Amazing Number of Dinosaur Footprints Discovered in Utah

Amazing Concentration of Prehistoric Animal Tracks Discovered

The use of all terrain vehicles (ATVs) in the countryside can be a thorny issue. There are the drivers and enthusiasts who love the thrill of pitching themselves and their machines against what Mother Nature has to offer, whilst on the other side there are those folk who consider them to be noisy, intrusive beasts; leaving a trail of destruction wherever they go. Certainly, in parts of Southern England, such as the historic, ancient Ridgeway track on the South Downs; such vehicles have damaged the countryside, but in America, a popular off-roading area has provided scientists with a fascinating glimpse of life from the early Jurassic.

A Lucky Find of Prehistoric Footprints

Mummified Hadrosaur Remains - Unlocks Duck-Billed Dinosaur Secrets

Amazing Duck-Billed Dinosaur From Dakota A Mummified Fossil

Dinosaur bones are rare, well-preserved ones are exceptionally rare and for some palaeontologists the discovery of fossilised bones in association with each other or bones in articulation are the find of a life-time. However, for one young, American scientist, Tyler Lyson, his discovery of a remarkably well-preserved duck-billed dinosaur, complete with fossilised skin, ligaments and tendons is a discovery to beat most other discoveries.

Lucky Find by PhD Student in Dakota Badlands

Tyler, who is currently completing his Doctorate in Palaeontology at Yale University, found the amazing fossil whilst on a fossil hunting expedition in a remote part of North Dakota.

New Dinosaur Discovery - In a Museum's Vaults

New Dinosaur Species Discovered In Museum

The romantic notion of an earnest young palaeontologist exploring the base of a cliff away from the rest of the dig team and uncovering their very own brand new genus of dinosaur is a bit fanciful, but these occasions do occur. However, sometimes amazing discoveries can be made by simply re-examining earlier finds in museum collections.

This is precisely what happened to Mike Taylor, a PhD student from the University of Portsmouth who has discovered a brand new type of sauropod (long-necked dinosaur) whilst studying at the Natural History museum - London.

The Strangest Dinosaurs of All - The Therizinosaurs

The Most Bizarre of All the Dinosauria - "Scythe Lizards"

Looking back over various text books, journals and papers from the 1960s, 70s and 80s you can get an impression of how our knowledge of dinosaurs has changed over time. New fossils and new techniques used to study existing specimens have yielded much more data, whhch when interpreted has provided palaeontologists with a great deal of information about these prehistoric animals. However, the Mesozoic fossil record is still full of surprises and the emergence of the Therizinosaurs, this bizarre group of meat-eaters turned plant-eaters illustrates this point nicely.

A Dinosaur Designed by a Committee?

Are Some Human Gene Sets More Adapted For Thermal Stress and Greater Extremes?

Species must adapt to their environment or they become former species, extinct. They either adapt or die even if the changes are abrupt they must cope, reproduce, and survive or else. Guess what? Humans are no different in this regard. Whereas, humans can modify their environment - heating, air-conditioning, etc. they still have to deal with the outside conditions, unless they wish to go live in caves in the future, or underground. Of course, then they must adapt to those new conditions, you see the point?

One of the biggest issues is thermal or heat stress. In fact, in the Journal of Ergonomics (volume 16, issue 5, 1973) there was an interesting paper titled; "Thermal Stress and Thermal Comfort" by RK MacPherson with an abstract which stated;

Spanish Scientists Report on Dinosaur Bone-Bed Discovery

Iberian Discoveries Show Thriving Dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous

Spanish scientists have announced the discovery of a large dinosaur bone-bed containing the remains of numerous dinosaurs, so far eight species of dinosaur have been identified amongst the eight thousand fossils unearthed.

The site, near the city of Cuenca in western Spain is being heralded as one of the largest dinosaur bone-beds found in Europe, although it will have to go a long way to beat the amazing Plateosaur bone-beds discovered recently on the Swiss/German border. It certainly is one of the most remarkable fossil discoveries to date on the Iberian peninsula.

Evidence of Dinosaurs Hunting in Packs

Chinese Fossilised Track Ways Provide Evidence of Dinosaur Pack Hunting

For many years scientists have speculated that the speedy, carnivorous raptors (more appropriately termed Dromaeosaurs), such as Velociraptor and Deinonychus were pack hunters. Movies such as "Jurassic Park" popularised theories about these animals, making them out to be vicious, ruthless, yet intelligent killers.

Hollywood's depiction of these swift hunters stretched the truth to say the least, the likes of Velociraptor became a man-sized predator when in truth it stood about one metre tall. Even the sickle-shaped foot claw on the second toe was blown out of proportion to some extent.

New Dinosaur Extinction Theory - Blame the Deccan Trappes

New Study Points Finger at Deccan Traps for Extinction Event

In 1980, American scientists Luis and Walter Alvarez published their theory regarding an extra-terrestrial body impacting with the Earth, causing the mass extinction event that marked the end of the Age of Reptiles. The discovery of the Chicxulub crater in the Gulf of Mexico, the "smoking gun" evidence in the 1990's added credence to this theory put forward by the father and son team.

Recent studies of the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and the outer planets had led one group of scientists to deduce the fate of the dinosaurs was sealed back in the Jurassic when an impact between huge asteroids sent one immense lump of space rock on a collision course with Earth.

Important Australian Dinosaur Fossil Site Threatened by Developers

Rare Australian Dinosaur Fossils Threatened Desalination Plant

One of the widely publicised impacts of global warming and climate change has been the very severe drought suffered by much of Australia in the last couple of years. Many scientists claim that global climate change was one of the causal factors in the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago and now climate change is indirectly threatening the excavation of rare dinosaur fossils down under.

Desalination Plant to be Built on Dig Site

In East Gippsland, south-east Victoria, the demands for drinking water have grown rapidly as the population increases.