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Paleontologists

A Parasaurolophus at the Natural History Museum of Utah

Dinosaurian Snorkels, Air Tanks and Tubas

Parasaurolophus is one of the most perplexing dinosaurs - what did it use its huge crest for?

A Corythosaurus with skin impressions--similar to this one on display at the American Museum of Natural History--was lost when a German military vessel sank the SS Mount Temple on December 6, 1916.

Charles H. Sternberg’s Lost Dinosaurs

On December 6, 1916, a German military vessel sunk a highly-valued shipment of Canadian dinosaurs

Theropod dinosaur tracks along Potash Road in Moab, Utah. Tracks like these have inspired myths about giant birds at locations all over the world.

China’s Dinosaur Folklore

Dinosaur tracks aren’t just scientific curiosities—they have also inspired many legends in China

The reconstructed skeleton of a Deinonychus, representing the modern image of dinosaurs, in front of Rudolph Zallinger's 'Age of Reptiles' mural in Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Creating the Age of Reptiles

Why is an image of the Garden of Eden considered art, while an exquisitely detailed depiction of Jurassic life is derided as juvenile junk?

Matthew Carrano, a paleontologist with the National Museum of Natural History, recommends Dinosaur State Park in Connecticut for those evotourists interested in dinosaurs.

A Smithsonian Paleontologist Suggests His Evotourism Sites

For even more ideas on where to take an evolution vacation, we turned to one of our own dinosaur experts

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?

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?

None

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

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

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.

The skull Gilmore described as "Gorgosaurus lancensis"

The Origin of a Little Tyrant

Is “Nanotyrannus” a small-bodied tyrannosaur, a juvenile of some unknown species, or a young Tyrannosaurus rex?

The skeleton of Xiaotingia (head is to the left)

An Ode to Archaeopteryx

The many fuzzy and feathery dinosaurs that have been discovered reveal one of the most magnificent evolutionary transformations in the history of life

Visitors walk in the shadow of a reconstructed Tyrannosaurus at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

Dinosaurs for Experts, or for Everyone?

Mounting a full dinosaur skeleton, some paleontologists believed, had more to do with art and architecture than with science

The bones of Giraffatitan as discovered in Tanzania.

Tendaguru’s Lost World

The African fossil sites preserve dinosaur fossils that are strangely similar to their North American counterparts

Barnum Brown, showing off his paleo pick in an August 1932 Popular Science

Barnum Brown’s Paleo Pick

Does “Mr. Bones” really deserve credit for inventing an essential field tool?

One of the many dinosaur tracks figured in Edward Hitchcock's Ichnology of New England.

South America’s First Dinosaur Tracks

Tracks now readily recognizable as belonging to dinosaurs were once attributed to prodigious birds and other creatures

The estimated sizes of several Allosaurus specimens, including "Epanterias."

A Truly Exceptional Allosaurus

Cope did not know it at the time, but he had described an especially large representative of a species his rival had named just a year before

The formidable hand claw of Dryptosaurus

Dryptosaurus’ Surprising Hands

This enigmatic tyrannosauroid may have had the novel combination of short arms with big hands

A view of the Dinosaur National Monument quarry before it closed for renovations in 2006

A Visit to Douglass’ Dinosaur

The site became a must-see dinosaur landmark in 1957, and in a few months, visitors will once again be able to see the spectacular quarry wall

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