Search Results for: Dinosaurs

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1,900 results
  1. An illustration of a Natovenator polydontus sitting on top of a body of water with its feet visible below the water line
    Paleontology

    This dinosaur may have had a body like a duck’s

    Natovenator polydontus may have been adapted for life in the water, challenging the popular idea that all dinos were landlubbers.

    By Nikk Ogasa
  2. An illustration of Microraptor, which looks like a small dark bird with a dinosaur-esque head, swooping on an unsuspecting lizard that's walking along a branch
    Paleontology

    This dinosaur might have used its feet to snag prey in midair like modern hawks

    Fossilized toe pads suggest a hawklike hunting style in Microraptor, a dinosaur that some scientists think could hunt while flying.

    By Derek Smith
  3. Illustration of a Cratonavis bird from 120 million years ago as it catches prey. We see into the bird's wings as if it were an x-ray.
    Paleontology

    A bird with a T. rex head may help reveal how dinosaurs became birds

    The 120-million-year-old Cratonavis zhui, newly discovered in China, had a head like a theropod and body like a modern bird.

    By Aaron Tremper
  4. Two heavily armored dinosaurs swing long tail clubs at one another, crossing against the sunset on a strangely barren landscape
    Paleontology

    Armored dinos may have used their tail clubs to bludgeon each other

    Broken and healed spikes on Zuul's flanks are consistent with the armored beast receiving a mighty blow from the tail club of another ankylosaur.

    By Jake Buehler
  5. Illustration of Dakota, a 12-meter-long duck-billed dinosaur and the fossilized scaly skin from its foot.
    Paleontology

    Dinosaur ‘mummies’ may not be rare flukes after all

    Bite marks on a fossilized dinosaur upend the idea that exquisite skin preservation must result from a carcass's immediate smothering under sediment.

    By Jake Buehler
  6. An illustration of a huge asteroid crashing into ocean. An ancient sea creature is visible under the water
    Earth

    Not one, but two asteroids might have slain the dinosaurs

    A craterlike structure found off West Africa’s coast might have been formed by an asteroid impact around the same time the dinosaurs went extinct.

    By Nikk Ogasa

  7. So much is lost when fossil treasures go private

    Editor in chief Nancy Shute discusses how science and the public lose when fossils are privately sold.

    By Nancy Shute
  8. an illustration of a dinosaur skeleton partly buried by debris
    Paleontology

    50 years ago, the dinosaurs’ demise was still a mystery 

    In 1972, scientists blamed dinosaur biology for the reptiles’ demise. Years later, researchers ID’d the real killer: an apocalyptic asteroid.

    By Maria Temming
  9. illustration of a feathered theropod dinosaur eating a small furry mammal
    Paleontology

    Feathers may have helped dinosaurs survive the Triassic mass extinction

    New data show that dinosaurs were able to weather freezing conditions about 202 million years ago, probably thanks to warm feathery coats.

    By Carolyn Gramling
  10. Small mammal crawling on a dinosaur's skeleton
    Life

    ‘The Last Days of the Dinosaurs’ tells a tale of destruction and recovery

    A new book takes readers back in time to see how an asteroid strike and the dinosaur extinction shaped life on Earth.

    By Sid Perkins
  11. A blonde woman points at a tooth on T. rex skull dubbed Maximus
    Paleontology

    Why the sale of a T. rex fossil could be a big loss for science

    At least half of the roughly 120 known T. rex fossils are owned privately and not available to the public. “Maximus” may join them.

    By Carolyn Gramling
  12. illustration of Pantolambda bathmodon
    Paleontology

    Living fast may have helped mammals like ‘ManBearPig’ dominate

    Staying in the womb for a while but being born ready to rock may have helped post-dinosaur mammals take over the planet.

    By Maria Temming