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It’s a pass on getting my guts ripped open by Joaquinraptor casali. Some photographs really make you want to become a palaeontologist. Image credit: Matt Lamanna ======================================================================= A new species of predatory dinosaur has been described from fossils found in South America, and to say they are intimidating is an understatement. With a thumb claw that makes the human hand look puny, it’s safe to say that Joaquinraptor casali would’ve been much feared in its ecosystem, back when it was munching crocodiles around 70 million years ago. How do we know it was munching crocodiles? Well, this individual’s jawbone was...

This new species, named Zavacephale rinpoche, lived about 108 million years ago (Early Cretaceous period). Young Zavacephale duel for territory along a lakeshore 108 million years ago. Image: Masaya Hattori Arecent discovery in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert has provided the most complete and oldest fossil of an iconic dome-headed dinosaur to date. This new species, named Zavacephale rinpoche, lived about 108 million years ago (Early Cretaceous period). Palaeontologists from North Carolina State University announced the findings on September 17, describing it as a “once-in-a-lifetime discovery.” It belongs to the group pachycephalosaurs — dinosaurs known for their unique head adornments, including domes...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted a CNN segment about a pastor who believes women should not vote on the social media platform X. The segment largely focuses on Pastor Doug Wilson, a Christian nationalist who cofounded the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC) in Idaho. The report shows Wilson advocating for a Christian nation and entertaining the idea that women should not vote. “I would like to see this nation being a Christian nation, and I would like this world to be a Christian world,” Wilson said. The clip also shows fellow pastor Toby Sumpter, saying, “In an ideal society,...

NEW YORK — For sale: A 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock. Estimated auction price: $2 million to $4 million. Why so expensive? It's the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth. Sotheby's in New York will be auctioning what's known as NWA 16788 on Wednesday as part of a natural history-themed sale that also includes a juvenile Ceratosaurus dinosaur skeleton that's more than 6 feet (2 meters) tall and nearly 11 feet (3 meters) long. According to the auction house, the meteorite is believed to have been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike before traveling 140...

Paleontologists in Alberta, Canada, have recently unearthed “a mass grave on a monumental scale.”1 The BBC story speaks of Thousands of dinosaurs [that] were buried here, killed in an instant on a day of utter devastation. Now, a group of palaeontologists have come to Pipestone Creek - appropriately nicknamed the “River of Death” - to help solve a 72-million-year-old enigma: how did they die?1 The question and answer regarding the mass dinosaur death is found in the same sentence above. It was a massive flood (“river”) of death that killed them 4,500 years ago. Unfortunately, paleontologists will not accept this...

There is no single answer to this puzzle. Dinosaurs dominated the planet for around 179 million years and during that time, evolved into an enormous array of different shapes and sizes. Some were tiny, like the diminutive Albinykus, which weighed under a kilogram (2.2lbs) and was probably less than 2ft (60cm) long. Others were among the biggest animals to have ever lived on land, such as the titanosaur Patagotitan mayorum, which may have weighed up to 72 tonnes. They ran on two legs, or plodded on four. And along with these diverse body shapes, they would have produced an equally...

Scientists have been wondering for years which dinosaur could run the fastest. Now, new simulation models are offering a fresh look at dinosaur speed. This renewed interest has roots in a major discovery from 1964, when paleontologist John Ostrom and his team uncovered Deinonychus—a dinosaur with a lightweight body, long claws, and strong legs. Its features challenged the long-held image of dinosaurs as sluggish reptiles and instead pointed to an active, fast-moving predator. This discovery helped launch what scientists call the “dinosaur renaissance,” a major shift in how experts understood dinosaur behavior. Instead of slow-moving reptiles, some dinosaurs began to...

A team of scientists will 'combine creative innovation, genomic engineering and advanced tissue engineering to start producing sustainable luxury materials from prehistoric species'. It builds on previous research which involved extracting a fragment of collagen from a T.Rex fossil, found in 1988 in Montana. It was one of the most complete specimens at the time of its discovery, and even contained preserved blood proteins. Now, experts will use this fragment to artificially recreate what a full-length T.Rex collagen sequence would have looked like. Once they have made sure it looks genetically similar to that of the T.Rex ancestors, they will...

‘Top apex’ predator evolved in aftermath of dinosaur extinction In a nutshell * Scientists have discovered a remarkably complete skull of a new prehistoric carnivore species in Egypt’s Fayum Depression, named Bastetodon syrtos, which lived about 30 million years ago and was roughly the size of a modern leopard * The discovery has led researchers to correct a century-old misclassification of ancient African predators, showing they evolved separately from their European relatives rather than being part of the same group * The fossil comes from a crucial time period when Earth’s climate was changing from warm to cool, helping scientists...

Close up of the hip bone of an Edmontosaurus. Credit: University of Liverpool Liverpool researchers’ discovery of collagen in fossilized bones could provide new insights into dinosaurs. For years, scientists widely believed that the fossilization process destroyed all original organic molecules, leaving fossils devoid of their original biological material. However, a groundbreaking study led by the University of Liverpool has provided strong evidence that Mesozoic fossils, including dinosaur bones and teeth, still contain preserved organic materials. Using advanced mass spectrometry and other analytical techniques, researchers detected remnants of collagen in the hip bone of an Edmontosaurus, a duck-billed dinosaur. This...

