dinosaurs

An artist has reconstructed what ancient crocodile ancestors looked like, including some that very likely ate plants.

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Veggie Surprise: Teeth Of Ancient Crocs Reveal That Some Very Likely Ate Plants

8:14pm June 27, 2019

by Merrit Kennedy

What do you imagine an ancient croc snacking on? Maybe a fish or a bird? For some relatives of modern crocodiles, a safer guess would be a big bunch of flowers.

An artist's rendering of the mass extinction of life that occurred toward the end of the Permian Period, about 250 million years ago.

The 'Great Dying' Nearly Erased Life On Earth. Scientists See Similarities To Today

8:01pm June 04, 2019

by Christopher Joyce

It was the biggest extinction in Earth's history. A new Smithsonian exhibit notes that some of the same things that killed over 90% of ocean species 250 million years ago are happening now.

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An artist's reconstruction of Ledumahadi mafube, which means "a giant thunderclap at dawn," foraging during the early Jurassic in South Africa.

Bones Reveal The Brontosaurus Had An Older, Massive Cousin In South Africa

9:32pm September 27, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

The scientists think when this new dinosaur was alive, it was the largest creature ever to have walked the Earth. And unlike the lumbering creatures that came later, it could pop up on its hind legs.

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A CT-scan image of the skull of an ancient bird shows how one of the earliest bird beaks worked as a pincer, in the way beaks of modern birds do, but also had teeth left over from dinosaur ancestors. The animal, called Ichthyornis, lived around 100 millio

How Did Birds Lose Their Teeth And Get Their Beaks? Study Offers Clues

5:14pm May 02, 2018

by Rebecca Hersher

Modern birds are dinosaurs without toothy jaws, and with bigger brains. Newly published research fills in some of the missing links in their evolution.

A tick grasping a dinosaur feather is preserved in 99 million-year-old amber from Myanmar.

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Amber-Trapped Tick Suggests Ancient Bloodsuckers Feasted On Feathered Dinosaurs

3:24pm December 12, 2017

by Rebecca Hersher

The tick was with a feather from a dinosaur that lived in the Cretaceous Period. Modern ticks love to bite mammals, and scientists have long wondered what the tiny vampires ate millions of years ago.

A duck-billed dinosaur skeleton, which the researchers think ate crustaceans, on display in 2009 at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Shellfish Surprise: Common 'Herbivore' Dinosaur Found To Snack On Crustaceans

9:10am September 21, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

"I immediately said, 'Oh, no, no, it can't be crustaceans.' That was my knee jerk reaction," a paleontologist said. The prehistoric snacking was likely intentional and linked to mating behaviors.

The massive dinosaur stands on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City last year. The plant-eating giant, which could not even fit in a single room, would have weighed more than 70 tons — or nearly the same as an empty space s

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This Could Be The Biggest Dinosaur Ever Found — And It's Finally Got A Name

6:25pm August 09, 2017

by Colin Dwyer

After years of study, scientists have given a name to the prehistoric colossus: Patagotitan mayorum. And in a paper published Wednesday, researchers offered the world a closer glimpse.

An African cheetah (acinonyx jubatus lanea) at Inverdoorn Game Reservein South Africa.

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New Research Suggests Why Mid-Sized Animals Are The Fastest

7:02pm July 17, 2017

by Christopher Joyce

New research suggests the biggest animals run out of fuel for their fast-twitch muscles before they reach the maximum speed their bodies could achieve. Animals like cheetahs are born to run fast.

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In an artist's rendering, a gigantic, cassowarylike dinosaur named Beibeilong, which lived some 90 million years ago, incubates its eggs.

'Baby Dragon' Found In China Is The Newest Species Of Dinosaur

6:29pm May 09, 2017

by Madeline K. Sofia

The Beibeilong was a giant, birdlike dinosaur that lived some 90 million years ago. Scientists say it had massive feathered wings and a birdlike skull and could grow to more than 26 feet long.

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Dinosaur 'Baby Teeth' Reveal That Dino Eggs Hatched Slowly

3:12pm January 02, 2017

by Madeline K. Sofia

Early stages of dinosaur development remain a mystery. However, researchers have uncovered a new way to study the early stages using the teeth of fossilized dinosaur embryos.