Category Archives: Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs

Unique two-clawed dinosaur discovered in the Gobi Desert

Unique two-clawed dinosaur discovered

Tim Dodd, Climate and science reporter

A tall brown dinosaur stands in a forest, its ostrich-like head almost in the tree canopy, grasping trees with hands containing two very large claws and sets of orange feathers on the arms.  The dense rainforest is a dark green mixture of tropical-looking hardwood trees and fern-like plants. Duonychus tsogtbaatari would have been adept at grasping vegetation

Artist’s impression by Masato Hattori

A rare new species of two-clawed dinosaur has been discovered by scientists in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.

The species, named Duonychus tsogtbaatari, was unique within a group of dinosaurs called Therizinosaurs, which stood on their hind legs and usually had three claws.

It was medium-sized, with an estimated weight of approximately 260kg.

Researchers believe the species’ long, curved claws and its ability to strongly flex them would have made it an efficient grasper of vegetation.

Yoshi Kobayashi, Hokkaido University– Researchers believe the dinosaur weighed approximately 260kg

Therizinosaurs were a group of either herbivorous or omnivorous theropod dinosaurs that lived in Asia and North America during the Cretaceous Period, which began 145 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago.

They are exemplified by the massive, long-clawed form Therizinosaurus, featured in the film Jurassic World Dominion, and were “awkward looking”, according to one of the study’s authors Dr Darla Zelenitsky, associate professor at the University of Calgary.

The specimen was recovered from the Bayanshiree formation in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, which dates back to the Late Cretaceous period (between 100.5 to 66 million years ago).

Unesco, the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, calls the Mongolian Gobi Desert the largest dinosaur fossil reservoir in the world.

The region is an especially important source of fossils from the later Cretaceous period, which is the last of the main three periods of the dinosaur age, representing the final phase of dinosaur evolution.

Kobayashi et al —  The claws may also have been used as formidable weapons

At nearly a foot long, the claws themselves were much larger than their underlying bone, the study revealed.

Besides better grasping, the two-fingered hands may have been used for display, digging, or as formidable weapons.

The most famous two-fingered theropods are species within the group tyrannosaurids, which includes Tyrannosaurus rex, but Duonychus evolved its two-fingered hands separately from them and from other two-fingered theropods.

The specimen also preserves the first keratinous sheath of a therizinosaur, an element that covers the claw much like human fingernails, aiding defence, movement, or prey catching.

Dinosaurs

Paleontologists discover Sask.’s 1st fossil specimens of horned centrosaurus

Paleontologists discover Sask.’s 1st fossil specimens of horned centrosaurus

Fossils found along South Saskatchewan River at Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park

Shlok Talati · CBC News ·
People shoveling sand at a site.
Researchers say the site provides the first look at a coastal habitat in Saskatchewan, showing how large terrestrial dinosaurs like centrosaurus shared space with marine animals. (Submitted by Katherine Dumas)

McGill University students and paleontologists have documented Saskatchewan’s first known fossil specimens of centrosaurus, a horned dinosaur species, along the South Saskatchewan River. Researchers say it gives a peek into what the province looked like more than 75 million years ago.

Centrosaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur with one horn on its snout and spines around the back of its neck frill.

Researchers say the discovery site at Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park, dubbed the Lake Diefenbaker Bonebed,  reveals an environment unlike any previously documented in Canada.

Fossils.
The partial right parietal found from Lake Diefenbaker Bonebed believed to be from a centrosaurus. (Submitted by Alexandre Demers-Potvin)
Dinosaurs

Canada’s biggest and best triceratops skull on display in Alberta

 ‘Calli’ specimen is most preserved, nearly complete triceratops skull known from Canada
Lily Dupuis · CBC News ·
a fossilized dinosaur skull pictured against a black background
The fossil’s black tint is believed to be caused by large amounts of manganese present in surrounding groundwater during fossilization, similar to the Royal Tyrrell Museum’s ‘Black Beauty,’ a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil found in the same region. (Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology)After seven years of work, the best preserved and most complete triceratops skull coming from Canada — also known as the “Calli” specimen — is on display for the first time since being found in 2014 at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta.

A museum new release calls the specimen “unique” because of where it was discovered, the age of the rock around it, and how well it was preserved.