The Destruction of the Traditional Latin Mass and its Ultimate CauseThe exclusion of the Church’s Traditional Latin Mass and the tyrannical imposition of Pope Paul VI’s Liturgy are events whose deep causes must be sought among the very premises that gave rise to the modern world. The “mutation” from a world woven with symbols and theophanies to a universe governed by the uniform laws of mechanics and devoid of the transcendent horizon of the unseen realm, reflects the profound crisis of Christian faith that gave birth to that synthesis of heresies which Saint Pope Pius X called “modernism.”In the context...

A bizarre new genus and species of ornithomimid dinosaur has been identified from the fossilized remains found in 2014 in Coahuila, Mexico. Life reconstruction of Mexidracon longimanus. Image credit: Ddinodan / CC BY 4.0. The newly-identified dinosaur species roamed Earth during the Late Cretaceous epoch, some 73 million years ago. Named Mexidracon longimanus, the ancient creature was around 3 m (10 feet) in length. It belongs to Ornithomimidae, a family of theropod dinosaur that evolved a toothless beak and were likely omnivorous or herbivorous, superficially resembling living ostriches. “Ornithomimosaurs are a clade of ostrich-like theropod dinosaurs characterized by relatively small...

LONDON — The mystery of dinosaur origins has taken an unexpected turn toward the equator. While paleontologists have long searched southern regions for clues about where these magnificent creatures first evolved, new research suggests we may have been looking in the wrong latitude altogether. A new study indicates that the first dinosaurs may have emerged in Earth’s ancient tropics, forcing scientists to reconsider long-held theories about their origins. For years, paleontologists believed dinosaurs originated in what is now southern South America and southern Africa, since the oldest unequivocal dinosaur fossils come from late Carnian rock formations (around 230 million years...

researchers have uncovered a series of massive dinosaur trackways dating back to the Middle Jurassic Period, approximately 166 million years ago. Dubbed a 'dinosaur highway,' the site features footprints from both herbivorous dinosaurs, likely Cetiosaurus and the fearsome carnivore Megalosaurus. The discovery was made at Dewars Farm Quarry in Oxfordshire, England, and includes over 200 footprints spread across five extensive trackways, the longest of which stretches more than 150 meters. ... a skeleton is a record of the animal once it's died. Footprints are quite different in that they are snapshots into the life of an animal .... The overlapping...

Amber is a remarkable substance that can give scientists a unique window into our planet's prehistory. From a dinosaur’s fluffy tail to a 20 million-year-old flea preserved with plague bacteria, let's take a look at 5 Prehistoric Creatures Found Trapped in Amber.5 Strange Prehistoric Creatures Found Trapped In Amber | 20:03Ben G Thomas | 689K subscribers | 769,762 views | December 22, 2024

Because Labocania is based on fragmentary material, its affinities were uncertain. Molnar noted certain similarities between Labocania and tyrannosaurids, especially in the form of the ischium which features a low triangular obturator process and a circular lateral scar on the upper end, but he did not assign Labocania to any family, placing it as "Theropoda incertae sedis". Molnar especially compared Labocania with Indosaurus and "Chilantaisaurus" maortuensis, later made the separate genus Shaochilong. Labocania was considered as a possible tyrannosauroid in the 2004 review of the group by Thomas R. Holtz, Jr., who, however, pointed out that the similarities with the...

The crater lies deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean and was formed around 66 million years ago – making it a contemporary of Chicxulub. It is thought that the asteroid hit Earth at around 72,000 kilometers (44,700 miles) per hour. Image credit: muratart/Shutterstock.com Some 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid slammed into Earth. The Chicxulub impactor, as it is called, famously wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs and left a huge crater at the edge of the Yucatán peninsula – but it may not have acted alone. New research has revealed that a second, smaller space rock smashed into our planet...

A 14-inch-long theropod track encrusted with marine life. Credit: Anthony Martin New theropod and ornithopod dinosaur tracks from the Early Cretaceous period in Australia’s Wonthaggi Formation illustrate a rich polar dinosaur ecosystem, highlighting the adaptability and diversity of these ancient creatures. A recent discovery of dinosaur tracks on Australia’s southern coast, dating back to the Early Cretaceous when Australia was still connected to Antarctica, suggests that large theropod dinosaurs thrived in this polar environment, prowling the river floodplains when the ice thawed during the summers. In a study published in the journal Alcheringa, researchers analyzed the tracks made in the...

A group of scientists, led by paleontologist Louis L. Jacobs, an Emeritus Professor President of the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man at the Southern Methodist University Campus in Dallas, Texas, have made a significant discovery. The scientists found matching dinosaur footprints on two separate continents, South America and Africa. In Brazil and Cameroon, over 260 footprints were uncovered. These footprints show where dinosaurs once roamed freely on the two continents millions of years ago before South America and Africa drifted apart. Jacobs explained that the footprints were not only similar in age but also in their geological...

In a new study published Thursday in the journal Science, researchers pieced together the chemical identity of the asteroid that fueled the planet’s fifth mass extinction event. Sixty-six million years ago, the story of life on Earth took a dramatic turn when an asteroid collided with what’s now the Yucatán Peninsula in Chicxulub, Mexico. The aftereffects of the collision resulted in the extinction of an estimated 75% of animal species, including most dinosaurs except for birds. But practically nothing of the asteroid itself remains. In a new study published Thursday in the journal Science, researchers pieced together the chemical identity...