About.com Dinosaurs

"The Dinosaur Musical" - Order Your Tickets Now!

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:00:47 +0000

Sometimes, there's no way to do justice to a press release other than excerpting long pieces of it in all their loony glory. So here we go: the Hi-Desert Star, in Yucca, CA, recently ran a puff piece about The Dinosaur Musical, a tune-packed extravaganza playing in the town of Twentynine Palms until December 19. To wit:

"The show, set at the end of the Cretaceous period, tells the story of a meteor colliding with the Earth and wreaking havoc on the ecosystem. In order to avoid extinction, the Dinosaurs sign a peace pact called the Treaty of Meat. The problems start when the wise king of the Tyrannosauruses suddenly dies and his none-too-clever 13-year-old son rises to power. Bring in a Parasaurolophus singing star, a Triceratops comedian, borsht-belt comedy, an erupting volcano and the invention of spaghetti, and you have a delightful production for all ages."

Wait, it gets better: the director of the show "chuckles" when he observes that "the sight of 6-foot, 6-inch Marv Schmelling, as Mr. Glut the Tyrannosaurus, chasing the 4-foot 2-inch Kaylie Coughlin, as a peaceful plant eater, is visually very funny and always makes me laugh." Us, too!

"The Dinosaur Musical" - Order Your Tickets Now! originally appeared on About.com Dinosaurs on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 08:00:47.

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Dinosaur of the Day - Gigantoraptor

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:00:41 +0000

Despite its scary name, Gigantoraptor wasn't technically a true raptor, like Deinonychus or Velociraptor. Rather, this huge, feathered dinosaur was a close relative of Oviraptor, and the largest such "dino-bird" yet discovered. This genus was "diagnosed" based on a single, incomplete skeleton found in Mongolia in 2005, so further discoveries may shed some much-needed light on its lifestyle (such as whether Gigantoraptor was an herbivore, like other oviraptors, or occasionally supplemented its leafy diet by hunting smaller dinosaurs).

Read more about dinosaurs like Gigantoraptor: Dino-Birds - The Feathered Dinosaurs

Illustration: Nobu Tamura

Dinosaur of the Day - Gigantoraptor originally appeared on About.com Dinosaurs on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 08:00:41.

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New Crocodiles on the Block - BoarCroc, RatCroc and PancakeCroc

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:00:04 +0000

Granted, their nicknames sound forced compared to SuperCroc (technically known as Sarcosuchus), but the three new genuses of prehistoric crocodile recently discovered in Africa by a team including the globe-trotting paleontologist Paul Sereno fill some important gaps in the crocodilian evolutionary tree. According to this bulletin from the Associated Press, "BoarCroc" (Kaprosuchus) had an armored snout and warthog-like tusks; "RatCroc" (Araripesuchus) was only a few feet long, with rodent-like buck teeth; and "PancakeCroc" (Laganasuchus) had a long, flat head shaped like a, well, take a guess.

Whether or not their nicknames take hold in the popular imagination, Kaprosuchus, Araripesuchus and Laganasuchus are evidence of the diversity of non-dinosaur reptile life in northern Africa in the mid-Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago. As is often the case with prehistoric crocodiles, these creatures led a more diverse existence than their modern counterparts, spending part of their time in water and part of their time walking on two or four legs, either to chase down prey or to avoid being eaten themselves.

New Crocodiles on the Block - BoarCroc, RatCroc and PancakeCroc originally appeared on About.com Dinosaurs on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 09:00:04.

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Prehistoric Reptile of the Day - Gorgonops

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:31:29 +0000

Not a whole lot is known about Gorgonops, a genus of therapsid (the "mammal-like reptiles" that preceded the dinosaurs) represented by a handful of species. What we do know for sure is that this was the largest reptilian carnivore of the late Permian period, attaining a respectable length of about 10 feet (not much by later standards, but fearsome enough for its time).

Gorgonops appeared to have preyed on smaller reptiles, using its sharp, canine teeth as incisors. Like other mammal-like reptiles, it's possible that Gorgonops may have been warm-blooded and/or sported a coat of fur, but we may never know for sure.

Read more about prehistoric reptiles like Gorgonops: Before the Dinosaurs - Pelycosaurs, Archosaurs and Mammal-Like Reptiles

Illustration: Wikimedia Commons

Prehistoric Reptile of the Day - Gorgonops originally appeared on About.com Dinosaurs on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 09:31:29.

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"Cold-Blooded" Mammal Has Dinosaur-Sized Implications

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:00:47 +0000

Paleontologists have had a hard time puzzling out the metabolism of dinosaurs, some of which (mostly predators) appear to have been active and warm-blooded, and others of which (mostly plant-eaters) led pokier, more cold-blooded lifestyles. And now, further muddying the waters is the discovery of a five-million-year-old goat from the island of Majorca, which, for a mammal, seems to have had some startlingly reptilian characteristics.

According to this article on Discovery News, Myotragus, as the prehistoric goat is known, grew at a slow, crocodilian pace, reaching full maturity only by age 12 (practically an eternity for a mammal that weighed only 20 pounds). Myotragus also had an unusually small brain for its size, another trait it shared in common with the dinosaurs that went extinct 60 million years before.

