A new avian dinosaur was discovered back in 1999 but its most deadly attribute was not discovered till the last 7 years. Sinornithosaurus was only around 2.5 feet tall and was not just covered with feathers with a large claw on the inner toe like its close raptor cousins. It had the bone structure and perfect amount of coverage, secondary and primary feathers to help it glide throughout the tries of the early Cretaceous period, 123 million years ago. It did not have the proper structure for powered flight but was able to glide with through the dense Cretaceous forests with ease. Up until about 7 years ago, it was thought that the color of dinosaur feathers was impossible to determine until s

Triceratops has been a favorite of millions of dinosaur lovers around the world young and old. It was the largest member of the ceratopsian family ever since it was discovered by Charles Marsh in the great "Bone Wars" in 1887 at 28 ft long, 16 ft high and 26,000 pounds!. Notice that I said was the biggest ceratopsian? Recently two animals have been discovered that are even larger than the legendary Triceratops! Eotriceratops and Titanoceratops. Both of these animals closely compared to Triceratops at around 30 ft long, almost 20 feet high and weighing close to 29,000 pounds! Their skulls alone were almost 10 ft long and their top two horns...almost 5 ft in length! Even if their horns were no

We have all heard of the giant shark from hell, Megalodon. 60 feet long with 6 inch cerated teeth and the strongest bite force of all time! Don't worry, it lived approximately 23 to 2.6 million years ago, during the Cenozoic Era. Along with a vast variety of megafauna marine life. All vanishing around 2.5 million years ago. The big news released on Monday of this week is an explanation as to why these giant marine animals and sea birds disappeared and we are left with todays stand size of shark and marine mammals. It's estimated that a global shift in tides and climate altered 80% of the global coastal regions resulting in the extinction of 55% of marine mammal diversity. As many as 43% of s

Its name came from the popular Harry Potter book's school of magic, called Drakorex Hogwarsia and its no wonder we thought dragons were real up until the 1900s when you have an animal that looked like this. It looked like something right out of midieval text. Drakorex had 3 inch spikes from its snout to 6 inch spikes on the back of its head. It was a very fast little dinosaur that stood around an average mans hip. Its thick crocodile like scales covered its body like armor. Funny enough, it sported a beak. Curving to a close in the front and still displaying grinding teeth in the back which proves that this animal was a herbivore. Its thick skull draped with spikes covering its entire top h

Close your eyes and think of that long neck dinosaur that you thought was the biggest thing on earth growing up... now get ready to replace that dinosaur with a new one. Two years ago a new skeleton was discovered by a farmer in Argentina and then excavated by a group of paleontologists BBC's David Attenborough. Its part of the elite group of largest sauropod dinosaurs on earth called Titanosaurs and this one has been dubbed, "The Titanosaur" and has become its name . Dinosaurs so large they literally shook the ground when they moved. Weighing close to 100 tons and over 120 feet long! Argentinosaurus has been found in a variety of sizes In Argentina but none as large as this one. Scientists

The new logo for the upcoming Jurassic World 2 movie has been released! The movie will be titled Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Taking a look at this poster, I would think that there is going to be a good amount of destruction with the falling ash and fire. The logo itself is broken up a bit as well. The plot for the movie is geared more toward weaponized dinosaurs...Which by the way, can they just make a Dino-Rider movie already? I have only been waiting my whole life for that! But ya, dinosaurs used in combat. Also, another twist was released regarding the raptor at the end of the first Jurassic World Movie, Blue. A lot of the movie will be focused on her as well. Owen has to go back to t

There were animals that could kill something as large as a T-Rex. Since my last topic was on the bite force of T-Rex I thought I might continue on the subject with one of the few species that even dinosaurs feared. Between 112-70 million years ago, crocodilians were thriving in all shapes and sizes. Among the biggest were Sarcosuchus and Deinosuchus. When fully grown individuals estimated to have reached up to 11–12 m (36–39 ft) in total length and 8 tonnes (8.8 short tons) in weight. Thats as long and as heavy as T-Rex. Both of these apex predators have been found in at least 10 of the US states showing that they were able to thrive and adapt to harsh conditions in multiple locations. It's

