Paleo in the News

Multiple species of semi-aquatic dinosaur may have roamed pre-historic Britain

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Thu, 06/01/2023 - 15:01
Palaeontologists studying a British dinosaur tooth have concluded that several distinct groups of spinosaurs -- dinosaurs with fearsome crocodile-like skulls -- inhabited southern England over 100 million years ago.
Categories: Fossils

107-million-year-old pterosaur bones: Oldest in Australia

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Tue, 05/30/2023 - 11:48
A team of researchers have confirmed that 107-million-year-old pterosaur bones discovered more than 30 years ago are the oldest of their kind ever found in Australia, providing a rare glimpse into the life of these powerful, flying reptiles that lived among the dinosaurs.
Categories: Fossils

Dinosaurs were the first to take the perspectives of others

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Mon, 05/22/2023 - 12:13
Understanding that others hold different viewpoints from your own is essential for human sociality. Adopting another person's visual perspective is a complex skill that emerges around the age of two. A new study suggests that this ability first arose in dinosaurs, at least 60 million years before it appeared in mammals. These findings challenge the idea that mammals were the originators of novel and superior forms of intelligence in the wake of the dinosaur extinction.
Categories: Fossils

Fossil of mosasaur with bizarre 'screwdriver teeth' found in Morocco

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Thu, 05/18/2023 - 11:09
Scientists have discovered a new species of mosasaur, a sea-dwelling lizard from the age of the dinosaurs, with strange, ridged teeth unlike those of any known reptile. Along with other recent finds from Africa, it suggests that mosasaurs and other marine reptiles were evolving rapidly up until 66 million years ago, when they were wiped out by an asteroid along with the dinosaurs and around 90% of all species on Earth.
Categories: Fossils

Giants of the Jurassic seas were twice the size of a killer whale

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Wed, 05/10/2023 - 11:05
There have been heated debates over the size of Jurassic animals. The speculation was set to continue, but now a chance discovery in an Oxfordshire museum has led to palaeontologists publishing a paper on a Jurassic species potentially reaching a whopping 14.4 meters -- twice the size of a killer whale.
Categories: Fossils

Analysis of dinosaur eggshells: Bird-like Troodon laid 4 to 6 eggs in a communal nest

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Mon, 04/03/2023 - 15:26
An international research team has determined that Troodon, a dinosaur very close to modern birds, was a warm-blooded animal (an endotherm), but had a reproductive system similar to that of modern reptiles. The scientists applied a new method which allowed for accurate determination of the temperature when the egg's carbonate shell was formed. Furthermore, the researchers showed that Troodon laid 4 to 6 eggs per clutch. As nests with up to 24 Troodon eggs had been found, the scientists conclude that several Troodon females laid their eggs in communal nests.
Categories: Fossils

Predatory dinosaurs such as T. rex sported lizard-like lips

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Thu, 03/30/2023 - 16:21
A new study suggests that predatory dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, did not have permanently exposed teeth as depicted in films such as Jurassic Park, but instead had scaly, lizard-like lips covering and sealing their mouths.
Categories: Fossils

Dinosaur claws used for digging and display

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Mon, 02/27/2023 - 12:26
Dinosaur claws had many functions, but now a team has shown some predatory dinosaurs used their claws for digging or even for display.
Categories: Fossils

Evolution of dinosaur body size through different developmental mechanisms

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Thu, 02/23/2023 - 17:18
The meat-eating dinosaurs known as theropods that roamed the ancient Earth ranged in size from the bus-sized T. rex to the smaller, dog-sized Velociraptor. Scientists puzzling over how such wildly different dinosaur sizes evolved recently found -- to their surprise -- that smaller and larger theropod dinosaurs like these didn't necessarily get that way merely by growing slower or faster.
Categories: Fossils

Oldest spinosaur brains revealed

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Mon, 02/13/2023 - 19:11
Researchers have reconstructed the brains and inner ears of two British spinosaurs, helping uncover how these large predatory dinosaurs interacted with their environment.
Categories: Fossils

