DINOSAURS WORLD - EVERYTHING ABOUT DINOSAURS

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The Mother of All Sauropods - Ancestor of the Long-Necked Dinosaurs

New Basal Sauropod Discovered in South America The Order Dinosauria is divided into two fundamental groups the Saurischia (lizard-hipped dinosaurs) and the Ornithischia (bird-hipped dinosaurs). This classification was established in the 19th Century and, although the terminology is a little confusing the basic cladogram of dinosaur relationships has remained largely unchanged. Dinosaurs are classified into different groups or families according to anatomical features that their skeletons reveal. If two dinosaur fossils are shown to have very similar anatomical features it is likely that they will be classified together, whereas a third dinosaur fossil which demonstrates different features will be placed further away on the dinosaur family tree. The two basic groups - Ornithischia and Saurischia are distinguished by having markedly different hip structures. This is of course, greatly simplified, there are in fact about a dozen characteristics that distinguish dinosaurs from other

On the Trail of Dinosaurs

On the Trail of Dinosaurs Did you know that the first Tyrannosaurus Rex was found in Montana? Indeed, Montana is home to some of the world's best dinosaur dig sites. It is the perfect place for palaeontologists of all ages to explore the world's past and discover the secrets of ancient life from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Montana is proud of its geological heritage and has put together an official route called the Montana Dinosaur Trail (brochure and map available from Travel Montana upon request). As you travel across the northern prairies of Montana you will have the opportunity to stop at 14 different geological dig sites and museums. To begin your journey it is wise to start at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. This museum is home to one of the largest collections of dinosaur fossils in the world. The Seibel Dinosaur Complex contains some of the world's rarest fossils including one of the first skeletons identified to be a female dinosaur.

Fossils - Window Into Our Past

Fossils - Window Into Our Past by Chris Campbell We humans seem to have a rather curious obsession with things that happened in the past. At least humans of the age of 18 seem to. One of the best ways to get a glimpse of the way things used to be is through the analysis of fossils. This is where palaeontologists come in. With their expertise, and the help a few well preserved fossils, it's truly amazing the things they can find out about our ancient neighbours. When palaeontologists first discover a set of fossils or even old bones, they take plenty of photographs and notes. Using the position of the remains can tell a whole lot about how the collection of bones for example will fit together. Bones can tell some interesting things that most of us probably never realized. Markings on a bone can tell where muscles were attached, and can really help palaeontologists flesh out the rest of a dinosaur . On the more obvious side, bones tell a lot about the shape and wei

The Dinosaur That Never Went Extinct

The Dinosaur That Never Went Extinct by Joel Kontinen The tuatara (Sphendon punctatus) is a spectacular reptile that only lives in New Zealand. Often called the living dinosaur, the tuatara has resisted both extinction and change. The tuatara is the only survivor of the reptilian order Sphehodontia. Evolutionary biologists believe that it lived together with early dinosaurs in the Upper Triassic some 200 million years ago. Recently, researchers found an interesting detail about the tuatara. David Lambert and his colleagues at the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution analysed DNA sequences they found in the bones of tuatara estimated to be 8000 years old. They published their findings in the journal Trends in Genetics. As reported by EurekAlert and LiveScience, their discoveries were astounding: they found that the tuatara is the fastest evolving animal. "What we found was that the tuatara has the highest molecular evolutionary rate anyone has

Skeletons

The dinosaurs skeletons A skeleton tells a story. Teeth or bony beaks give information about what dinosaurs probably ate. Features such as horns show how they defended themselves. Small braincases tell us which dinosaurs had small brains! Spiky plant eater A Late-Jurassic dinosaur, Stegosaurus (steg-oh-sore-us) was probably no more than 9ft (3m) high. It had bony plates along its back. Its spiky tail was flexible and most likely used for defense. Small sprinter A fossilized skeleton shows that Coelophysis(see-low-fye-sis) had long legs for its small size. Only 10ft (3m) long, it could run fast. Massive meat eater Meat eaters like Tyrannosaurus rex (tie-ran-oh-sore-us recks) had massive jaws. They could open these extra wide to swallow large mouthfuls of flesh. Birdlike dinosaur A fossilized skeleton of Struthiomimus (strooth-ee-oh-meem-us) shows that it had features in common with today’s ostrich. These include a small head wi

Oldest Ever Dinosaur-Like Animal Fossils Found in Africa

Oldest Ever Dinosaur-Like Animal Fossils Found in Africa Paleontologists announced the discovery of a dinosaur-like animal "one that shared many characteristics with dinosaurs but fell just outside of the dinosaur family tree" living 10 million years earlier than the oldest known dinosaurs. The researchers conclude that dinosaurs and other close relatives such as pterosaurs (flying reptiles) might have also lived much earlier than previously thought. The description of the new species Asilisaurus kongwe (a-SEE-lee-SOAR-us KONG-way) appears in the March 4 issue of the journal Nature in a paper lead-authored by Sterling Nesbitt, a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences. Nesbitt conducted the research with his colleagues while a graduate student at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the American Museum of Natural History. The research also suggests that at least three times