almost 2 years ago by Kristin Hugo
Duck-billed dinosaur skeleton from Gobi Desert is “virtually complete”
The first thing that the expedition team found in peeking from the rocks and sands of the Gobi Desert was a tiny tip of a large pelvis. The international team descended on the exposed fossil, and chipped and brushed away to reveal more and more bones. Eventually, they exposed an exceptionally rare find: the virtually complete skeleton of a new dinosaur species.
almost 2 years ago by Pete Buchholz
Extinct marine reptile had the face of a platypus
Nearly a quarter billion years ago an otter-sized, armored, platypus-faced, marine reptile paddled in tropical lagoons on the shores of islands that would become southern China. This weird species is part of a diverse lineage that was restricted to a few million years and those tropical lagoons.
about 2 years ago by Pete Buchholz
Giant early whale Basilosaurus hunted the calves of other whales
Wadi Al Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, is a site that’s yielded dozens of skeletons of the early predatory whales Basilosaurus and Dorudon over the last hundred years. Newly uncovered specimens support the idea that it was a calving ground for the dolphin-sized Dorudon, and that those calves were hunted by the much larger Basilosaurus.
about 2 years ago by Pete Buchholz
Exquisitely preserved fossils prove pterosaurs grew bird-like feathers
Extraordinarily well-preserved fossils discovered from the 1970s to the present day show that all pterosaurs were covered in hair-like fibers known as pycnofibers. Two new pterosaur specimens described by Zixiao Yang and colleagues show that some pycnofibers were actually brush- or tuft-shaped and probably share an evolutionary origin with feathers.
about 2 years ago by Pete Buchholz
Dolphin-like marine reptiles were more dolphin-like than previously thought
An incredible new specimen of the Early Jurassic genus Stenopterygius found in Germany was studied by Johan Lindgren and colleagues. It preserves skin in detail not previously seen in other ichthyosaur fossils. The team of researchers have learned new details of how ichthyosaurs looked in life, as well as details of their physiology.