The most famous of all the dinosaurs is the Tyrannosaurus rex or T-rex. Virginia Tech paleontologist Sterling Nesbitt discovered the fossilized remains of a relative to the T-rex when he was 16-years-old and participating in a dig expedition in New Mexico in 1998. Nesbitt is now an assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences at Virginia Tech.
For more than half a decade at a North Dakota site called Tanis in the Hell Creek Formation, paleontologist Robert DePalma has worked to unearth evidence of what is believed to be a 'killing field' established shortly after the impact of the asteroid that ushered in Earth's last mass extinction event. The site is home to the fossilized remains of many dead creatures ranging from fish to a dinosaur.
The crown for most massive T. rex ever found was changed this week as "Scotty" was unveiled in Canada. This hunk of a hunter lived 66 million years ago in prehistoric Saskatchewan. The bones were first unearthed all the way back in the year 1991, which seems not that long ago compared to the time it was last above the dirt - but it's still been covered in sandstone for another decade. Now that the full picture is seen, analysis can commence.
A new species of dinosaur was identified in research published this week. This dinosaur is called Galleonosaurus dorisae, and it's a small-bodied ornithopod. Identification of this dinosaur was focused on a set of jawbones recovered in the Southwestern region of Australia. This wallaby-sized creature was most likely living in the region that connected Australia and Antarctica before the one land mass was split into two.
A new unique dinosaur is helping scientists put together what they call a "a four-dimensional connect the dots." This is Mnyamawamtuka moyowamkia (Mm-nya-ma-wah-mm-too-ka mm-oh-yo-wa-mm-key-ah), a dinosaur with a tail with a set of bones shaped like hearts. With skin, it's likely this dinosaur kept its heart shapes largely hidden - much like most people on this day, Valentine's Day 2019.
So you say you know what dinosaurs look like. You know all the superstars - the big, powerful, Jurassic Park monsters you learned about in the 90s. Take a look at the recently uncovered Bajadasaurus pronuspinax and you might well be thrown for a loop. This dinosaur doesn't look like any sort of dinosaur I knew as a kid. And why would I? All I knew (before Spielberg's blockbuster) was what I saw in books - and those dinosaurs looked a lot like lumpy hippos, really.
The feather-laden dinosaur Archaeopteryx lithographica* was a flying dinosaur. The first fossil feather ever found was once believed to have originated from Archaeopteryx. In a study published this week, doubts have surfaced that this feather belonged to said creature. This study also made clear the value of Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence (LSF) on old fossils. Using LSF on old fossils, new information can be found.
The creature known as Lisowicia bojani was revealed by researchers this week. This is an ancient animal in the synapsids group - they eventually evolved into mammals. This is a new link in the ever-changing story of our ancestral Earthbound beings, here providing proof of a larger sect of synapsids, generally thought to be tiny in stature in the Triassic age. This creature is one of the last synapsids that ever walked the earth - and one of the largest for its time.
New evidence was discovered that suggests feathers started appearing on animals around 70 million years earlier than previously suspected. Two anurognathid pterosaurs were studied by a group of paleontologists and research was published this week on their findings. This little monster was previously known to have at least a little bit of fur covering its body - now it would seem that it had four different sorts of feathers, too!
Australians understand living among animals - they've got more than their fair share of wild creatures across the continent. But when it comes to giant shark teeth, there's not exactly one big abundance. A schoolteacher from Victoria by the name of Philip Mullaly was on a fossil hunt in a region called Dinosaur Cove when he happened upon a rare find.
When your fellow dinosaurs have big teeth and even bigger appetites, what's a herbivore to do but develop some seriously impressive natural armor. That's the case with Akainacephalus johnsoni, a freshly-identified dinosaur the remains of which were extracted from a cache of ancient bones in Utah.
Look upon this mighty work of LEGO artwork and despair! For this is a licensed movie LEGO set, and it probably won't be released more than once! This is the LEGO Jurassic World set 75930, Indoraptor Rampage at Lockwood Estate. It's made for the release of Jurassic World, and depicts a scene heavily featured in the last preview trailers before the release of the film. In this set you'll find no less than 3 (three) dinosaurs with which you can terrorize your minifigures, and have oh-so-very-much fun.