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

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?

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.

Nigersaurus - The Dinosaur That Thought It Was a Lawn Mower

Nigersaurus - A Bizarre African Sauropod

As Dinosaurs dominated life on Earth during the latter part of the Mesozoic they diversified into many varied forms, each genus adapting to a specific way of life and filling an ecological niche.

Further research has just been published (November 2007) on a particularly bizarre looking sauropod from Africa - Nigersaurus.

Nigersaurus was first described in 1976 but little was known about this Diplodocoid sauropod as although many isolated bones and fragments of fossils had been recovered very few were found in any form of association or articulation, so piecing together a complete picture of this animal was proving difficult.

New Giant Meat-Eating Dinosaur From Africa

New Species of Carcharodontosaurus Discovered in Niger

Dinosaur fans, especially collectors of dinosaur models can look forward to a number of new meat-eating dinosaurs being made after it was confirmed that a new type of huge predatory dinosaur has been found in Africa. Fossils found many years ago by a student have formally been described and a new meat-eating dinosaur discovery announced.

For graduate Steve Brusatte, a palaeobiologist at the University of Bristol, England, the long wait for the naming and describing of his 1997 fossil find is finally over. Elements of the skull, including the premaxilla (part of the upper jaw) and cervical vertebrae (back bones) discovered in an expedition to Niger (Africa) have been described in the scientific publication "The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology" out this week.

Long-Necked Dinosaur Fossils Found in Antarctica

Lower Jurassic Fossils Found on Antarctic Mountainside

Scientists from the Field Museum in Chicago in co-operation with palaeontologists from Argentina (Museo Paleontologico - Chubut); have named and described a new genus and species of dinosaur that once roamed the Antarctic portion of Gondwanaland 190 million years ago.

A New Sauropodomorph

The animal was a Sauropodomorph, an early long-necked dinosaur, although only partial remains were excavated (a femur and an incomplete ankle plus some foot bones); scientists estimate that this animal was 8 metres long and weighed 4 tonnes. It has been named Glacialisaurus hammeri (Hammer's glacial lizard), in honour of Dr. William Hammer who led the expedition.

Why Did Baby Diplodocus Dinosaurs Have a Short Neck?

The Joys of Working with Baby Dinosaurs

Ask any young dinosaur fan to draw a Diplodocus, an Apatosaurus and even a Brachiosaurus and they will most likely produce a picture of a big animal with a large body, a long tail and of course a very long neck, just the way these animals are depicted in books, CDs and television programmes. These dinosaurs, known as Sauropods, are also commonly called long-necked dinosaurs as one of their distinguishing features is of course their elongated, muscular necks.

Baby Dinosaurs Looked Very Different

However, when it comes to working on a museum exhibits that depict a baby Diplodocus, our thoughts about the typical long-necked dinosaur shape have to be discarded.

Duck-Billed Platypus Lived Alongside Duck-Billed Dinosaurs

The Duck-Billed Platypus - One of the Oldest Type of Mammals

The Platypus is a bizarre looking Australian mammal, one of the few monotremes left in the world - a mammal that lays eggs. When this strange-looking creature, which can grow up to 50 centimetres long, was first studied by western scientists they thought the bill had been glued or sewn into place, few could believe that this animal was real and many dismissed drawings as total folly or an elaborate hoax. However, this highly specialised freshwater mammal rather than being an oddity might just have remained unchanged for 120 million years. This would make the humble Platypus one of the oldest kinds of mammal on the planet, with its origins now traced back to the middle of the Cretaceous. Animals similar to the duck-billed platypus and ancestral to the species now found in Australia may have shared their environment with dinosaurs, ironically even duck-billed dinosaurs.

Trying to Trace the Dinosaur Family Tree

Assessing Taxonomic Relationships Amongst the Dinosauria

Trying to organise Dinosauria into clades or family groups has kept many palaeontologists burning the midnight oil. Unfortunately, unlike extant animals; when it comes to organising the family tree of extinct animals such as dinosaurs, a new fossil find, or some new research into existing specimens can throw everything into confusion.

What were once accepted relationships are often questioned and new fossils provide tantalising glimpses into the true nature of the relationship between different types of prehistoric animal.

Two Great Groups Classified