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T. rex Down!
Published on 2010-05-06 09:17:00
It can be worthwhile revisiting what perhaps have become rather over-familiar scenes portraying dinosaur life. One of these is the much-pictured confrontation between a Tyrannosaurus rex and the armoured ankylosaur Euoplocephalus (my painting below). Just how likely would such an encounter have been? And if so, then what would have been the probable outcome?If we place the two dinosaurs alongside each other (my painting below, with the skeletons giving a human scale), then one thing is clear str
The Stones on Tour
Published on 2010-03-10 07:24:00
It must have been one of the most dinosaur-intense environments in the world. During the last several million years of the Cretaceous, a shallow sea divided the eastern and western sides of the North American continent, with the western side stretching from the ice-free North Pole - then centered on land that is now northwest Alaska - all the way down to present-day Central America.On the eastern side, Quebec's Manicouagan impact crater and the Appalachian mountain chain were already-ancient fea
Hoots, Honks and Bellows
Published on 2010-02-05 12:45:00
Some eight years ago I remember writing that, although the colors given to dinosaurs in artists' reconstructions are conjectural, it could only be a matter of time before some new imaging technology might provide us with real evidence of actual colors in their fossils. Well, last month's issue of *Nature contained news of exactly that. The discovery of cells known as melanosomes in the preserved fossil feathers of the dinosaur Sinosauropteryx indicated that the tail of this animal was a lemur-li
Wings on its Fingers
Published on 2009-12-26 07:43:00
It is of course an easy matter to get excited about the latest fossil find. A new species that supplies a previously-missing piece to the puzzle of where to fit what into the scheme of things deserves the attention that it receives in scientific circles and beyond. By way of contrast, other fossil specimens which might have been discovered decades ago, and which represent now-familiar fossil animals, perhaps run the risk of losing their edge through simple familiarity.Recently I obtained (via th
Death in Montana
Published on 2009-11-26 12:25:00
One of the most justly-famous fossil finds in dinosaur studies was the group unearthed in 1964 in Montana by the late Professor John Ostrom. The group consisted of the remains of the herbivore Tenontosaurus, together with between three to four individuals of a newly-discovered carnivorous dinosaur that was given the name of Deinonychus antirrhopus (literally: 'Terrible-claw/counterbalance'). What so excited the world of palaeontology was that the group appeared to show, not merely evidence of ac
The Eye of a Raptor
Published on 2009-11-22 05:53:00
This is the eye of a living raptor. But before anyone starts wondering whether some enterprising scientist has succeeded in turning a fictional Jurassic Park into reality, we need to define our terms. Raptors, as the word is understood and used in dictionary terms, are birds of prey. These can include the hawk whose eye is pictured here, as well as such birds as falcons, owls and eagles. But since the release of the film Jurassic Park (below), the word raptor has become synonymous with a specif
Patience please!
Published on 2009-11-20 12:22:00
The raptors are currently being fed. As soon as they are through with their meal, they will appear on this weblog, and those patient readers with a stout heart and a steady nerve are welcome to check back later to meet them.