different than us. It would take a lot of effort for two of the fighting dinosaurs to get close enough to scrabble at each other with their small arms, and so they employed a different t...
November 04, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
"Bone-Headed" Dinosaurs Reshaped Their Skulls
If you knew nothing at all about dogs, but you were presented with a lineup of the skeletons of a variety of breeds from chihuahua to bulldog to German shepherd to mastiff, you could be excused for thinking they were different species. Their skeletons seem to be so different, yet we know they are a...
October 28, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Paleontologists Announce New Tiny Dinosaur
From movies to museums, the most famous dinosaurs are among the largest. We like superlatives, and want to know what the biggest, fastest, and fiercest dinosaurs are. Yet, just like living animals, dinosaurs came in a variety of shapes and sizes, and a team of paleontologists has just announced, in...
October 26, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
How to Make a Dinosaur Bonebed
It is often assumed that dinosaur paleontologists are interested only in getting the fossils they discover out of the ground as quickly as possible. This is not true. Paleontologists generally take great care to document and catalogue every fossil removed from a dig site, because the position and s...
October 21, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
The Allosaurs Make a Comeback
I have always felt a bit sorry for Allosaurus. It was one of the top predators in what would become North America during the Jurassic, but the fearsome tyrannosaurs of the late Cretaceous are much more popular. In fact, the popularity of Tyrannosaurus and its kin has created the impression that the...
October 20, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
How Dinosaurs Got a Grip on Climbing Hills
About 199 million years ago, on a small patch of land that is now preserved in the present-day African nation of Lesotho, there was an inclined slope next to a riverbed. Within hours, days, or even weeks of each other, several different dinosaurs climbed up and down the slope, leaving their footpri...
October 19, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Darwinopterus, a Transitional Pterosaur
The discovery of new kinds of feathered dinosaurs regularly makes the news these days, but it is important to remember that modern vertebrate paleontology encompasses much more than the search for the origin of birds. Indeed, this week scientists described an equally-spectacular fossil that fills i...
October 15, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Early Bird Archaeopteryx Grew More Like A Dinosaur
Modern birds grow amazingly fast. After hatching, many species grow to adult size in a matter of days to weeks. But a new study published in the journal PLoS One suggests that birds did not always exhibit the same rapid rate of growth. By looking at chips of bone taken from the legs of some of the ...
October 14, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Traces of Earth Shakers and Tiny Feet
Even though some of the largest dinosaurs get the most attention, dinosaurs actually came in a variety of sizes. This past week paleontologists announced two discoveries that emphasize just how large, and how small, some dinosaurs were.From Plagne, France came the announcement of the largest dinosa...
October 13, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
A Prehistoric Crime Scene
In 1996, researchers in Canada's Dinosaur Provincial Park recovered the partial left jawbone of a large tyrannosaur. Numerous remains of tyrannosaurs had been found from the location before, but this one was special. Embedded in the bone was the tooth of a second tyrannosaur.This specimen sat in a ...
October 08, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Alioramus altai: A New, Multi-Horned Tyrant
It has been a good month for tyrannosaur research. We have been introduced to the comparatively tiny tyrannosauroid Raptorex, have learned that Tyrannosaurus probably suffered from a parasitic infestation similar to one seen in living birds, and now a team of paleontologists led by Stephen Brusatte...
October 06, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
"Treasure Trove" of Dinosaur Eggs Found in India
Last week the BBC reported that a team of geologists from Periyar University stumbled upon dozens of fossilized dinosaur eggs in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.The geologists had been excavating a riverbed when they discovered layer upon layer of dinosaur eggs measuring 5 to 9 inches in diameter. T...
October 05, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
The Dimetrodon in Your Family Tree
Wherever you find dinosaurs, chances are that Dimetrodon is close by. The sail-backed creature is a staple of museum displays, boxes of sugar-saurus cookies, and sets of plastic dinosaurs, and I have to admit that it certainly does look dinosaur-like. Yet appearances can be deceiving. Not only was ...
October 02, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Tyrannosaurus Suffered From Bird Disease
By now it should not surprise anyone that birds and theropod dinosaurs were closely related. Numerous discoveries have revealed that many "bird" characteristics, like feathers, first evolved in dinosaurs and were passed on to the avian descendants of one group of theropods called coelurosaurs. Tyra...
September 30, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Feathers Before Archaeopteryx
Ever since the first skeleton of Archaeopteryx was discovered in 1861, the feathered dinosaur has been considered the oldest bird. During the last several decades, however, scientists have found that many "bird" features, such as feathers, first appeared among theropod dinosaurs. What defines a bir...
September 25, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
New Book: The Great Dinosaur Discoveries
There is no shortage of dinosaur encyclopedias available today. Each is organized a little differently and is aimed at a different audience, but there is a lot of overlap among them. The Great Dinosaur Discoveries, written by paleontologist Darren Naish, is a wonderful exception to this trend.Rathe...
September 24, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
Did "Raptor" Killing Claws Evolve For Climbing?
In one of the early scenes of Jurassic Park, the fictional paleontologist Alan Grant terrorizes a child visiting his dig site with a Deinonychus claw. If the dinosaurs were still alive they would have used the enlarged claw on their second toes to rip open the boy and eat his guts, Grant says, a fa...
September 22, 2009 |
By Brian Switek
