dinosaurs

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When Dinosaurs Were Killed, Earth Went Dark for 2 Years

New study shows climate effects of asteroid impact

(Newser) - When a 6-mile-wide asteroid crashed into the Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago, it caused a devastating wave of earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis that killed untold number of animals and ended the reign of the dinosaurs. Then things got really bad. In a study published Monday in PNAS , scientists... More »

'Frankenstein' Dinosaur Transforms Evolutionary Tree

Chilesaurus bridges two major dino groups, scientists say

(Newser) - Like the theropod dinosaur T. rex, Chilesaurus stood upright, with strong hind legs and shorter front limbs. But its flat teeth were more closely related to ornithischians like triceratops and stegosaurus. That's just one thing that irked scientists when Chilesaurus was named a theropod following its discovery in Chile... More »

Meet What May Have Been the Largest Land Animal Ever

'Patagotitan mayorum' dino may have been as long as 7 elephants

(Newser) - One hundred million years ago, a sauropod that stretched more than 120 feet and weighed some 70 tons existed—perhaps the largest creature to ever roam the Earth. Over the past few years, researchers have excavated fossils from six young-adult dinosaurs from a Patagonian quarry, and New Scientist puts stats... More »

T. Rex Just Got a Lot Less Scary

New research shows beast could only travel up to 12mph

(Newser) - Jurassic Park had us all fooled: Outstripping a Tyrannosaurus rex in a Jeep would've been easy-peasy because, well, T. rex couldn't run. After much debate about how fast T. rex moved—previous estimates suggested up to 45 miles per hour—scientists at the University of Manchester used advanced... More »

This Crocodile Once Terrorized the Dinosaurs

Its head was the size of a washing machine; its teeth the size of bananas

(Newser) - Meet Razanandrongobe sakalavae, the giant dinosaur-killing crocodile that roamed what is now Madagascar 165 million years ago. Razana, as it's known for short, was first discovered a decade ago, but due to limited fossilized remains, little was known about the creature until recently. Thanks to research published Tuesday in... More »

This Baby Bird Fell in Amber 99M Years Ago

'Belone' hatched among dinosaurs

(Newser) - A study involving a 99-million-year-old piece of Burmese amber is making waves thanks to the cute little creature caught inside. According to Popular Science , a well-preserved baby bird trapped in the sap just a few days or weeks after hatching may be the key to unlocking secrets of the... More »

In Scales vs. Feathers Dino Debate, Some New Evidence

T. rex skin fossil suggests the carnivore was scaled

(Newser) - Just when you were getting used to the idea of dinosaurs being covered in downy feathers , new evidence suggests that this theory may not apply to one of natural history’s most famous carnivores. Science reports that though cousins of the Tyrannosaurus rex likely sported feathers, a new study examining... More »

Asteroid That Wiped Out Dinosaurs Hit in Exact Wrong Place

An impact in deep ocean would have been much less catastrophic

(Newser) - Humans might never have appeared on Earth had an asteroid 66 million years ago hit a spot other than the one it did, a new BBC documentary suggests. The asteroid that felled the dinosaurs hit a shallow sea near Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, sending a dense cloud of sulfur into... More »

All Hail Zuul, Dino 'Destroyer of Shins'

Newly discovered dinosaur named after 'Ghostbusters' baddie

(Newser) - If dinosaurs are only as cool as their names*, then it's going to be hard to out-cool the newly discovered Zuul crurivastator. "Zuul" obviously comes from the Ghostbusters baddie , who Reuters describes as a "big, horned, vaguely dog-like monster with glowing red eyes." The skull of... More »

In Australia's 'Jurassic Park,' World's Largest Dino Prints

21 different types of tracks found Down Under—some 6 feet long

(Newser) - Twenty-one is the lucky number for paleontologists in Australia: That's the "globally unparalleled" number of different varieties of dinosaur prints they appear to have found in a "magical place" they call the country's own "Jurassic Park," per Phys.org . In a study published in... More »

