http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/dinosaurs/ All about dinosaurs. Read about dinosaur discoveries including gigantic meat-eating dinosaurs, earliest dinosaurs and more. Dinosaur pictures and articles. en-us Mon, 12 May 2008 03:05:01 EDT Mon, 12 May 2008 03:05:01 EDT 60 http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/logosmall.gif http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/fossils_ruins/dinosaurs/ For more science articles, visit ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505221645.htm Paleontologists have long been perplexed by dinosaur fossils with missing pieces -- sets of teeth without a jaw bone, bones that are pitted and grooved, even bones that are half gone. Now a Brigham Young University study identifies a culprit: ancient insects that munched on dinosaur bones. Tue, 06 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505221645.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424140418.htm Putting more meat on the theory that dinosaurs' closest living relatives are modern-day birds, molecular analysis of a shred of 68-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex protein -- along with that of 21 modern species -- confirms that dinosaurs share common ancestry with chickens, ostriches, and to a lesser extent, alligators. Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424140418.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080229101002.htm Archaeologists have discovered of one of the largest dinosaur-era marine reptiles ever found -- an enormous sea predator known as a pliosaur estimated to be almost 15 meters (50 feet) feet long. The 150 million year-old Jurassic fossil was discovered on the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, at 78 degrees north latitude, approximately 1300 km (800 miles) from the North Pole. "Although we didn't get the entire skeleton, we found many of the most important parts, including portions of the skull, teeth, much of the neck and back, the shoulder girdle, and a nearly complete forelimb (paddle)" said one of the researchers, "Amazingly, the paddle alone is nearly 10 feet long." Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080229101002.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080213193749.htm Two new 110 million-year-old dinosaurs unearthed in the Sahara Desert highlight the unusual meat-eaters that prowled southern continents during the Cretaceous Period. Named Kryptops and Eocarcharia the new fossils provide a glimpse of an earlier stage in the evolution of the bizarre meat-eaters of Gondwana, the southern landmass. Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080213193749.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080212122110.htm A new species of dinosaur unearthed in Mexico is giving scientists fresh insights into the ancient history of western North America. The new creature -- aptly dubbed Velafrons coahuilensis -- was a massive plant-eater belonging to a group of duck-billed dinosaurs, or hadrosaurs. In addition to isolated skeletons, the researchers found large bonebeds of jumbled duck-bill and horned dinosaur skeletons. Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080212122110.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080206105443.htm Scientists are researching which plants giant dinosaurs could have lived off more than 100 million years ago. They want to find out how the dinosaurs were able to become as large as they did. In actual fact such gigantic animals should not have existed. There is a law to which most animals living today conform: The larger an animal, the smaller the density of the population, i.e. the fewer animals of the same species there are per square mile. The larger an animal is, the larger the amount of food it has to have in order to survive. Therefore a specific area can only feed a certain maximum number of animals. Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080206105443.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080206193723.htm The celebrated Bristol Dinosaur, Thecodontosaurus, has now been shown to live on subtropical islands around Bristol, instead of in a desert on the mainland as previously thought. This new research could explain the dinosaur's small size (2 m) in relation to its giant (10 m) mainland equivalent, Plateosaurus. Like many species trapped on small islands, such as the 'hobbit' Homo floresiensis of Flores and pygmy elephants on Malta, the Bristol Dinosaur may have been subjected to island dwarfing. Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080206193723.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080114173919.htm Dinosaurs had pregnancies as early as age 8, far before they reached their maximum adult size, a new study finds. Scientists have identified the fossil bones of three female dinosaurs, each a different species, and it has become clear that dinosaurs exhibited rapid growth and early maturity, probably because they had a high early mortality rate. Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080114173919.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080113212741.htm An unusual dinosaur has been shown to have a skull that functioned like a fish-eating crocodile, despite looking like a dinosaur. It also possessed two huge hand claws, perhaps used as grappling hooks to lift fish from the water. Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080113212741.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080103090702.htm Asteroid impacts or massive volcanic flows might have occurred around the time dinosaurs became extinct, but a new argument is that the mightiest creatures the world has ever known may have been brought down by a tiny, much less dramatic force -- biting, disease-carrying insects. Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080103090702.