Paleontology
How to Turn a Dinosaur Into a Bird
Two classic bits of animation beautifully visualized the evolution of birds from dinosaurs
December 28, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
A Mysterious Thumb
What did Iguanodon use its big thumb spikes for—stabbing attackers, breaking into seeds, or possibly stripping foliage from branches?
December 27, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Deck the Halls With Dinosaurs
Given their probable diet of conifers, I'm surprised there aren't even more holiday sauropods in the Christmas tree mix
December 23, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Huxley’s Apocryphal Dinosaur Dinner
Fossil lore says 19th century naturalist T.H. Huxley realized that birds were dinosaurs when he carved into a Christmas turkey, but what really happened?
December 22, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
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
A Comedy of Dinosaur Errors
If any dinosaur has a tortured history, it's the giant predator Saurophaganax
December 16, 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
The Dinosaur Family Foodchain
You Are Umasou has to be one of the cutest dinosaur films ever, and one of the strangest
December 13, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Dinosaurs In Space!
It's not just science fiction—dinosaurs have already been in space twice
December 12, 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
Who Wrote the First Dinosaur Novel?
A decade before The Lost World debuted, one science fiction writer beat Arthur Conan Doyle to the dinosaurian punch.
December 08, 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
Dinosaur Sighting: Hardcover Tyrannosaurus
The "Library Phantom" strikes again, and transforms a copy of The Lost World into a prehistoric scene
December 06, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
Disney’s Age of Dinosaurs
As ugly as they were, some of Fantasia's dinosaurs were ahead of their time
December 05, 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
Lambe’s Lazy, Scavenging Gorgosaurus
Back when tyrannosaurs were new to science, paleontologist Lawrence Lambe cast them as bumbling scavengers that ate rotten flesh
December 01, 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
Has Terra Nova Delivered on the Dinosaurs?
What's the use of setting your science-fiction family drama 85 million years in the past if you're not going to highlight some of the local fauna?
November 29, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
The Simpsons Sit With Dinosaurs
D'oh! Homer and the gang meet up with some scary dinosaurs
November 28, 2011 |
By Brian Switek
