dinosaurs

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Fossilized Poop Offers Clues to Dinosaurs' Rise
Dinosaur Dung, Vomit
Offers Clues to Their Rise
NEW STUDY
Nov 28, 2024 10:30 AM CST

Dinosaur Dung, Vomit Offers Clues to Their Rise

As opportunistic eaters, they were well-suited to environmental change, researchers say

(Newser) - Much attention has been paid to the question of what killed the dinosaurs. But how did they arise in the first place? And how did they come to dominate the planet? A new 10-year analysis of dinosaur poop moves us closer to the answers, per CNN . Paleontologist Martin Qvarnström...

In Hong Kong, a Big First on the Dinosaur Front

Officials say they've discovered dinosaur fossils on remote, uninhabited Port Island

(Newser) - Officials in Hong Kong said Wednesday they've discovered dinosaur fossils in the city for the first time on a remote, uninhabited island that's part of a UNESCO Global Geopark. Experts have initially confirmed the fossils were part of a large dinosaur from the Cretaceous period, which stretched from...

Identical Dinosaur Tracks Found a World Apart
Identical Dinosaur Tracks
Found a World Apart
new study
Aug 30, 2024 5:10 PM CDT

Identical Dinosaur Tracks Found a World Apart

Scientists say discovery shows they walked what is now Africa and South America before continents split

(Newser) - Researchers studying hundreds of dinosaur tracks in Africa and South America noticed an odd thing—the tracks are virtually identical despite being roughly 3,700 miles apart and separated by an ocean, reports NPR . But this isn't a case of cousin dinosaurs roaming different parts of the world 120...

Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Was Formed Beyond Jupiter
Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid
Had a Distant Origin
NEW STUDY
Aug 16, 2024 8:45 AM CDT

Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Had a Distant Origin

Researchers say it formed beyond Jupiter

(Newser) - The asteroid that doomed the dinosaurs came to Earth from a distant neighborhood, researchers say. In a study published in the journal Science , researchers say analysis of isotopes confirmed that the asteroid that hit a site called Chicxulub 66 million years ago was a carbon-rich asteroid that formed in the...

Komodo Dragon's Orange Teeth Hide a Deadly Power
Komodo Dragon's Orange
Teeth Serve Practical Purpose
NEW STUDY
Jul 25, 2024 12:28 PM CDT

Komodo Dragon's Orange Teeth Serve Practical Purpose

Unprecedented iron coating keeps serrated teeth razor sharp

(Newser) - The Komodo dragon might be the closest thing to a living dinosaur, with its muscular tail, scaly skin, sturdy claws, and, it turns out, razor-sharp teeth unlike any seen before. The largest living lizard has curved, serrated teeth, similar to those of carnivorous dinosaurs, which help to rip apart the...

Biggest Stegosaurus Fossil Ever Found Sells for $44.6M

Buyer says it 'was born in America and is going to stay in America'

(Newser) - A stegosaurus fossil found in Colorado two years ago has become the most valuable fossil ever sold, fetching $44.6 million at an auction in New York City. Sotheby's says the stegosaurus, nicknamed Apex, sold for more than 11 times pre-sale estimates, the BBC reports. Apex, found by fossil...

Dinosaurs' Extinction May Have Been the Birth of Wine

Plant that gave rise to commercial grapes spread in dense forests after asteroid impact

(Newser) - Had an asteroid not struck the planet some 66 million years ago, dinosaurs might still exist—but there would potentially be no wine. According to researchers, grapes might have originated only after the Chicxulub impact transformed the environment, wiping out 76% of all living species, per IFL Science . "We...

New Dinosaur Species Named After Norse God
New Dinosaur Species
Named After Norse God
new study
Jun 21, 2024 1:35 PM CDT

New Dinosaur Species Named After Norse God

Lokiceratops had massive, blade-like horns

(Newser) - A dinosaur that researchers say is new to science has been named after the Norse god Loki not because of any mischievous tendencies, but because of its massive, blade-like horns. In a study published in the journal PeerJ , researchers say Lokiceratops rangiformis was one of many ancestors of Triceratops that...

Boys' Find of a Lifetime: T. Rex
Boys' Find of a Lifetime: T. Rex
Jun 5, 2024 11:35 AM CDT

Boys' Find of a Lifetime: T. Rex

Now the fossil is starring in a Denver museum exhibit and a documentary

(Newser) - Two young brothers and their cousin were wandering a fossil-rich stretch of the North Dakota Badlands when they made a discovery that left them "completely speechless": a T. rex bone poking out of the ground. As the AP reports, the trio announced their discovery publicly Monday as workers at...

Scientists Bristle at Auction of a Rare Stegosaurus

Critic argues 'the uber-wealthy will always be able to outbid museums'

(Newser) - The rich will battle next month to claim the first stegosaurus skeleton ever to be auctioned, per the BBC . Paleontologists, meanwhile, will be cringing. As paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Steve Brusatte tells the outlet, stegosaurus fossils are quite rare and this one is 70% complete. That's "incredible for...