It is no secret that T-Rex had a powerful bite, but evidence has recently shown that it was even stronger than previously thought. We are talking close to 14,000 pounds of force! That's about how much the Tyrannosaurus weighs. That, without a doubt, shows that the T-Rex had the most powerful bite force of any terrestrial animal in earths history that we know of. The jaw muscles of the T-Rex continued to grow as the animal matured at a rapid rate. Meaning the older the animal got the more powerful its bite could be if healthy. It was built for crushing bone and ripping limbs from its victims. There is still a large community of paleontologists on debate over whether or not the Rex was a scave

It has come to light that some Cretaceous animals like Spinosaurus, Baryonyx and Neovenator salerii had a very sensitive and complex neuroanatomy in the rostrum (in the oral and nasal region). Some similar to modern day crocodiles. Apparently these animals snouts were very in tune to their aquatic surroundings. The sensory pits and neural canals within the snouts of these watery beasts were able to detect the slightest change in temperature, shift of current or something swimming by. This made these three water loving dinosaurs perfectly adapted for an aquatic lifestyle. Its no wonder these animals were able to get so large. While dinosaurs like Giganotosaurus were busy attempting to take do

A Four Foot Long Skull! This T. rex “is definitely one of the most significant specimens yet found, and because of its size, is sure to yield important information about the growth and possible eating habits of these magnificent animals,” paleontologist Jack Horner, who founded the Hell Creek Project that uncovered the specimen, explained in a UW press release. Now headed by UW vertebrate paleontologist Greg Wilson, the project has discovered 11 T. Rex fossils so far. Montana just got a new famous fossil: a 2500-pound Tyrannosaurus Rex skull. Paleontologists dug up one of the most complete dinosaur skulls ever discovered this summer, transporting it back to the University of Washington's Bur

Ever since I was a kid there have been a few paleontologists that I have looked up to including, LUIS ALVAREZ, MARY ANNING (The mother of Paleontology), PAUL SERENO, PATRICIA VICKERS-RICH, PETER LARSON, PHILL CURRY and coming in at a very close second on my list, ROBERT T. BAKKER. All who have done outstanding things for the field of paleontology and science in a whole. At the top of my list is Paleontologist JACK HORNER who discovered and named Maiasaura, providing the first clear evidence that some dinosaurs cared for their young. He is one of the best-known paleontologists in the World. In addition to his many paleontological discoveries, Horner served as the technical advisor for all of

This is going to change the way that we view Pliosaurs! A new fossil marine reptile has been found in Russia and it has scientists buzzing. They are saying it changes the way that we thought the group evolved. Plesiosaurs possess an unusual body shape not seen in other marine vertebrates with four large flippers, a stiff trunk, and a highly varying neck length. Pliosaurs are a special kind of plesiosaur that are characterized by a large, 2m long skull, enormous teeth and extremely powerful jaws, making them the top predators of oceans during the 'Age of Dinosaurs'. The team reports a new, exceptionally well-preserved and highly unusual pliosaur from the Cretaceous of Russia (about 130 millio

This is a great campaign poster. Designed by artist Ben Dewey and made to look like a vintage WW2 War Bond or campaign poster. Those little mammals have been trying to wiggle their way up the food chain for over 100 million years. Join us in the "fight against the Mammals! Before a small problem becomes a giant threat!" Mammals were in the corners, holes and darkness of the time the dinosaurs ruled the earth and it wasn't until 66 million years ago that the mammals finally got their shot at becoming the dominant species on this planet. I think this poster is great and a huge shout out to Ben Dewey for his creativity and original artwork.

