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Riley Black

Science Correspondent

Riley Black

Riley Black has been a regular contributor to Smithsonian magazine for more than 15 years. A best-selling and award-winning author of books such as The Last Days of the Dinosaurs and Tyrant Lizard Queen, she specializes in drawing tales of prehistoric lives from the latest paleontological research.

Highlights

  • Winner of a 2024 Friend of Darwin award from the National Center for Science Education 
  • Repeat contributor to publications such as Smithsonian magazine, National Geographic and Slate, as well as a repeat guest on programs such as “All Things Considered,” “Science Friday” and “NOVA” 
  • Her best-selling book The Last Days of the Dinosaurs was a clue on “Jeopardy!” in the Science Bookshelf category.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in marine science and ecology from Rutgers University 

Enormous dinosaurs like the Brachiosaurus in this illustration evolved multiple times over millions of years.

What Was the Biggest Dinosaur? Fragmentary Fossils Make It Hard to Tell

Pinning down the most titanic of the large sauropod dinosaurs is not an easy task, since the odds were generally against the biggest ones being buried and preserved

Mountains in Montana’s Makoshika State Park, where some of the Hell Creek Formation lies.

The Hell Creek Formation Is North America’s Legendary Boneyard. See the Top Five Discoveries Found in the Iconic Fossil Bed

From preserved plants to T. rex, the material found in these Late Cretaceous rocks has resulted in countless breakthroughs for paleontologists

Spinosaurus was the largest and most aquatic of the spinosaurs, a group of dinosaurs with crocodilian snouts.

Was Spinosaurus Really a ‘Hell Heron’? Digging Into the Star of Netflix’s ‘The Dinosaurs’

With an incredible sail and heavy bones that might have acted as ballast, Spinosaurus seems primed for snatching fish. The creature has long captivated the public, from its early mysteries to the recent discovery of a new species

Based on Andrewsarchus’ skull size and the skull-to-body-size ratios of other hoofed predators called mesonychids, scientists estimated in 1924 that the beast was more than 12 feet long and about 6 feet tall. Reassessments of Andrewsarchus’ evolutionary tree, however, suggest this estimate is inaccurate.

This Giant Carnivore Ran on Hooves. Scientists Are Investigating Its Massive Skull and Crushing Teeth to Decipher the Beast’s True Nature

For more than a century, paleontologists have been piecing together how the mysterious predator Andrewsarchus is related to other mammals, like the extinct “hell pigs” and “wolves with hooves”

The small dinosaur Patagonykus—one of an odd-looking group called alvarezsaurs—puzzled experts with its stout claws and bird-like bones.

Small, Stubby-Armed Dinosaurs Have Confounded Paleontologists. Are Answers Finally Within Reach?

Recent discoveries about an alvarezsaur called Manipulonyx have drawn renewed attention to this group of bird-like, clawed creatures and the mysteries around their anatomy and behavior

Shovel-tusked elephants like Amebelodon were discovered nearly a century ago, and paleontologists have learned more about their anatomy and behavior with time. This 1932 illustration was later found to be inaccurate, as Amebelodon actually had a longer and narrower trunk.

Strange, Shovel-Tusked Elephants Puzzled Paleontologists, Until Experts Took a Closer Look at Their Teeth

The animals’ extended lower jaws were seemingly made for scooping, but research over the past few decades has found they could do a lot more than initially expected

Strange fossils reveal that predatory fish with a wide array of dental setups once stalked prehistoric waters.

Sharklike Fish With Weird, Buzz-Saw Jaws Sliced Through the Seas, Then Vanished. Now, Paleontologists Are Unraveling Their Secrets

These “total monsters of fishes” are extinct today, though new clues about their lives come from CT scans and their closest living relatives: the big-eyed ratfish of the deep sea

Newly discovered species filled gaps in dinosaur evolution and shed light on historic migrations, while other studies offered new ways to date remains and made key insights about diets.

The Top Ten Dinosaur Discoveries of 2025, From Preserved Blood Vessels to the Return of a Short King

With studies of fossilized bones, gut contents, eggshells and more, paleontologists revealed new and captivating details about the enormous reptiles that once roamed the Earth

Smithsonian magazine's picks for the best books about science in 2025 include Replaceable You, Dinner With King Tut and North to the Future.

The Ten Best Science Books of 2025

From “experimental archaeology” to the mysterious appeal of exploration, the wide-ranging subjects detailed in these titles captivated Smithsonian magazine’s science contributors this year

Camels evolved into a range of shapes and sizes, including small forms like these Stenomylus on display at the American Museum of Natural History.

Meet the Extinct Camels of North America, From Ice Age Giants to Sheep-Size Runners

Largely outshone by fossils of horses, the earliest camels are getting another look from scientists determined to sort out the relationships and adaptations of these “absolutely bonkers” herbivores

Ecological scent detection dog Circe searches for Canelo Hills ladies’ tresses in the tall vegetation

This Rare, Endangered Orchid Only Exists in Two Locations. Can Dogs, Cows and Fungi Help It Thrive?

A Smithsonian ecologist is trying to restore the plant, Spiranthes delitescens, which grows on Arizona’s sky islands

Animal life seemed to explode into a wide variety of new forms in the Cambrian period.

What Led Life to Flourish Roughly 520 Million Years Ago?

Changes to the world’s oceans and the rise of certain predators may have driven diversification

Predatory dinosaurs like Acrocanthosaurus perform a mating dance. Fossils indicating such a dance took place, possibly by this species, were described in 2016.

From Dinosaur Scratches to Insects in Amber, How Paleontologists Uncover Prehistoric Courtship

Researchers have found fossil evidence of varied creatures wooing and mating, as they continue to search for the telltale signs of dinosaurs copulating

Early whales walked on land and swam in the shallows to hunt.

Before Whales Took to the Sea, These Ten Species Walked on Land

The creatures, which ranged in size from that of a fox to more than 50 feet long, divided their time between the coast and the water

Artist illustration of a pack of Borophagus secundus

What Happened to the Bone-Crushing Dogs That Once Hunted Across North America?

Before going extinct roughly two million years ago, canids known as borophagines took down and consumed much larger prey

Reconstruction and illustration of Mirasaura in its natural forested environment, hunting insects

This Surprising Ancient Reptile Had a Colorful, Corrugated Sail on Its Back. New Research Suggests It Was Used to Communicate

A 247-million-year-old fossil from a German natural history museum reveals the secrets of Mirasaura

A variety of tyrannosaurs roamed the planet before T. rex evolved.

Meet Ten Tyrannosaurs That Came Before T. Rex, From Small, Feathery Creatures to 30-Foot-Long Bone-Crushers

Everyone knows the famous tyrant lizard king, but its relatives amaze, too

Ancient sloths lived in trees, on mountains, in deserts, in boreal forests and on open savannas. Some grew as large as elephants.

Giant Sloths and Many Other Massive Creatures Were Once Common on Our Planet. With Environmental Changes, Such Giants Could Thrive Again

If large creatures like elephants, giraffes and bison are allowed to thrive, they could alter habitats that allow for the rise of other giants

An artist’s reconstruction of the fossilized landscape, plants and animals found preserved in a remote bonebed of Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park

A Bone Bed From the Dawn of the Dinosaurs Has Revealed the Oldest Known Pterosaur Found in North America

Fossil surprises abound in new research that unearths the history of the Triassic Period

Some sebecids grew to lengths of 20 feet.

After Crocs and Lemurs Went Extinct on the Mainland, Many Survived on Islands for Millions of Years

Isolation allows creatures to thrive as their relatives perish due to the threats present on much larger landmasses

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