Researchers uncover 92 fossil nests belonging to some of India's largest dinosaurs

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Wed, 01/18/2023 - 18:58
The discovery of more than 250 fossilized eggs reveals intimate details about the lives of titanosaurs in the Indian subcontinent, according to a new study.
Categories: Fossils

Fossils reveal dinosaurs of prehistoric Patagonia

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Thu, 01/12/2023 - 14:58
A study is providing a glimpse into dinosaur and bird diversity in Patagonia during the Late Cretaceous, just before the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct. The fossils represent the first record of theropods -- a dinosaur group that includes both modern birds and their closest non-avian dinosaur relatives -- from the Chilean portion of Patagonia. The researchers' finds include giant megaraptors with large sickle-like claws and birds similar to todays ducks and geese.
Categories: Fossils

Largest ever animal may have been Triassic ichthyosaur super-predator

New Scientist - Thu, 12/29/2022 - 03:00
New fossil discoveries show predatory marine reptiles from 200 million years ago may have been bigger than today’s blue whales – and that they evolved astonishingly rapidly
Categories: Fossils

The other paleo diet: Rare discovery of dinosaur remains preserved with its last meal

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Wed, 12/21/2022 - 11:13
Microraptor was an opportunistic predator, feeding on fish, birds, lizards -- and now small mammals. The discovery of a rare fossil reveals the creature was a generalist carnivore in the ancient ecosystem of dinosaurs.
Categories: Fossils

What the inner ear of Europasaurus reveals about its life

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Tue, 12/20/2022 - 10:24
Europasaurus is a long-necked, herbivorous dinosaur that lived in the Late Jurassic, about 154 million years ago, on a small island in modern-day Germany. Recently, scientists examined fossil braincase material of Europasaurus with the aid of micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). The digital reconstruction of the inner ear of Europasaurus gave the researchers new insights not only into its hearing ability, but also into its reproductive and social behavior.
Categories: Fossils

Scientists discover what was on the menu of the first dinosaurs

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Fri, 12/16/2022 - 13:26
The earliest dinosaurs included carnivorous, omnivorous and herbivorous species, according to a team of palaeobiologists.
Categories: Fossils

Climate change played key role in dinosaur success story

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Fri, 12/16/2022 - 10:29
Climate change, rather than competition, played a key role in the ascendancy of dinosaurs through the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods.
Categories: Fossils

Dinosaur teeth reveal what they didn't eat

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Fri, 12/09/2022 - 08:47
Scratches on dinosaur teeth could reveal what they really ate. Dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) has now been used to infer the feeding habits of large theropods, including Allosaurus and T. rex. By taking 3D images of individual teeth and analyzing the pattern of marks scratched into them, researchers could reason which dinosaurs may have frequently crunched on hard bone and which may have regularly eaten softer foods and prey. This technique opens up a new avenue of research for paleontology, helping us to better understand not only dinosaurs themselves but also the environment and communities in which they lived.
Categories: Fossils

Dinosaurs were on the up before asteroid downfall

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Wed, 12/07/2022 - 13:22
Dinosaurs dominated the world right up until a deadly asteroid hit the earth, leading to their mass extinction, some 66 million years ago, a landmark study reveals. Fresh insights into dinosaurs' ecosystems -- the habitats and food types that supported their lives -- suggests that their environments were robust and thriving, right up until that fateful day, at the end of the Cretaceous period.
Categories: Fossils

Ankylosaurs battled each other as much as they fought off T. rex

Science Daily - Dinosaurs - Tue, 12/06/2022 - 19:49
Scientists have found new evidence for how armored dinosaurs used their iconic tail clubs. The exceptional fossil of the ankylosaur Zuul crurivastator has spikes along its flanks that were broken and re-healed while the dinosaur was alive -- injuries that the scientists think were caused from a strike by another Zuul's massive tail club. This suggests ankylosaurs had complex behavior, possibly battling for social and territorial dominance or even engaging in a 'rutting' season for mates.
Categories: Fossils

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