It's actually happening. They have found another way to try and bring a dinosaur back to life. I don't think scientists are going to stop until they can realistically bring a dinosaur back to life and with this new discovery of potential DNA found in a 68 MYA pregnant Tyrannosaurus Rex it might be a possibility. Trust me... I would give almost anything to see a live dinosaur but can they hold off on the ones that can kill us? more specifically can they hold off on bringing back a dinosaur with the strongest bite force of any land animal in the history of life on earth. That being said. The process these scientists are going through to get to this point is impressive in itself. First they dis

This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen in the fossil community! A 99 million year old 3-inch piece of amber with a little surprise for the entire world perfectly preserved inside. A tiny avian bird called Enantiornithes. A group of extinct avialans, the most abundant and diverse group known from the Mesozoic era. Almost all retained teeth and clawed fingers on each wing, but otherwise looked much like modern birds externally. This is so well preserved its mind blowing! You can see the texture of the skin and feathers and talons. This is the type of fossil that paleontologists dream about. It's like a live view into the past 99 million years ago. How they came across this fossil i

Alberta museum unveils world's best-preserved armoured dinosaur Fossil of 18ft nodosaur found in 2011 in Alberta’s tar sands goes on display after 7,000 hours of reconstruction work. This could be one of the most groundbreaking fossils ever discovered in the Paleontological world of dinosaurs. Full sized and preserved perfectly! This specimen will be the greatest insight we have ever had when it comes to the size, shape, texture and look of the animal. The article states "It has been compared to a dinosaur mummy, a lifelike sculpture and even a dragon from Game of Thrones. Now, 110 million years after it died, the 18ft-long nodosaur – hailed as the best-preserved armoured dinosaur in the wor

On this day 24 years ago my favorite movie was released in theaters. It was groundbreaking, innovative, stunning and original! Jurassic Park to this day is a great piece of art. From the original book written by Michael Crichton to the directing of Steven Spielberg. Even better than the fact that there were realistic dinosaurs on screen for the first time using computer graphics (Minus the feathers) was the acting. It is still so believable. I am watching it right now as I type this haha. the musical score by John Williams is other piece of art. I mean this is the guy who also wrote the sores for movies like, E.T., Jaws, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Superman, Saving Private Ryan, Harry Potter,

Through the years I have read many books put out by Paleontologists and famous authors, here is a list of books both based on scientific fact and discover and some books that are just fun reads. If you are just looking for something thrilling and adventurous I would highly recommend "Jurassic Park and the Lost World" by Michael Crichton. Crichton's ability to pull you into the story with his compelling grasp of the English language is in a good majority of critics opinions, rare in this day and age. Unfortunately Crichton died in 2008 which was a huge loss to fans and story lovers world wide. Just recently an nearly finished story was found in Crichton's archives by his wife titled "Dragons

A new article came out recently showing amazing fossils of Tyrannosaurus Rex scaly skin that showed that there were parts of the T-Rex that were not covered with feathers. The article was then twisted by the media saying that T-Rex wasn't covered in feathers at all to the enjoyment of millions of T-Rex lovers, the legendary king of the dinosaurs was a huge scaly best... Sorry to all of you movie and thriller fans out there that just can't accept that these large bests had feathers. When T-Rex was first discovered in 1918, the general perception was that this animal had wrinkly scaly skin like that of a Komodo Dragon. Whelp.... Turns out they weren't too far off from the truth. The new fossil

There has been a big buzz lately about the ability to bring a creature back from extinction by tweaking proteins and genomes in an embryo. Most of us have heard about Paleontologist Jack Horner's conquest to create a small dinosaur using a chicken, a.k.a "Chickensaurus." If not I'll touch on this later in this post. The idea is to ether bring back animals to existence like a real life Jurassic Park, which by the way is a stupid idea. Animals that went extinct because of natural causes, to quote Jurassic Park's Ian Malcolm, "had their shot and nature selected them for extinction." Bringing animals of any kind from the past back to life can be potentially dangerous to us, the environment and c