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071220140810.htm Most modern-day groups of beetles have been around since the time of the dinosaurs and have been diversifying ever since, says new research in Science. Beetles have displayed an exceptional ability to seize new ecological opportunities and develop a great range of life styles and feeding types. Wed, 26 Dec 2007 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071220140810.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071211233706.htm The remains of one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs ever found have recently been recognized as representing a new species by a student working at the University of Bristol. Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071211233706.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071210214308.htm A new genus and species of dinosaur from the Jurassic has been discovered in Antarctica. The massive plant-eating primitive sauropodomorph is called Glacialisaurus hammeri and lived about 190 million years ago. The fossils were painstakingly removed from the ice and rock using jackhammers, rock saws and chisels under extremely difficult conditions over two field seasons. The long-necked herbivorous sauropods were the largest animals to walk the earth. They include Diplodocus and Apatosaurus. Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071210214308.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071203103349.htm The amazing discovery of one of the finest and rarest dinosaur specimens ever unearthed -- a partially intact dino mummy found in the Hell Creek Formation Badlands of North Dakota was discovered by 16-year-old fossil hunter Tyler Lyson on his uncle's farm. Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071203103349.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071114204936.htm Fossil tracks belonging to large, carnivorous dinosaurs (Theropods) have been discovered near Inverloch by palaeontologists. It is the first time tracks of this kind have been found in Victoria. The three separate tracks show at least two or three partial toes, about 35 cm long and based on track sizes, it is estimated that these dinosaurs were 1.4-1.5 meters tall at the hip. Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071114204936.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071115113252.htm A 110-million-year-old dinosaur that had a mouth that worked like a vacuum cleaner, hundreds of tiny teeth and nearly translucent skull bones has been discovered. The dinosaur's oddest feature was a broad, straight-edged muzzle, which allowed its mouth to work close to the ground. Unlike any other plant eater, Nigersaurus had more than 50 columns of teeth, all lined up tightly along the front edge of its squared-off jaw, forming, in effect, a foot-long pair of scissors. Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071115113252.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071109185424.htm Outback Queensland has become the focus of an international research project that is helping to decipher the evolution of Australian dinosaurs and their relationships to those of other southern continents. There is now an expectation that some of the dinosaur groups known from places such as South America should also have representatives in Australia. Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071109185424.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071107074326.htm Scientists have discovered how dinosaurs used to breathe in what provides clues to how they evolved and how they might have lived. Theropod dinosaurs like the Velociraptor had similar respiratory systems to present-day diving birds, such as marine birds and wildfowl. Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071107074326.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071028171034.htm Everyone knows that "raptor" dinosaurs walked with their deadly sickle-shaped foot claws held off the ground and that they moved in packs ... right? After all, it was in "Jurassic Park." But until now, there was no direct evidence of either of these things. Now paleontologists have reported fossilized footprints made by two different kinds of "raptors" from 120 million year old rocks in Shandong Province, China. Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071028171034.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071019123615.htm The first fossil tracks belonging to large, carnivorous dinosaurs have been discovered in Victoria, Australia, by paleontologists. The tracks are especially significant for showing that large dinosaurs were living in a polar environment during the Cretaceous Period, when Australia was still joined to Antarctica and close to the South Pole. Mon, 22 Oct 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071019123615.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071003130907.htm The newest dinosaur species to emerge from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument had some serious bite, according to researchers. 'It was one of the most robust duck-billed dinosaurs ever,' said the museum paleontologist. 'It was a monster.' Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071003130907.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070924104611.htm A dinosaur skeleton found 24 years ago near Choteau has finally been identified as a new species that links North American dinosaurs with Asian dinosaurs. The dinosaur would have weighed 30 to 40 pounds, walked on two feet and stood about three feet tall. The fossil came from sediment that's about 80 million years old. Mon, 24 Sep 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070924104611.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070920145402.htm Finding of quill knobs on fossilized velociraptor bone demonstrates that even large dinosaurs were feathered and may have descended from animals capable of flight. Scientists have known for years that many dinosaurs had feathers. Now the presence of feathers has been documented in velociraptor, one of the most iconic of dinosaurs and a close relative of birds. Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070920145402.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070906140748.htm Paleontologists have long theorized that miniaturization was one of the last stages in the long series of changes required in order for dinosaurs to make the evolutionary "leap" to take flight and so become what we call birds. New evidence from a tiny Mongolian dinosaur, however, may leave some current theories about the evolution of flight up in the air. Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070906140748.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070822081928.htm T. rex may have struggled to chase down speeding vehicles as the movie Jurassic Park would have us believe but the world's most fearsome carnivore was certainly no slouch, new research out suggests. Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070822081928.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070719143512.htm The ancestors of dinosaurs seemed to disappear before the dinosaurs took over the Earth 200 million years ago, suggesting to many that dinosaurs were so successful that they rapidly out-competed their ancestors and drove them extinct. New fossil finds in New Mexico, however, show that this was not true -- dinosaurs and their ancestors lived side by side for 15-20 million years in the Late Triassic before the dinosaur precursors vanished. Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070719143512.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070629091349.htm A dinosaur bone bed in southwest Edmonton that served as a feeding area for the direct ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex has revealed that two dinosaurs, thought to have lived in different eras, actually lived at the same time. Scientists digging for bones at the site this year discovered fossils of Edmontosaurus and Saurolophus this year. Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070629091349.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070609112847.htm Like investigators out of CSI or Cold Case, paleontologists are finding clues to a dinosaur's demise in its peculiar death pose. They argue that the open-mouthed, head-back posture of many dinosaur fossils tells of an agonized death from brain damage. The pose, known to neurologists as opisthotonus, denotes damage to the cerebellum, which can result from such causes as poisoning, suffocation, meningitis or bleeding. They dispute other presumed abiotic causes. Mon, 11 Jun 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070609112847.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070604215016.htm What did dinosaurs hear? Probably a lot of low frequency sounds, like the heavy footsteps of another dinosaur, if University of Maryland professor Robert Dooling and his colleagues are right. What they likely couldn't hear were the high pitched sounds that birds make. Tue, 05 Jun 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070604215016.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070525095813.htm Researchers at the Morrison Natural History Museum have discovered two rare hatchling dinosaur footprints in the foothills west of Denver, USA. The fossil footprints represent the first hatchling Stegosaurus footprints ever found, according to the museum's curator of paleontology. Fri, 25 May 2007 14:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070525095813.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070524091023.htm An extraordinary underwater trackway with 12 consecutive prints provides the most compelling evidence to-date that some dinosaurs were swimmers. The 15-meter-long trackway, located in La Virgen del Campo track site in Spain's Cameros Basin, contains the first long and continuous record of swimming by a non-avian therapod dinosaur. Thu, 24 May 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070524091023.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070518105742.htm New evidence may help explain the brute strength of the tyrannosaurid, says a researcher whose finding demonstrates how a fused nasal bone helped turn the animal into a "zoological superweapon." Sun, 20 May 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070518105742.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070509161149.htm Fading dinosaur tracks unearthed in a Spanish quarry have been digitally preserved by experts using the latest laser technology. The Fumanya site, in the Bergueda region of central Catalonia, is so delicate that experts cannot get physically close enough to the tracks to examine them. Thu, 10 May 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070509161149.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070504144610.htm The largest bones of any dinosaur known in Australia went on display at the Queensland Museum for the first time ever. Sun, 06 May 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070504144610.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070430102016.htm A new study provides fascinating insight into the factors geologists must account for when examining dinosaur tracks. The authors studied a range of larger tracks from the family of dinosaurs that includes the T. Rex and the tridactyl, and provide a guide for interpreting the effects of many different types of erosion on these invaluable impressions. Mon, 30 Apr 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070430102016.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070412140942.htm Scientists have confirmed the existence of protein in soft tissue recovered from the fossil bones of a 68 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex) and a half-million-year-old mastodon. Thu, 12 Apr 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070412140942.