dinosaurs

To Kill the Dinosaurs, Asteroid Had to Hit a Bullseye

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 »

New Dinosaur Named After Ghostbusters Baddie

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 »

New Idea Shakes Up Dinosaur Family Tree for T. Rex, Others

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 »

Scientists Find Dinosaur Tail Preserved in Amber

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 »

T. Rex May Have Had Lips to Hide Its Ferocious Teeth

That goes against the popular image of the dinosaur in 'Jurassic Park' and elsewhere

(Newser) - The image of a "ferocious-looking" Tyrannosaurus rex with a "permanent smile" of huge protruding teeth is taking a hit thanks to one Canadian paleontologist, Live Science reports. Robert Reisz says the T. rex, along with other theropods, actually had scaly lips covering its teeth. “When we see... More »

Dinos Were Going Downhill Even Before Asteroid Hit

Decline started tens of millions of years earlier, study says

(Newser) - Dinosaurs were already past their prime when a huge asteroid finished them off 66 million years ago, according to Universities of Reading and Bristol researchers who say their work "changes our understanding of the fate of these mighty creatures." They write in the Proceedings of the National Academy ... More »

Scientists Grow Chickens With Dinosaur Legs

'With one small modification, millions of years of evolution can be undone'

(Newser) - Scientists—presumably so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think whether they should—have grown chickens with dinosaur legs, Phys.org reports. More accurately, a team at the University of Chile grew chicken embryos with dinosaur-like fibulas. In modern birds, the fibula is shorter... More »

For T. Rex, Size Originally Didn't Matter

Horse-sized ancestor reveals evolutionary path, and intellect came before size

(Newser) - Though one of the most well-known dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex is actually somewhat of a mystery, having suddenly emerged as a fearsome beast some 80 million years ago. As a 20-million-year gap in the fossil record preceded T. rex, paleontologists have known little about its evolutionary path—until now. The discovery... More »

Only 'Dinosaur Extinction Site' Is Behind a Lowe's

Dinosaurs' Last Moments Found—Behind a Lowe's?

Weirdly, this quarry is open to the public

(Newser) - Amateur enthusiasts and kids on field trips have been flocking to a New Jersey quarry pit for years to dig up some of its many prehistoric fossils. Incredibly, this pit may also be the only known dinosaur graveyard dating back to their destruction 66 million years ago, the New York ... More »

Awesome Dinosaur Discovery: They Danced

Specifically, the guys did to woo females, says study

(Newser) - It must have been an amazing sight: Paleontologists now say that dinosaurs danced—with gusto. More specifically, they think that some male dinosaurs did so as part of a mating display to woo females, study authors say in a post at Phys.org . The evidence? Telltale scrape marks from claws... More »

Nicolas Cage Returns Stolen Dinosaur Skull

He bought the fossil, smuggled from Mongolia, for $276K

(Newser) - Remember that dinosaur skull in Nicolas Cage's collection? It's now in the hands of US authorities who say it was stolen from Mongolia. Cage isn't accused of stealing the Tyrannosaurus bataar skull himself; his publicist says he bought it from a Beverly Hills gallery in March 2007... More »