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Dinosaurs

All articles tagged with #dinosaurs

End-Cretaceous Extinction Hinged on Ground Beneath Chicxulub
science2 hours ago

End-Cretaceous Extinction Hinged on Ground Beneath Chicxulub

New modeling suggests the Chicxulub impact's global killing power hinged on striking hydrocarbon-rich, sulfur-bearing coastal rocks. The study estimates such geology could generate enough stratospheric soot to trigger 8–11°C global cooling, a major driver of the mass extinction, whereas rocks with lower hydrocarbon content would have caused milder effects. The claim is model-based and contingent on late-Cretaceous geology and the impact angle, and while it fits with related research, it remains not a settled consensus.

via Space Daily|
#asteroid-impact#chicxulub#climate-change
Strong jaws, not bigger bodies, drove giant theropods to shrink their forelimbs
science6 days ago

Strong jaws, not bigger bodies, drove giant theropods to shrink their forelimbs

A new study of 82 theropod species finds that giant predators didn’t shrink their arms because their bodies grew larger; instead, as jaws and skulls became more powerful, forelimbs became less necessary and were reduced in five independent lineages. The researchers linked arm length to skull robustness, showing a stronger correlation with powerful jaws than with body size. Skull development preceded arm reduction, meaning the bite-based hunting strategy replaced grasping by the arms. This convergent pattern across tyrannosaurids, abelisaurids, carcharodontosaurids, megalosaurids, and ceratosaurids suggests tiny arms were an evolutionary consequence of jaw power, not a byproduct of overall gigantism.

via Space Daily|
#convergent-evolution#dinosaurs#evolution
Ancient Mongolian Trackway Rediscovered, Revealing 31 Giant Dinosaur Footprints
archaeology8 days ago

Ancient Mongolian Trackway Rediscovered, Revealing 31 Giant Dinosaur Footprints

Rediscovered in northern Mongolia, a 120-million-year-old tracksite in the Shinekhudag Formation preserves 31 footprints—two parallel sauropod trackways suggesting herd movement and five theropod tracks—indicating large predators converged at a drying lake edge; first noted in 1950 but lost for decades, the site could yield bones nearby and helps fill gaps in Mongolia’s early Cretaceous dinosaur record.

via Indian Defence Review|
#archaeology#dinosaurs#early-cretaceous
Sunset Unmasks Denali’s Vast Dinosaur Tracksite
science9 days ago

Sunset Unmasks Denali’s Vast Dinosaur Tracksite

Scientists in Denali National Park discovered the largest dinosaur tracksite in Alaska, nicknamed “The Coliseum,” containing thousands of footprints from Late Cretaceous dinosaurs. The tracks revealed themselves only under specific sunset lighting, showing a multi-layer record of a river-based ecosystem with giant plant-eaters, predators like tyrannosaurs and raptors, and preserved plant and invertebrate fossils. The site, formed by ancient floodplains and later uplift by the Alaska Range, provides insight into prehistoric northern ecosystems and is now protected as researchers continue study.

via The Daily Galaxy|
#alaska#denali-national-park#dinosaurs
Thailand’s Last Titan: Nagatitan, the Largest Southeast Asian Sauropod
science12 days ago

Thailand’s Last Titan: Nagatitan, the Largest Southeast Asian Sauropod

Scientists in northeastern Thailand identified a new giant sauropod, Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, estimated to be about 88 feet long and 27 tons—potentially the largest dinosaur found in Southeast Asia—dating to roughly 100–120 million years ago. Discovered by locals, with excavation completed by 2024, the species earned the nickname “the last titan” and is now featured as a life-size reconstruction at Bangkok’s Thainosaur Museum after a study published in Scientific Reports.

via CBS News|
#dinosaurs#nagatitan-chaiyaphumensis#paleontology
Gigantic Jurassic Sauropod Tracks Stamped into a French Cave Ceiling
science12 days ago

Gigantic Jurassic Sauropod Tracks Stamped into a French Cave Ceiling

In Castelbouc Cave in southern France, researchers documented three-dimensional counterprint casts of sauropod footprints on the ceiling, dating to about 168 million years ago with tracks up to 1.25 meters long. The prints formed when dinosaurs walked across soft lagoon mud, later filled and preserved as rock, revealing that giant herbivores roamed coastal wetlands. Studying them required deep cave exploration and rare preservation conditions, and the team notes similar discoveries elsewhere may follow.

via The Daily Galaxy|
#caves#dinosaurs#jurassic
Ancient collagen found in 66-million-year-old Edmontosaurus fossil reshapes fossil biology
science13 days ago

Ancient collagen found in 66-million-year-old Edmontosaurus fossil reshapes fossil biology

Researchers analyzing a remarkably preserved Edmontosaurus sacrum detected remnants of endogenous collagen and related amino acids in a 66-million-year-old fossil, providing strong evidence against the idea that original biomolecules are always destroyed over deep time and potentially enabling new insights into dinosaur evolution and biology.

via ScienceDaily|
#collagen#dinosaurs#edmontosaurus
Thai fossil reveals Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, Southeast Asia's largest long-necked dinosaur
science13 days ago

Thai fossil reveals Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, Southeast Asia's largest long-necked dinosaur

Thai researchers announce Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, a ~27-ton, long-necked herbivorous dinosaur that lived 100–120 million years ago in what is now northeastern Thailand. Discovered in 2016 in Chaiyaphum and later studied with National Geographic funding, the fossils (including a front leg bone nearly six feet long) make it the largest known sauropod in Southeast Asia, and scientists say it could be the last giant of its kind to be found in the region.

via ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos|
#dinosaurs#fossils#paleontology
Bolivia Uncovers World’s Largest Dinosaur Footprint Field Along Ancient Lakeshore
science14 days ago

Bolivia Uncovers World’s Largest Dinosaur Footprint Field Along Ancient Lakeshore

Paleontologists in Torotoro National Park, Bolivia, have documented Carreras Pampa as the largest known dinosaur tracksite, preserving nearly 18,000 footprints across 1,321 trackways dating to about 70 million years ago along the shore of an ancient freshwater lake. Most prints are three-toed theropod tracks, with ghost tracks and hundreds of swim traces; no bones were found. The site offers detailed clues on dinosaur movement and behavior and was published in PLOS ONE.

via The Daily Galaxy|
#bolivia#dinosaurs#footprints