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070328155632.htm A new, complete 'tree of life' tracing the history of all 4,500 mammals on Earth shows that they did not diversify as a result of the death of the dinosaurs, says new research published in Nature. Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070328155632.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070325202715.htm Paleontologists have uncovered the world's first fossil evidence of burrowing behavior in dinosaurs. The 95-million-year-old skeletal remains of the diminutive dinosaur -- along with the bones of two juveniles -- were found tucked into a fossilized chamber at the end of a sediment-filled burrow in southwestern Montana. Mon, 26 Mar 2007 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070325202715.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070319112538.htm An ancient sea-going crocodile has surfaced from the rocks of Crook County in eastern Oregon. It's discovery by the North American Research Group (NARG), whose members were digging for Jurassic-age mollusks known as ammonites, is another confirmation that the Blue Mountains consist of rocks that traveled from somewhere in the Far East, says retired University of Oregon geologist William Orr, who was called in to examine the find for the state. Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070319112538.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070307153009.htm They might be giants, but many dinosaurs apparently had genomes no larger than that of a modern hummingbird. So say scientists who've linked bone cell and genome size among living species and then used that new understanding to gauge the genome sizes of 31 species of extinct dinosaurs and birds, whose bone cells can be measured from the fossil record. Thu, 08 Mar 2007 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070307153009.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070304115019.htm A scientist at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History has announced the discovery of a new horned dinosaur, named Albertaceratops nesmoi, approximately 20 feet long and weighing nearly one half ton, or the weight of a pickup truck. The newly identified plant-eating dinosaur lived nearly 78 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period in what is now southernmost Alberta, Canada. Its identification marks the discovery of a new genus and species and sheds exciting new light on the evolutionary history of the Ceratopsidae dinosaur family. Mon, 05 Mar 2007 11:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070304115019.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061222093009.htm Fossils of a giant Sauropod, found in Teruel Spain, reveal that Europe was home to giant dinosaurs in the Late Jurassic period -- about 150 million years ago. Giant dinosaurs have previously been found mainly in the New World and Africa. Fri, 22 Dec 2006 08:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061222093009.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061220095421.htm The giant dinosaurs had a problem. Many of them had narrow, pointed teeth, which were more suited to tearing off plants rather than chewing them. But how did they then grind their food? Until recently many researchers have assumed that they were helped by stones which they swallowed. In their muscular stomach these then acted as a kind of "gastric mill." But this assumption does not seem to be correct, as scientists at the universities of Bonn and Tübingen have now proved. Thu, 21 Dec 2006 05:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061220095421.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061108102913.htm A "spectacular beast" is coming back to its original stomping grounds and making a new home at the University of Alberta -- a coup that will allow its researchers to study the rare dinosaur skull up close. Wed, 08 Nov 2006 14:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061108102913.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061025085222.htm One way to make sense of 165-million-year-old dino tracks may be to hang out with emus, say paleontologists studying thousands of dinosaur footprints at the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite in northern Wyoming. Because they are about the same size, walk on two legs and have similar feet, emus turn out to be the best modern version of the enigmatic reptiles that once trotted along a long-lost coastline in the Middle Jurassic. Mon, 30 Oct 2006 02:00:00 EST http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061025085222.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061023192536.htm University of Colorado at Boulder researchers have discovered what appears to be the first evidence of parasites in the gut contents of a dinosaur, indicating even the giants that roamed Earth 75 million years ago were beset by stomach worms. Tue, 24 Oct 2006 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061023192536.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061023193630.htm New research suggests a multimillion year gap in the colonization of Earth's land by marine creatures might have been caused by a sharp drop in atmospheric oxygen. Tue, 24 Oct 2006 08:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061023193630.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061023192530.htm There's growing evidence that the dinosaurs and most their contemporaries were not wiped out by the famed Chicxulub meteor impact, according to a paleontologist who says multiple meteor impacts, massive volcanism in India and climate changes culminated in the end of the Cretaceous Period. Tue, 24 Oct 2006 02:00:00 EDT http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061023192530.htm