Fossils

Sex and Dinosaur Necks

Did competition for mates drive the evolution of the enormous, long-necked sauropods?

February 10, 2012

Judging a Dinosaur By its Cover

A new study suggests that you can distinguish different hadrosaur species by their pebbly hides alone

February 7, 2012

The Debate Over Dinosaur Sight

Did Velociraptor hunt under the cover of darkness?

February 3, 2012

The “Duck-billed” Dinosaur That Wasn’t

Instead of a long, low duck bill, the beak of Tethyshadros was shaped like a snowplow and serrated. Why it had such a strange beak is a mystery

February 1, 2012

How an Ankylosaur Went Out to Sea

How did a heavily armored dinosaur wind up at the bottom of Alberta’s Cretaceous sea?

January 30, 2012

Paleontologists Uncover Oldest Known Dinosaur Nest Site

The “lay ‘em and leave ‘em” strategy might not have been the ancestral state for these dinosaurs

January 25, 2012

Fearsome Dinosaur Had Ridiculously Short Arms

The forelimbs of this animal look like an evolutionary joke

January 24, 2012

Ask Smithsonian 2017

Where Did Dragons Come From?

In honor of the Year of the Dragon, we take a look at some potential inspirations for the dragon myth

January 23, 2012

Some Dinosaurs Used Natural Heat for Their Nests

The sauropod site may have resembled Yellowstone National Park, with geysers, hot springs and mud pots

January 23, 2012

Dinosaurs of a Feather

Some researchers insist that birds are not dinosaurs, but do they have any evidence?

January 13, 2012

The Greatest Dinosaur Hits of 2011

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

December 30, 2011

How to Turn a Dinosaur Into a Bird

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

December 28, 2011

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

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

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

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

Alamosaurus Gets Pumped Up

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

December 9, 2011

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 7, 2011

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 2, 2011

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