Why would an otherwise warm-blooded mammal have evolved cold-blooded characteristics like slow growth and small brain size? The likely explanation is that Myotragus led a comfy, insulated life on Majorca, removed from the environmental stress of dangerous predators, and so could afford a less active metabolism (a relative lack of food may also have stunted its growth). However, this strategy backfired big-time when Myotragus was rendered extinct by the most dangerous predator of all--ancient humans, which arrived on Majorca about 3,000 years ago.

"Cold-Blooded" Mammal Has Dinosaur-Sized Implications originally appeared on About.com Dinosaurs on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 09:00:47.

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Dinosaur of the Day - Gojirasaurus

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:37:33 +0000

Here's a quick Japanese lesson: the enormous monster we know as Godzilla bears the Japanese name Gojira, which is itself a combination of the Japanese words for whale ("kujira") and gorilla ("gorira"). As you can guess, the paleontologist who named Gojirasaurus (the bones of which were dug up in North America) was a die-hard fan of the Godzilla movies.

Despite its name, Gojirasaurus was far from the biggest dinosaur that ever lived, though it did attain a respectable size for its time--in fact, it may have been the biggest dinosaur of the Triassic period. So far, paleontologists have only found the bones of a single juvenile, so it's possible that adults of the genus may have been even bigger (though nowhere near as massive as later carnivorous dinosaurs like T. Rex).

Read more about dinosaurs like Gojirasaurus: How Did Dinosaurs Evolve?

Illustration: Wikimedia Commons

Dinosaur of the Day - Gojirasaurus originally appeared on About.com Dinosaurs on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 08:37:33.

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10 Facts About Dinosaurs

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:00:39 +0000

I've recently started a major project, a series of "10 Facts About..." articles devoted to major dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles. I have ten posted so far; just click on the following links to learn all about your favorite prehistoric reptile!

10 Facts About Tyrannosaurus Rex
10 Facts About Velociraptor
10 Facts About Spinosaurus
10 Facts About Diplodocus
10 Facts About Pterodactyl
10 Facts About Giganotosaurus
10 Facts About Stegosaurus
10 Facts About Brachiosaurus
10 Facts About Allosaurus
10 Facts About Triceratops

10 Facts About Dinosaurs originally appeared on About.com Dinosaurs on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 09:00:39.

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Dinosaur of the Day - Gigantspinosaurus

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:01:40 +0000

As impressive as it sounds, Gigantspinosaurus ("giant spined lizard") is what's known among paleontologists as a nomen dubium: there's simply not enough fossil evidence to determine whether a) this was a true stegosaur, or b) if it was a true stegosaur, whether it merits being assigned to its own genus. The most notable feature of Gigantspinosaurus is its two shoulder spikes, which were twice the length of its shoulder blades and longer than any other spikes on its body. Some experts dispute which way these blades faced, up and out or over and back, a matter that probably won't be settled pending further fossil discoveries.

Read more about dinosaurs like Gigantspinosaurus: Stegosaurs - The Spiked, Plated Dinosaurs

Illustration: Wikimedia Commons

Dinosaur of the Day - Gigantspinosaurus originally appeared on About.com Dinosaurs on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 09:01:40.

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More Evidence for Warm-Blooded Dinosaurs

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:00:54 +0000

Pending the discovery of a real, live Coelophysis hiding somewhere in a remote jungle, paleontologists will have to content themselves with circumstantial evidence regarding dinosaur metabolism. The latest foray into prehistoric forensics is a detailed analysis of dinosaur musculature by a team from the Royal Veterinary College in England, which has concluded that dinosaurs couldn't have moved at more than a crawl if they didn't have a warm-blooded physiology.

According to this article on Science Daily, the researchers estimated the amount of muscle tissue the average dinosaur would have to use to move a limb and how much metabolic energy the creature would require to move it, comparing it to those same requirements in modern (warm-blooded) mammals. Their verdict: "Many dinosaurs were probably endothermic, athletic animals because their energy requirements during walking and running were too high for cold-blooded animals to produce."

However, don't expect this to be the last word in dinosaur metabolism. These findings make sense for two-legged hunters like raptors and tyrannosaurs, but it's still hard to imagine a sauropod having a warm-blooded metabolism--especially since (as many scientists have pointed out) the internally generated heat would have cooked these giants from the inside out, like a microwaved potato!

More Evidence for Warm-Blooded Dinosaurs originally appeared on About.com Dinosaurs on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 09:00:54.

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New Dinosaur on the Block - Aardonyx

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:00:56 +0000

The gigantic sauropods of the late Jurassic period didn't spring up overnight; like all animals, they evolved from smaller, more primitive predecessors. Paleontologists have identified many of the scaled-down "prosauropods" that lived in the early Jurassic, but with the discovery of a new genus--Aardonyx--at least one team of researchers claims to have identified the single genus from which all the huge sauropods apparently derived.

Aardonyx--which lived about 200 million years ago in southern Africa--was only about 30 feet long, but already possessed hints of the classic sauropod shape, such as a long neck and a short, squat trunk. More tellingly, the shape and arrangement of this dinosaur's teeth point to its having been a habitual branch-stripper, a way of life perfected by the later (and much bigger and more famous) Diplodocus.

It's important not to oversell Aardonyx's resemblance to later sauropods; for example, it's believed that this dinosaur spent most of its time on two, rather than four, legs. Still, its blend of primitive prosauropod and advanced sauropod characteristics will make it a likely target for continuing study.

New Dinosaur on the Block - Aardonyx originally appeared on About.com Dinosaurs on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 09:00:56.

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