Free Republic

Gigantic dinosaurs frolicked and splashed some 170 million years ago in the lagoons of what is now Scotland. That’s what a team of paleontologists has determined after discovering dozens of jumbo-sized footprints belonging to long-necked sauropods on the Isle of Skye. Mixed with the herbivores’ tracks were a few clawed impressions left behind by two-legged meat-eaters known as theropods. The footprints present a snapshot of life during an important period in dinosaur history that has yielded relatively few fossil remains. In the mid-Jurassic, sauropods necks grew longer and the first birds were figuring out flight.Identifying two types of footprints in...

Rarely in my lifetime have I seen the type of civic engagement schoolchildren and their supporters demonstrated in Washington and other major cities throughout the country this past Saturday. These demonstrations demand our respect. They reveal the broad public support for legislation to minimize the risk of mass killings of schoolchildren and others in our society. That support is a clear sign to lawmakers to enact legislation prohibiting civilian ownership of semiautomatic weapons, increasing the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 years old, and establishing more comprehensive background checks on all purchasers of firearms. But the...

PHOENIX — A 27-foot-tall dinosaur that lived about 100 million years ago could soon have something in common with the cactus wren, the palo verde and even the Colt single action revolver: becoming part of "official'' Arizona. Members of the House Government Committee on Thursday gave their unanimous endorsement to the pleas of 11-year-old Jax Weldon to designate the Sonorasaurus as the "official state dinosaur.'' That sends SB 1517, which already has been approved by the Senate, to the full House. Weldon, a self-proclaimed amateur paleontologist, told lawmakers he was inspired after California lawmakers voted last year to select the...

TOPEKA Sen. Pat Roberts supports placing an age restriction on the rifle that was used in a Florida school shooting where 17 people died. The Kansas Republican said he believes Congress is ready to act and expects President Donald Trump to take the lead. "This is an opportunity, if you look at these youngsters who are so emotionally tied in to this grief of losing their friends — but it’s more than gun control. But I think we’re ready as a Congress to actually pass something and I think it’s going to be better background checks. Certainly nobody under 21...

Dinosaur and Mammal Tracks Found Together February 1, 2018 | David F. Coppedge In what is being called the mother lode of Cretaceous tracks, mammals, dinosaurs and pterosaurs left their prints in a table-sized rock. Of all places: at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, a property representing the cutting edge of human technology, dinosaurs left their mark. Ray Stanford was dropping off his wife at work when he noticed an unusual rock outcrop. As an amateur paleontologist, he looked and saw a dinosaur track, so he began digging. Soon he had an 8′ x 3′ slab of rock that...

MANSOURA, Egypt (AP) — A skeleton has been unearthed in Egypt’s Western Desert, whose ancient sands have long helped preserve remains, but unlike most finds this one isn’t a mummy — it’s a dinosaur. Researchers from Mansoura University in the country’s Nile Delta discovered the new species of long-necked herbivore, which is around the size of a city bus, and it could be just the tip of the sand dune for other desert dinosaur discoveries. “As in any ecosystem, if we went to the jungle we’ll find a lion and a giraffe. So we found the giraffe, where’s the lion?”...

With a roar loud enough to shake a forest and a green, scaly skin, it has long been regarded as the slickest villain of the prehistoric world. But according to a new TV programme, Tyrannosaurus Rex looked entirely different to the terrifying image so familiar from depictions on the silver screen. According to a new documentary, Tyrannosaurus Rex may not have been as terrifying as its depictions on the silver screen According to a new documentary, Tyrannosaurus Rex may not have been as terrifying as its depictions on the silver screen The dinosaur had black, bristly tufts of feathers and...

Paleontologists have found entombed in amber a 99-million-year-old tick grasping the feather of a dinosaur, providing the first direct evidence that the tiny pests drank dinosaur blood. Immortalized in the golden gemstone, the bloodsucker’s last supper is remarkable because it is rare to find parasites with their hosts in the fossil record. The finding, which was published Tuesday, gives researchers tantalizing insight into the prehistoric diet of one of today’s most prevalent pests.

The fearsome roar of Tyrannosaurus Rex as portrayed in film has left many a cinema-goer quaking in their seat. But new research suggests the king of the dinosaurs made a far more sinister sound. For a new BBC documentary, naturalist Chris Packham visited Julia Clarke, professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Texas, to test out a the theory that dinosaurs actually sounded more like birds and reptiles, than today’s predatory mammals. “The most chilling noises in the natural world today come from predators, the howl of the wolf, the roar of the tiger, but experts now doubt that...

It looks like a rather cute fluffy toy. But, in fact, this is an artist's impression of a dinosaur that lived 160 million years ago. Latest research suggests the crow-sized dinosaur Anchiornis had feathers on its four wings that fluffed up rather than lying flat like those of modern birds. The primitive feathers may have actually hampered in its early attempts at flight. They would probably have caused drag when the creature tried to glide between trees, say scientists.

