Fossils
Eggs and Enigmatic Dinosaurs
Paleontologists have found the bones of a new dinosaur with eggs nearby, but how do we know whether the bones and eggs go together?
December 21, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Hitchcock’s Primeval Birds
Paleontologist Edward Hitchcock was one of the first dinosaur track experts, but why did he insist that birds left the footprints?
December 19, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Nedoceratops: To Be, or Not to Be?
Should Nedoceratops and Torosaurus be sunk into Triceratops? The debate continues, and it's not just a bit of paleontological arcana
December 15, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Alamosaurus Gets Pumped Up
New fossils give a body size boost to what may have been North America's largest dinosaur, Alamosaurus
December 09, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Spinops: The Long-Lost Dinosaur
Spinops was one funky looking dinosaur, and its discovery emphasizes the role of museum collections. Who knows what else is waiting to be rediscovered?
December 07, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
A Detailed Guide to a Hadrosaur’s Foot
This is not super-sexy research, but some of the biggest gaps in our understanding about dinosaurs involve relatively simple things
December 02, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Inside Sauropod Armor
A hollow, thin-walled bone is not exactly the sort of structure that is going to protect a sauropod from attack—so what was its purpose?
November 30, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Was Tyrannosaurus a Big Turkey?
Tyrannosaurus has an image as the apex of the apex predators, and maybe that's why people get upset when paleontologists suggest it was at least partly covered in a coat of feathers
November 23, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Non-Avian Dinosaur Eats Avian Dinosaur
Paleontologists have found the bones of a bird inside a feathered dinosaur. What can this discovery tell us about how Microraptor lived?
November 22, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Paleontologists Track Dinosaurs Near Las Vegas
Very few skeletons have been found from this period, and much of what we know about the dinosaurs of the Early Jurassic Southwest comes from tracksites
November 21, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Pampadromaeus: Brazil’s Triassic Plains Runner
A newly discovered dinosaur from Brazil may give paleontologists a better understanding of what the ancestral dinosaur looked like
November 17, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Leyesaurus and the Origins of Giants
A new dinosaur found in northwestern Argentina adds more detail to the big picture of how forerunners to Jurassic giants evolved
November 14, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Montana’s “Dueling Dinosaurs”
Did a recently discovered pair of dinosaurs die at each other's throats?
November 10, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
The Origin of a Little Tyrant
Is "Nanotyrannus" a small-bodied tyrannosaur, a juvenile of some unknown species, or a young Tyrannosaurus rex?
November 08, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
SVP Dispatch: Life on the Lost Continent
At the annual SVP meeting, paleontologists review just how western North America got so many weird dinosaurs
November 04, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
At Last, a True Protoceratops Nest
Plus, fossil evidence for a Cretaceous turducken: inside the guts of a feathered Microraptor dinosaur were the partial remains of a prehistoric bird
November 03, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Living Sauropods? No Way
Dinosaurs have long been rumored to still survive in the Congo Basin, but is there any truth to the tall tales?
October 28, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
The Great Archaeopteryx Debates Continue
A new study claims to confirm Archaeopteryx as one of the earliest birds, but what does the ongoing debate about this feathered dinosaur mean for the way science works?
October 26, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
The Mysterious Torosaurus
Was Torosaurus just an adult Triceratops? A poorly understood species may hold the key to the answer
October 24, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Paleontologists Unveil the 11th Archaeopteryx
Just in time for the 150th anniversary year of Archaeopteryx, paleontologists announce an 11th specimen of the dinosaur-like bird
October 19, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
