paleontology – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

‘Tiny Titans’ exhibit includes live hatchings by ‘living dinosaurs’

By Guest PostJanuary 28, 2014Nature, ScienceArgentina, articulated dinosaur, babies, baby dinosaurs, baby louie, China, dinosaur eggs, duck-billed dinosaurs, early ceratopsian dinosaur, elephant bird aepyornis, embryos, exhibit, first dinosaur eggs, flaming cliffs, fossilized dinosaur eggs, gobi desert, hatchings, john ostrom, living dinosaurs, long necked dinosaurs, luis rey, meat eating dinosaurs, ornithopods, paleontology, patagonia, richard prum, sauropod nesting grounds, sauropods, theropods, tiny titans, titanosaurs, yale peabody museum, yale professor, young psittacosaurs

In 1923 the Flaming Cliffs of the Gobi Desert yielded one of the most-celebrated finds of paleontology. Entombed in sun-baked sandstone was a collection of oval-shaped oddities: the first dinosaur eggs known to science. This 75-million-year-old find would be followed by others, providing a glimpse into the lives of these ancient creatures that no skeleton could.

Since that discovery, fossilized dinosaur eggs and nests have been recovered from sites around the world, as have the bones of tiny hatchlings and even tinier embryos. These discoveries are allowing scientists to unlock the mysteries of dinosaur reproductive and social behavior, such as: Were dinosaurs social animals? Did they care for their young? What was life like for baby dinosaurs? (more…)

Scientists Find Oldest Dinosaur – or Closest Relative Yet

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2012Nature, Scienceafrica, alan charig, ancestry, Antarctica, archosaurs, australia, bone cells, bone tissues, cape town, dinosaur family tree, dinosaur like characteristic, dinosaur lineage, diversification, earliest dinosaur, earth, eoraptor, evidence, evolution of dinosaurs, familiar dinosaurs, fossil, fossilized bones, fossilized footprints, herrerasaurus, humerus, labrador retriever, late triassic, lizard, london, middle triassic, middle triassic dinosaurs, natural history museum, nyasa, nyasasaurus parringtoni, oldest dinosaur, paleontologist, paleontology, pangaea, paul barrett, period, permian extinction, primitive dinosaurs, royal society, sarah werning, saurus, single bone, south african museum, south america, southern pangaea, sterling nesbitt, Tanzania, taxon, transitional fossil, triassic period, united kingdom, university, upper arm bone, vertebrae, Washington

Researchers have discovered what may be the earliest dinosaur, a creature the size of a Labrador retriever, but with a five foot-long tail, that walked the Earth about 10 million years before more familiar dinosaurs like the small, swift-footed Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus.

The findings mean that the dinosaur lineage appeared 10 million to 15 million years earlier than fossils previously showed, originating in the Middle Triassic rather than in the Late Triassic period. (more…)

English Literature Influenced Prize-Winning Paleontologist

By Guest PostJanuary 14, 2012Science21st century, age of reptiles, ancient plant structure, carbon cycle, carboniferous period, cocktail party, dinosaurs, earth, ecology, evolution, excalibur movie, fieldwork, fossil record, giant fungus, harvard university, history of life, ice age, jung eun lee, kevin boyce, knowledge, la brea tar pits, lloyd degrane, los angeles, macroevolution, mammal fossils, michael foote, million years ago, mural, pair of calipers, paleontology, plant fossils, prehistoric life, scanning electron microscope, school, soil moisture, terrestrial ecosystems, vascular plants

For a short time in grade school, Kevin Boyce lived within two blocks of the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles, a place where ice age mammal fossils had been discovered. Above his bed hung a poster of the Yale Peabody Museum’s famous Age of Reptiles mural. But it wasn’t a boyhood fascination with prehistoric life that influenced his interest in paleontology, but rather the medieval literary world of Chaucer that Boyce discovered in college.

“I didn’t think twice about fossils between the ages of 7 and 20,” said Boyce, associate professor in geophysical sciences. Even during his undergraduate studies in literature and biology at the California Institute of Technology in the early 1990s, the deep history of life on Earth was far from his mind. (more…)

Dinosaurs Not So Fierce After All, says U of T Researcher

By Guest PostOctober 9, 2010Sciencearizona, austin, dinosaur, eco-space, hans-dieter sues, jackson school of geosciences, jurassic period, natural catastrophe, new species, North America, paleontology, robert reisz, sarah butler, sarahsaurus, sauropodomorphs, south america, texas, tim rowe, triassic period, university of toronto

A new species of dinosaur discovered in Arizona suggests dinosaurs did not spread throughout the world by overpowering other species but by taking advantage of a natural catastrophe that wiped out their competitors. (more…)

Tag Archives: paleontology

‘Tiny Titans’ exhibit includes live hatchings by ‘living dinosaurs’

Scientists Find Oldest Dinosaur – or Closest Relative Yet

English Literature Influenced Prize-Winning Paleontologist

Dinosaurs Not So Fierce After All, says U of T Researcher