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Stories from Riley Black

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The Greatest Dinosaur Hits of 2011

This was a big year for dinosaur discoveries and debates. Here are a few highlights

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How to Turn a Dinosaur Into a Bird

Two classic bits of animation beautifully visualized the evolution of birds from dinosaurs

An articulated Iguanodon hand on display at London’s Natural History Museum

A Mysterious Thumb

What did Iguanodon use its big thumb spikes for—stabbing attackers, breaking into seeds, or possibly stripping foliage from branches?

When it came time to pick a 2011 Christmas tree ornament, the choice was clear - I needed a dinosaur.

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

An early 19th century representation of Megalosaurus at the Crystal Palace gardens. Thomas Henry Huxley's work gave dinosaurs a much more bird-like look.

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?

A reconstruction of Patagonykus. The newly-described Bonapartenykus was a close relative of this dinosaur.

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?

An Allosaurus threatens a Stegosaurus at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Where the Dinosaurs Are

Ready for a dinosaur road trip? We have a list of top dinosaur “evotourism” destinations just for you

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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?

A Suarophaganax (left) harries an enormous Diplodocus at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science

A Comedy of Dinosaur Errors

If any dinosaur has a tortured history, it’s the giant predator Saurophaganax

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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

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December Dinosaur Digest

From guarding cars to stomping around New Jersey, dinosaurs have been prominent in this week’s headlines

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The Dinosaur Family Foodchain

You Are Umasou has to be one of the cutest dinosaur films ever, and one of the strangest

Baby Maiasaura and a parent at a mount in the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. Baby Maiasaura bones and egg fragments were the first dinosaur fossils in space.

Dinosaurs In Space!

It’s not just science fiction—dinosaurs have already been in space twice

Tail vertebrae from a previously known Alamosaurus specimen (A), compared with a newly-discovered Alamosaurus tail vertebra (B) and a tail vertebra from the large titanosaur Futalognkosaurus (C).

Alamosaurus Gets Pumped Up

New fossils give a body size boost to what may have been North America’s largest dinosaur, Alamosaurus

An embellished "Brontosaurus" menaces the heroes of Frank Mackenzie Savile's "Beyond the Great South Wall"

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.

A life restoration of Spinops sternbergorum

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?

A tyrannosaur bursts from the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Lost World'

Dinosaur Sighting: Hardcover Tyrannosaurus

The “Library Phantom” strikes again, and transforms a copy of The Lost World into a prehistoric scene

The Tyrannosaurus in Fantasia was given a nearly-accurate, tail-off-the-ground pose like this mount of Gorgosaurus at the American Museum of Natural History.

Disney’s Age of Dinosaurs

As ugly as they were, some of Fantasia’s dinosaurs were ahead of their time

Bones from the foot of a hadrosaur attributed to Edmontosaurus annectens

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

Gorgosaurus as envisioned by Lambe. Clockwise from the upper left - standing, sitting, in repose, and feeding.

Lambe’s Lazy, Scavenging Gorgosaurus

Back when tyrannosaurs were new to science, paleontologist Lawrence Lambe cast them as bumbling scavengers that ate rotten flesh

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