Fossils discovered in France linked to previously unknown Cretaceous species. An ancient vegetarian dinosaur from the French countryside has given paleontologists something to sink their teeth into. The most striking feature of a new species of rhabdodontid that lived from 84 million to 72 million years ago is its oversized, scissorslike teeth, paleontologist Pascal Godefroit, of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, and his colleagues report October 26 in Scientific Reports. Compared with other dinos of its kind, Matheronodon provincialis’ teeth were at least twice as large but fewer in number. Some teeth reached up to 6...

September 25, 2017 | David F. Coppedge Original Dinosaur Egg Pigments Found Add this to your dinosaur soft tissue collection: eggshell pigment proteins that allowed scientists to tell the eggs were blue. Eggs of an oviraptorid dinosaur found in China are still blue and red from the original pigment. Bob Yirka reports the find in Phys.org: The team reports that theirs was the first effort to seriously study color in dinosaur eggs. It came about after the team noted some Heyuannia huangi fossilized eggs that had a bluish tint—researchers had previously assumed the tint was due to mineralization, but the...

A year after adopting a state fabric, California is the latest state to get its own official dinosaur, although the honor comes about 66 million years too late to directly benefit the honoree. The designated creature is Augustynolophus morrisi, which, according to a bill signed Saturday by Gov. Jerry Brown, is “a unique dinosaur that has only been found in California.”

Williamstown - Shem’s Snack Shack sits about a mile away from the Ark Encounter on a road that turns into Williamstown’s Main Street. In case you missed the reference to Shem, Noah’s son, it’s also the “Home of the Ark Dog” — two-thirds of a Biblical cubit long — and has swirly blue linoleum floors meant to mimic the ocean and a camel mascot named Humphrey, who declares that the gourmet hot dogs are flooded with flavor. The snack shack is owned by Charleston, W.Va., doctor Brian Plants, a longtime donor to the Answers in Genesis ministry of Australian Ken...

A 26-year-old West Ashley woman was ticketed Friday after Charleston police said she caused an accident by scaring two carriage horses with a Tyrannosaurus rex costume. Nicole Wells of Ashley River Road was cited on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct and wearing a mask or disguise on a public street, a city code violation, police said. Wells was released after turning herself in Friday morning, spokesman Charles Francis said. She was not jailed. The incident was reported shortly after 5 p.m. on Thursday near Tommy Condon's restaurant on Church Street. Two Palmetto Carriage Works horses, named Yogi and Boo...

Scientists in Canada named a newly discovered dinosaur after a character from the original Ghostbusters film. The 75 million-year-old ankylosaur was named Zuul crurivastator for its resemblance to the Ghostbusters character Zuul and it's powerful tail. "This dinosaur's short snout, long horns behind the eyes and on the cheeks, and gnarly face resemble Zuul, a fictional monster from the 1984 film Ghostbusters," the Royal Ontario Museum said. The museum celebrated the unique name by inviting Ghostbusters actor Dan Aykroyd to pose for photos with Zuul's head. Its species name "crurivastator" means "destroyer of shins" and refers to its powerful sledgehammer-like...

Dinosaur Eggs Not Bird-Like After All by Tim Clarey, Ph.D. * Evidence for Creation › Evidence from Science › Evidence from the Life Sciences › Life Was Created Fully Functional › Variation Is Limited within Kinds Prevailing secular theory considers birds to be living dinosaurs, but new science is hatching to support the stark differences between these creatures. The data demonstrate dinosaurs were more likely cold-blooded like all modern reptiles. Dr. Gregory Erickson of Florida State University and his colleagues from the University of Calgary and the American Museum of Natural History recently published their findings on dinosaur incubation periods...

Scientists have unearthed in Mongolia's Gobi Desert one of the biggest dinosaur footprints ever recorded, measuring over a metre in length. The enormous print, which measures 106cm (42 inches) in length and 77cm in width and dates back more than 70 million years, offers a fresh clue about the giant creatures that roamed the earth millions of years ago, scientists from the Okayama University of Science said.

Young-Earth Creationist Wins Lawsuit Oct. 4, 2016 More than three years ago, I wrote about the sad story of Mark Armitage, a gifted scientist who has become an expert in microscopy. In addition to running his own microscope company, he also worked as the Manager for the Electron and Confocal Microscopy Suite in the Biology Department at California State University Northridge. While on a fossil dig in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, he discovered a 48-inch Triceratops horn. When he and his colleague soaked it in weak acid to remove the mineral components, they recovered soft, brown tissue.

Everyone knows you have to watch out for sharks on Australian beaches – but what about dinosaurs? A 130-million year old dinosaur footprint has been found among the seaweed and surf on popular Cable Beach near the town of Broome, Western Australia. Bindi Lee Porth said she was collecting seashells when she felt an indent in the sand. Clearing it away, she found a number of massive, preserved footprints.