Were Dinosaurs Warm Blooded Like Modern Animals?

Medicine & Technology May 30, 2015

For years the accepted theory was that dinosaurs were cold blooded, much like modern reptiles today. However, a study then showed that they were neither cold blooded or warm blooded like animals today. However, a paleontologist revisited that study focusing on the metabolism and growth of the dinosaurs. The re-analysis then provided evidence that dinosaurs were actually warm blooded like many of today's modern animals.

Dino Debate Continues – New Analyses Indicate They Were Warm Blooded

May 29, 2015

In the long debate over whether dinosaurs were warm or cold blooded, a study published last year in Science was thought to have put the issue to rest. Dinosaurs were neither, according to the paper. Instead, they occupied an intermediate category. But a reanalysis of the same data has drawn new conclusions. And the verdict this time? Warm blooded.

Paleontologists Unearth Washington’s First Dinosaur: An 80 Million-Year-Old Tyrannosaur

May 22, 2015

In 2012, a team of paleontologists were scouring the rocky shores of what is today the small island of Sucia, located within Puget Sound, between Washington State and Vancouver Island. On the hunt for prehistoric shells, they inadvertently stumbled upon the bone of a creature never known to have ranged that far north - a dinosaur.

Meet Velociraptor’s ‘Nosey’ Cousin

May 14, 2015

Paleontologists have recently identified a new member of the raptor family, one that may have had a leg up on its competition: a keen sense of smell.

More than Meets the Eye—T Rex Relative Was Herbivore Instead

Apr 27, 2015

In the world of dinosaurs, not everything was as it seems. The most advantageous appendages may have just been for show-and-tell, to ward off unassuming predators, and some of the most evolutionarily superb tricks may never be revealed in the fossils we find today. And with the endless wonder of discovering an entirely unique world, unlike our own, paleontologists, like children, keep learning in the hopes of one day adding their own discovery into the dialogue. The only difference is that one of these differences was recently discovered in a new species of dinosaur related to the Tyrannosaurus rex, but this discovery really was made by a child—seven-year-old Diego Suárez.

New Sensitivity Study May Reveal ‘Terror Birds’ Hunted In Packs

Apr 11, 2015

News this week revealed a frightening new addition to the fossil record—a “Terror Bird” species known more scientifically as Llallawavis scagliai (aka Scaglia’s Magnificent Bird). But in spite of its massive size and terrifying stance, this top-tier predatory may not have been the most well-adapted hunter that it could be… That is, unless it was hunting in packs.

With a Bit of Luck and Inspiration, One 4-Year-Old Boy Found a Dinosaur in Texas

Apr 11, 2015

Think that you don’t have what it takes to start a career in paleontology, even though your fascination with dinosaurs never ends? Well never fear, news this week reveals that you’re never too old, or too young, to start on the hunt for dinosaurs. And 4-year-old Wylie Brys, of Mansfield, Texas, is proving this sentiment true.

Giving a Voice to Long-Lost—New ‘Terror Bird’ Species Reveals a Knack for Being on the Hunt

Apr 11, 2015

Think that we’ve found just about every prehistoric species that there is to find? You’d be terrifyingly wrong if you said yes. In fact, adding a new view on the diversity of some unlikely large predators that predate humans, a new fossil this week revealed another species of South American “terror birds” known as Llallawavis scagliai.

Is the Brontosaurus Back After Nearly a Century?

Apr 07, 2015

Any paleontologist that is worth anything will tell you that there is no such thing as a brontosaurus. But a new paper published in PeerJ hopes to change that.

Yawunik Arthropod Revealed—The Toothsome Creature that Gave Rise to Lobsters, Spiders and Butterflies

Mar 29, 2015

When you watch butterflies flutter through the sky and lobsters waddle in the sea, you may not readily believe that the two far off species have anything in common. But along with spiders, butterflies and lobsters share quite an interesting collective history-one where an ancient ancestor may have emerged from the sea. Cover the ocean, the land and the skies above the radiation of species into many forms are believed to have originated with a common ancestor as long as 508 million years ago. And in a new study published this week in the journal Paleontology researchers are finally giving a face to ancestor known as Yawunik kootenayi.

Ancient Croc Ruled North America Before Dinosaurs

Mar 20, 2015

Scientists have unearthed fossils in North Carolina of a large land-dwelling crocodile that lived about 231 million years ago, walked on its hind legs and was the top land predator before dinosaurs even appeared.

Scientists Have Finally Determined the Weight of Famed Stegosaurus

Mar 06, 2015

Scientists, using a new 3-D scanning technique, have finally been able to make a reasonable estimate of the weight of the world's most famous Stegosaurus, Sophie.

Reptile Preceding Dinosaurs Discovered

Jan 24, 2015

Paleontologists have discovered a new species of reptile after putting together the remains of a new crocodile-like species that lived long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

A Fisherman’s Tale—5,000 Year Old Footprints Found in Denmark “Fjord”

Nov 15, 2014

Those who have fishermen in the family know that the tales of fishing trips are often folkloric at their best. But would you be surprised to hear that ancient tales of a fishing trip, and perhaps some footprints to document the trip, may be one of the most important archaeological finds of the decade? Well it turns out neither did the pair of fishermen whose ever move was recorded below them in a shifting seabed, 5,000 years ago in the frigid waters of the southern Baltic Sea.