Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Fossils

The skeleton of Sciurumimus, seen under UV light. You can see traces of protofeathers alon the dinosaur’s tail.

Did All Dinosaurs Have Feathers?

A newly-discovered fossil raises the possibility that all dinosaur lineages were fuzzy

None

A Sneak Peek at a New Dinosaur

Argentina unveils a new dinosaur to celebrate the country’s bicentennial

None

Will We Ever Find Dinosaurs Caught in the Act?

Is there any chance that paleontologists will one day find mating dinosaurs?

A reconstructed Acrocanthosaurus at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

In the Steps of a Hungry Acrocanthosaurus

A special set of footprints may record a dinosaur attack in progress

A restoration of Repenomamus snacking on a young Psittacosaurus

When Mammals Ate Dinosaurs

Our ancestors and cousins didn’t all live in the shadows of the Mesozoic world—some were burly carnivores

A reconstruction of the Edmontosaurus skull LACM 23502, with a beak based on a natural mold.

Shovel-Beaked, Not Duck-Billed

A rare fossil shows that duck-billed dinosaurs were not so duck-like after all

Even familiar dinosaurs, such as this Allosaurus at Utah's Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, still raise many questions about dinosaur biology.

The Dinosaurs They are a-Changin’

Paleontologists are describing new dinosaurs at an unprecedented pace, but there’s much we still don’t know about the biology of these animals

The widening of the canal has exposed a trove of fossils, including megalodon teeth.

A New Opportunity at the Panama Canal

The ongoing expansion of the waterway has given Smithsonian researchers a chance to find new fossils

Actual dinosaurs were discovered at Dinosaur National Monument a century ago. Starting in 1909, fossil hound Earl Douglass found fantastic remains of gigantic dinosaurs.

America’s Monumental Dinosaur Site

For the first time in years, visitors can once again see the nation’s most productive Jurassic park

Archosaur skull changes (juveniles on the left, adults on the right). While there was a significant amount of change between the juvenile and adult skulls of alligators (top) and the non-avian dinosaur Coelophysis (middle), there was little change between the juvenile and adult skulls of early birds such as Archaeopteryx (bottom) and their closest dinosaur relatives.

Birds Have Juvenile Dinosaur Skulls

The peculiar way birds grow up got its start among feathery non-avian dinosaurs

The rebbachisaurid Limaysaurus. This sauropod was similar to the ones discovered by Salgado and colleagues in the Patagonian bonebed.

Social Sauropods?

A bonebed in Argentina with three sauropods of different sizes adds new evidence that some of these dinosaurs were social creatures

A skeleton reconstruction of Eoabelisaurus, showing the recovered parts of the skeleton

New Dinosaur Signifies Dawn of Stubby-Armed Predators

A newly described abelisaurid pushes back the history of the blunt-skulled, stubby-armed predators

A speculative restoration of Australia's Cretaceous ceratosaur

Fragmentary Clue Reveals Australia’s First Ceratosaur

An isolated bone shows that Cretaceous Australia had an even richer mix of predatory dinosaurs

A huge Allosaurus threatens a super-sized Diplodocus. Did such giant dinosaurs fart? We don't know.

Media Blows Hot Air About Dinosaur Flatulence

A new study claims dinosaur farts contributed to prehistoric climate change, but don’t believe reports that they gassed themselves to death

A full-size restoration of what Aletopelta might have looked like, at the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Ankylosaur Reef

Even though dinosaurs never lived in the sea, a few unfortunate specimens created temporary reefs in ancient oceans

A pair of Pachycephalosaurus face off at the Museum of Ancient Life in Utah.

Fossil Testifies to Pachycephalosaur Pain

A damaged skull throws support to the idea that some dome-headed dinosaurs butted heads

Small coelurosaurs like this Troodon appear to have maintained stable levels of disparity during the last 12 million years of the Cretaceous.

New Wrinkle to the Story of the Last Dinosaurs

Were the last dinosaurs thriving or declining just before Tyrannosaurus and kin disappeared?

The tooth of Ostrafrikasaurus as seen from the front (A), tongue side (B), back (c) and cheek side (d)

The Mysterious Teeth of Ostafrikasaurus

A pair of enigmatic teeth might hint that croc-snouted spinosaurs had a deeper history than we presently understand

None

Why Is It Cool To Hate On Dinosaur Discoveries?

Tyrannosaur traditionalists are registering their displeasure at the way paleontologists are altering our understanding of dinosaur lives

The shape of the "Pachysuchus" fossil (in grey) set into a sauropodomorph dinosaur skull

Pachysuchus Actually a Hidden Dinosaur

A strange jaw fragment, once thought to belong to a crocodile-like predator, turned out to be a dinosaur

Page 42 of 61