Oldest long-necked dinos found, according to Live Science 21 November 2018, and Biology Letters 21 November 2018 doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2018.0633. Palaeontologists in southern Brazil have found three “exceptionally well preserved” specimens of a previously unknown sauropodomorph – the group of long necked dinosaurs that includes giants such as Brontosaurus. At 3.5 metres (11ft) long the new […]
Colourful dinosaur eggs found, claim scientists in a study reported in Science (AAAS) News and ScienceDaily 31 October 2018, and Nature 31 October 2018, doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0646-5. Many birds’ eggs are coloured or have speckled patterns of pigment, while reptiles lay plain white eggs. It has always been assumed that dinosaurs, being reptiles, would have produced […]
Did dinosaurs stop to smell the flowers? According to articles in ScienceDaily 7 August 2018 and Historical Biology, doi: 10.1080/08912963.2018.1502288 published online 25 July 2018, they could have. Many flowers attract pollinators by producing fragrances. George Poinar, an entomologist at Oregon State University and his son Greg, a perfume collector, have examined fossil flowers found […]
Chinese dragon “in wrong place at wrong time” according to an article in Science Daily 1 August 2018, about a discovery also reported in National Geographic 24 July 2018, BBC News 25 July 2018 and Nature Communications, 24 July 2018 doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-05128-1. Palaeontologists have found the fossil of a sauropod dinosaur in the Ningxia Autonomous […]
Oldest pterosaur found, as reported in Science (AAAS) News 13 August 2018, BBC News 14 August 2018, and Nature Ecology & Evolution 13 August 2018 doi: 10.1038/s41559-018-0627-y. Palaeontologists excavating a fossil site in Utah, USA have found remains of a pterosaur, an extinct flying reptile. The fossil site where it was found has yielded over […]
Dinosaur food experiment described in ScienceDaily and Palaeontology, doi: 10.1111/pala.12385. Dinosaur experts have long been intrigued by how giant sauropods were able to get enough food to provide energy and maintain their large bodies. One theory is that the levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air were higher in Mesozoic eras and plants therefore […]
Upside down dinosaurs explained by scientists in Science (AAAS) News 21 February 2018, and Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.02.010, published online 9 February 2018. Ankylosaurs were squat, short-legged dinosaurs with thick tails and armour-plated backs. Scientists who study them have noted that most have been preserved lying on their backs – i.e. upside down, and […]
Worldwide undersea volcanos killed dinosaurs, according to articles in ScienceDaily and Telegraph 7 February 2018, and Science Advances doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aao2994, 7 February 2018. The demise of dinosaurs is currently blamed on Chicxulub meteorite impact and massive volcanic activity in a region of central India known as the Deccan Traps. Joseph Byrnes and Leif Karlstrom, geologists […]
Feathered dinos had ticks, claim scientists in articles in, National Geographic 12 December 2017, BBC News and ScienceDaily 13 December 2017, and Nature Communications doi:10.1038/s41467-017-01550-z published online 12 December 2017. An international team of researchers from Spain, USA and UK have found three species of ticks preserved in amber from Burma. The amber is dated […]
Dinosaurs roost like birds, according articles in ScienceDaily 24 August 2017 and Nature news 25 August 2017. Greg Funston, a palaeontologist at the University of Alberta, Canada, and colleagues have studied three dinosaurs embedded together in one block of rock from Mongolia, dated as 70 million years old. The dinosaurs have been identified as a […]