Scientists Rethink T. Rex's Place on Dino Family Tree

Study puts T. rex and other theropods on a whole new branch

(Newser) - Tyrannosaurus Rex and his buddies could be on the move as a new study proposes a massive shake-up of the dinosaur family tree, the AP reports. Scientists who took a deeper look at dinosaur fossils suggest a different evolutionary history for dinosaurs, moving theropods such as T. Rex to a... More »

Dinosaur Eggs Hatched in Potentially Troublesome Way

Non-avian dino eggs hatched slowly, over as many as 6 months, study finds

(Newser) - A Florida State University professor thinks he's solved one of the "greatest riddles" about non-avian dinosaurs: Did their eggs incubate slowly like those of lizards, or quickly like those of birds? The former, found Gregory Erickson and his team, and they came to their conclusion by studying embryonic... More »

Major Dino Discovery Made in Amber Meant for Jewelry

Scientists have found a feathery dinosaur tail

(Newser) - Researchers were perusing an amber market in Myanmar when they stumbled across a truly extraordinary specimen, National Geographic reports. Trapped inside a golden piece of amber—already partially shaped to be sold as jewelry—was a fully feathered section of a dinosaur's tail. According to the Los Angeles Times... More »

New Twist on Why Dinosaurs Got So Big So Fast

Those with funky-looking skulls grew most quickly

(Newser) - For years, paleontologists have theorized that many of the world's largest dinosaurs sported head ornaments (think horns, knobs, and crests) as a means of intimidation and defense, and that these giants evolved to be so big because size helped them be more effective killers. But now new research published... More »

Dinosaur Fossil Is One of the 'Saddest' Ever Found

Creature died with its wings and neck outstretched

(Newser) - Workers were blasting through the ground of a school construction site in the Ganzhou region of China four years ago when they found what scientist Steve Brusatte is calling "one of the most beautiful, but saddest, fossils I've ever seen," reports the Telegraph . That's because the... More »

Scientists Believe They've Found Fossilized Dino Brain

It would be a major first

(Newser) - Are we one step closer to Jurassic Park? Probably not, but researchers do believe they've found the first ever example of fossilized brain tissue from a dinosaur, National Geographic reports. The fossil was found on an English beach in 2004, but its unique trait—mineralized pieces of brain tissue—... More »

Bus-Sized Dino Comes With a Surprise

It suggests migration from South America, not Asia

(Newser) - An Australian sheep farmer has discovered a beast far bigger than he's ever handled—along with new clues as to how dinosaurs ended up Down Under. Paleontologists, together with dinosaur enthusiast/sheep farmer David Elliot, say they've uncovered a new monster of a dinosaur belonging to the titanosaur subgroup... More »

One of Most Complete T. Rex Skulls Ever Arrives at Museum

'An iconic specimen'

(Newser) - It may look like a giant rock right now, but inside is what dinosaur expert Jack Horner calls "one of the most significant" Tyrannosaurus rex specimens ever found, the AP reports. According to the Seattle Times , a 2,500-pound, plaster-encased lump of dirt and rock arrived at the Burke... More »

What Roar? Some Dinosaurs Likely Cooed

They perhaps made 'closed-mouth vocalizations' like birds

(Newser) - Dinosaurs may have been much more like modern birds than we knew—and not just because some had feathers . A new study suggests that mighty dinosaurs of yore didn't roar, contrary to every dinosaur movie you've ever seen. Instead, they made a decidedly less scary sound called a... More »

Asteroid That Killed Dinosaurs Wiped Out Most Mammals, Too

Only about 7% survived, says study

(Newser) - The asteroid that took out the dinosaurs nearly claimed the planet's mammals, too. Researchers at the UK's Milner Centre for Evolution report in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology that 93% of mammals were wiped out around the same time, far more than originally thought. And those that did... More »

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