Paleontology

Someday families might stroll past the giraffes and lions at the zoo and then halt, gaping up at a warning sign dominating a huge enclosure that reads: “Please, do not feed the Velociraptor.” At least those families will if paleontologist…
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Is it possible that a large prehistoric creature thought to be long extinct is in fact still living in remote parts of our planet? This idea certainly captures our imaginations and those of cryptozoologists everywhere. And of course, where would…
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Long thought to be only a matter of fossil record, extinct for over 60 million years, the coelacanth shocked scientists around the world when it was caught by professional fishermen off the coast of Madagascar. On the other side of…
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Amazing amateur daylight video of a ‘Ropen’ (Dimorphodon pterosaur) hunting for fish off a Papua New Guinea beach.  [More video under Links at end of article.] Dateline: Papua New Guinea, Southwest Pacific Ocean—The Ropen (‘demon flyer‘) is a monstrous creature…
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The earliest mammals are generally believed to date back at least as far as the Cretaceous period in the Mesozoic era, which ended roughly 66 million years ago with the extinction of most of the dinosaurs. Juramaia, the earliest known…
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The Stegosaurus was a dinosaur that lived about 156 to 140 million years ago, in the Jurassic Period; when the climate was warm and moist with high sea levels. During the Jurassic Period, large areas were flooded, and there were…
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About 150 million years ago during the Jurassic Period, the ground shuddered as though it would rip apart from an earthquake. It thundered as though pummeled by a crushing landslide. It jolted as if a volcano were blasting scorching lava…
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The Albertosaurus was a dinosaur that lived in the late Cretaceous period, It may not have been as large as its famous cousin the Tyrannosaurus Rex but it still deserves a mention when discussing palaeontology. It roamed the earth about 76-74…
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Imagine being the paleontologist who finds a single fossil skull and from that one clue reconstructs an entire dinosaur. Abelisaurus comahuensis, “Abel’s lizard,” is known to science from just such a find. In 1985 José F. Bonaparte and Fernando E….
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Talarurus plicatospineus (“wicker tail”) was one of the best-armored members of Ankylosauridae, dinosaurs noted for their wide bodies, bony plate-like armor and tail clubs. Talururus was a low browsing, plant-eating animal of the Late Cretaceous, living roughly 89 to 99…
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