Dino 'From Hell' Suggests There Was No Decline
Dino 'From Hell' Suggests
There Was No Decline
NEW STUDY
Feb 1, 2024 12:50 PM CST

Dino 'From Hell' Suggests There Was No Decline

New caenagnathid species, and a possible second, suggest this dino family was doing fine

(Newser) - Paleontologists have been debating whether the asteroid that killed non-avian dinosaurs took out a varied group of thriving reptiles or one already in decline . Now, researchers say they've discovered a new dinosaur species whose very existence disputes the latter argument. The argument is largely based on apparent declines in...

2 Remarkable Fossils Shed New Light on Dinosaurs

Pliosaur skull in the UK and a young tyrannosaur's last meal in Canada

(Newser) - Two notable fossil discoveries are providing paleontologists with new information about dinosaurs:
  • Pliosaur: The giant skull of a beast described by one scientist as "an underwater T. Rex" was found on a cliff in Dorset in the UK, reports the BBC . The pliosaur skull is about 7 feet long
...

Anyone Need a Nearly Complete Dino Skeleton?

Camptosaurus fossil, 'Barry,' could fetch up to $1.2M at auction next month

(Newser) - One of the most complete dinosaur skulls ever documented will hit the auction block next month along with the rest of the 150-million-year-old Camptosaurus' bones. Such sales of dinosaur fossils are "rare, with only a small number taking place each year globally" as scientists raise concerns about fossils being...

Texas Drought Yields Dino Tracks, WWI Shipwrecks

'If I was ever going to find anything, this would be the best time to do it'

(Newser) - As of Monday, 79% of the state of Texas was in drought , with 12% in "exceptional drought." Those conditions, though challenging for residents, have the upside of revealing some remarkable finds. At Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, officials have uncovered at least 70 new dinosaur tracks...

'I've Never Seen a Fossil Like This Before'
'I've Never Seen
a Fossil Like This Before'
new study
Jul 18, 2023 12:33 PM CDT

'I've Never Seen a Fossil Like This Before'

Find in China shows a mammal attacking a small dinosaur

(Newser) - An unusual find in China suggests some early mammals may have hunted dinosaur for dinner, per the AP . The fossil shows a badgerlike creature chomping down on a small, beaked dinosaur, their skeletons intertwined. The find comes from a site known as "China's Pompeii," where mud and...

Before Dinosaurs, These Guys Had a Serious Eating Flaw

Rhynchosaurs had a single set of teeth they wore down to nubs, may have starved to death in old age

(Newser) - In the age before the towering dinosaurs we know so well from textbooks and Jurassic Park movies, an ugly-cute creature about the size of a pig called the rhynchosaur roamed the Earth, chomping on tough plants with a single row of teeth. As the New York Times reports, they were...

Croc's Virgin Birth Suggests Dinos Were Also Capable
Virgin Birth Is a First
for This Species
NEW STUDY
Jun 7, 2023 12:30 PM CDT

Virgin Birth Is a First for This Species

Parthenogenesis found in crocodile suggests that dinosaurs may have been capable as well

(Newser) - A crocodile has for the first time been found capable of a virgin birth—a finding that suggests the species' dinosaur cousins were capable of the same feat. An 18-year-old female crocodile who'd been isolated from other crocodiles since the age of 2 laid 14 eggs at a Costa...

Cops: Vandals Wreck 'Jurassic World' Exhibition

One person was caught on video ripping skin off animatronic dinosaur

(Newser) - There were a lot of disappointed kids in Atlanta Monday after vandals wrecked "Jurassic World: The Exhibition," a newly opened exhibit featuring life-size animatronic dinosaurs. Police say there was an estimated $250,000 in damage after four intruders broke into the exhibition in the Pullman Yards event space...

'Special' T. Rex Skeleton Sold at Auction for $6.2M

'Trinity' is first T. rex ever sold in Europe

(Newser) - A 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton might have had puny arms, but sold for a hefty $6.2 million at Zurich's Koller auction house. The BBC reports the 38-foot-long and nearly 13-foot-tall fossil "is one of the most spectacular T. rex skeletons in existence," though it's actually...

Dino Claims Longest Neck Known to Man
Dino Claims Longest
Neck Known to Man
NEW STUDY
Mar 16, 2023 7:44 AM CDT

Dino Claims Longest Neck Known to Man

M. sinocanadorum had a 50-foot-long neck, made up of mostly hollow vertebrae: study

(Newser) - Think giraffes have long necks? Paleontologists say a dinosaur that roamed northwest China some 162 million years ago had a neck eight times as long, making it the "longest-known neck in the animal kingdom," per IFL Science . Partial remains of the dinosaur, Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum, were discovered in the...

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