Paleontology
Blog Carnival #18: Resurrected Dinosaurs, Nostalgia for Kool-Aid and More From ArtEvolved
Back From the Dead: Catalogue of Organisms asks readers, “if you could bring any organism back from extinction, what would you choose and why?” (One commenter suggests “Utahraptor, for human population control.”)Just Another Day at the Office: “Some things that are commonplace in the world of palae...
April 01, 2010 |
By Brian Wolly
Mammoths and Mastodons: All American Monsters
A mammoth discovery in 1705 sparked a fossil craze and gave the young United States a symbol of national might
April 2010 |
By Richard Conniff
Dinosaur Sighting: I Think it Has Spotted Us!
Sometimes, while driving down the highway, I imagine what it would be like if dinosaurs came back to life. Would drivers have to watch out for Hadrosaurus and Dryptosaurus in addition to deer, raccoons, and opossums? Of course we will never know (and that's probably a good thing), but a sculpture t...
March 31, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
New Comic Series Returns to Jurassic Park
It is going to be a long time before the Jurassic Park franchise returns to the big screen, but if you really need your JP fix, comic publisher IDW will be launching a new series this summer. Called "Jurassic Park: Redemption," the new story will bring back some characters from the first film that ...
March 30, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
A Tyrannosaur From Down Under?
Almost every tyrannosaur ever discovered, from the feather-covered Dilong to the gargantuan Tyrannosaurus, has come from the northern hemisphere, but a new discovery announced last week in the journal Science suggests that tyrant dinosaurs may have roamed ancient Australia, too.As reported by paleo...
March 29, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Uncovering Seitaad: An Interview With Mark Loewen
Earlier this week I reported on the discovery of a new, 190 million year old sauropodomorph dinosaur Seitaad ruessi from southern Utah, and scientist Mark Loewen of the Utah Museum of Natural History (one of the paleontologists who described the fossil) was kind enough to answer a few of my questio...
March 26, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Seitaad ruessi, the "Sand Monster" of the Navajo Sandstone
Even though the first dinosaurs had evolved by 228 million years ago, it was not until the early Jurassic (about 201 million to 176 million years ago) that they were established as the dominant large vertebrates on land. It was during this time that various groups of dinosaurs diversified and began...
March 24, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Dinosaur Sighting: Another Mini-Golf Dinosaur
It looks like, outside of museums, mini golf courses are a good place to find dinosaurs. After last week's sighting from a defunct Maryland course, the owner of Sudbury, Ontario's Dinosaur Valley Mini Golf let us know that their course boasts more than 20 skeletons of prehistoric animals. Not all o...
March 23, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Bringing a Dryptosaurus Back to Life
In reaction to my post about Dryptosaurus the other week, paleo-artist Michael Skrepnick told me about the efforts of his colleague Tyler Keillor to create a fleshed-out restoration of the dinosaur. I immediately e-mailed Tyler about the project, and he was kind enough to answer a few of my questio...
March 22, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Exquisitely-Preserved Skeleton Introduces a New Velociraptor Relative
Between 84 million and 75 million years ago, near the end of the Cretaceous, part of the land now known as the Gobi Desert was host to a variety of raptors. There were two species of Velociraptor, a similar predator named Tsaagan mangas, a tiny feathered dinosaur called Mahakala omnogovae, and, as ...
March 19, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Who Pays for Dino Research?
It is not easy being a paleontologist. Even though innumerable museums have dinosaur exhibits and filmmakers are almost constantly calling paleontologists to appear on television documentaries, it is extremely difficult for researchers to find jobs and secure funding for their research. Indeed, the...
March 18, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Dinosaur Sighting: Mini-Golf Dinosaur
Miniature golf can be a lot of fun, and it is even better if the course is decorated with dinosaurs. This week's Dinosaur Sighting, sent to us by Chip Ohlhaver, is of one such dinosaur sculpture that still decorates a now-defunct mini golf course in Maryland. Even better, Chip reports that the cour...
March 17, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Dinosaur Watch Will Take a Bite Out of Your Wallet
For the dinosaur lover who has everything, watchmaker Louis Moinet recently debuted the "Jurassic Tourbillon" watch. Said to contain fragments of "authenticated dinosaur bones," this gold-cased, diamond-encrusted watch is meant for high-class buyers with cash to burn (it costs over $140,000!), but ...
March 16, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Restoring One of New Jersey's Dinosaurs
When I was growing up, New Jersey seemed like the worst place to be for an aspiring paleontologist. If I wanted to go looking for dinosaurs, it seemed, I would have to go out West. It was not until much later that I learned that New Jersey was home to some of the most important dinosaur discoveries...
March 15, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Incisivosaurus, a Dinosaur With an Overbite
Over and over again the same dinosaurs show up in the news: Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, Apatosaurus, Velociraptor, etc., etc., etc. Movies, books and television have made them into superstars, but we should not forget that these dinosaurs represent only a small part of the range of dinosaur diversi...
March 12, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Return of the Dinosaucers?
After two decades, the "Dinosaucers" might be coming back. No, I am not talking about a line of collectible plates with dinosaurs emblazoned on them, but a 1987 cartoon that starred dinosaurs from space. Even though scores of episodes were created only the first season was actually aired, but rumor...
March 11, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Asteroid Strike Confirmed as Dinosaur Killer
Sixty-five million years ago, life on Earth suffered one of the worst mass extinctions of all time. It was an event that killed creatures across the spectrum of life's diversity, from tiny marine invertebrates to the largest dinosaurs, but what could have caused it?A number of hypotheses have been ...
March 10, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Dinosaur Sighting: Sauropod in the Hedgerow
Today's Dinosaur Sighting comes to us from science blogger Mo Hassan ("The Disillusioned Taxonomist"). Mo spotted this topiary brachiosaur while visiting the Van Hage Animal Centre in Ware, Hertfordshire, England, though it was nowhere near as large as some of the real brachiosaurs got millions of...
March 09, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Just When You Thought it Was Safe to Turn on the TV... Dinoshark
I may be completely wrong, but somehow I get the feeling that somewhere on a wall at SyFy Channel headquarters there is a special dartboard. On it are the names of large, predatory animals like "Shark," "Smilodon," "Giant Squid" and "Dinosaur," and when the company executives run out of ideas they ...
March 08, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
Spielberg Plans to Create a Different "Jurassic Park"
Steven Spielberg, the director of the first two Jurassic Park films, may not be done with dinosaurs yet. Even though plans for another JP film have only just begun to come together, rumor has it that the famous producer and director will be helming a new television project called "Terra Nova." Lit...
March 05, 2010 |
By Brian Switek