Click here to read more

a man in a red apron stands next to a three horned dinosaur skull
Preparation technician Ian Macdonald stands next to the massive dinosaur skull he spent seven years preparing. (Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology)

 

 

Dinosaurs, World Con / NASFiC

CSFFA will be at Pemmi-Con

Dino fans: Science GoH is Philip John Currie AOE FRSC, Canadian palaeontologist and museum curator  –CPL

CSFFA will be at Pemmi-Con

Pemmi-Con* is happening in Winnipeg 20-23 July, 2023.

Eight of the nine Pemmi-Con Guests of Honour and the Toastmaster are Canadian. They are Julie E. Czerneda; Waubgeshig Rice; Nisi Shawl; John Mansfield; Philip John Currie AOE FRSC, Canadian palaeontologist and museum curator; Lorna Toolis, Ghost Guest of Honour; katherena vermette; George Freeman; Tanya Huff.

The Pemmi-Con website: https://main.pemmi-con.ca/

*Pemmi-Con is the 2023 NASFiC (North American Science Fiction Convention). NASFiCs occur in a North American city in a year when Worldcon is happening elsewhere than in North America.

Dinosaurs

Prehistoric podiatry – How dinos carried their enormous weight

From CTV :

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From Monash University website:

Sauropods were the largest terrestrial animals that roamed the Earth for more than 100 million years.

They were first thought to have been semi-aquatic with water buoyancy supporting their massive weight, a theory disproved by the discovery of sauropod tracks in terrestrial deposits in the mid-twentieth century.

Monash University’s Dr Olga Panagiotopoulou said it had also been thought sauropods had feet similar to a modern-day elephant.

“Popular culture – think Jurassic Park or Walking with Dinosaurs – often depicts these behemoths with almost-cylindrical, thick, elephant-like feet,” Dr Panagiotopoulou said.

“But when it comes to their skeletal structure, elephants are actually ‘tip-toed’ on all four feet, whereas sauropods have different foot configurations in their front and back feet.

“Sauropod’s front feet are more columnar-like, while they present more ‘wedge high heels’ at the back supported by a large soft tissue pad.”

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Dinosaurs

Perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo found in China

Perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo found in China

The fossilised egg discovered by researchersImage source, AFP

Image caption,

Researchers said the egg was probably preserved by a sudden mudslide that buried it, protecting it from scavengers

Scientists have announced the discovery of a perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo that was preparing to hatch from its egg, just like a chicken.

The embryo was discovered in Ganzhou in southern China and researchers estimate it is at least 66 million years old.

It is believed to be a toothless theropod dinosaur, or oviraptorosaur, and has been named Baby Yingliang.

Researcher Dr Fion Waisum Ma said it is “the best dinosaur embryo ever found in history”.

The discovery has also given researchers a greater understanding of the link between dinosaurs and modern birds. The fossil shows the embryo was in a curled position known as “tucking”, which is a behaviour seen in birds shortly before they hatch.

“This indicates that such behaviour in modern birds first evolved and originated among their dinosaur ancestors,” Dr Ma told the AFP news agency.

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Dinosaurs

Hundreds of dinosaur footprints uncovered in Poland

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/16/europe/dinosaur-tracks-poland-scli-intl-scn/index.html

Hundreds of dinosaur footprints uncovered in Poland

Story by Reuters, Updated 6:33 AM ET, Thu December 16, 2021

The tracks were found in an opencast clay mine in Borkowice.

The tracks were found in an opencast clay mine in Borkowice.

Warsaw, PolandHundreds of dinosaur footprints, so well-preserved that even the scaly skin can be seen, have been found in Poland, giving an insight into a complex ecosystem around 200 million years ago, geologists said.

Described by the Polish Geological Institute-National Research Institute as a treasure trove, the fossilized tracks and bones were found in an opencast clay mine in Borkowice, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Warsaw.
“In the traces left by dinosaurs, you can read their behavior and habits… we have traces left by dinosaurs running, swimming, resting and sitting,” said geologist Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki.

Dinosaurs

New dino discovered in Chile

And it’s massive! View the video posted on BBC

Scientists have identified a new species of dinosaur from parts of a skeleton found in northern Chile.

The creature’s remains were unearthed in the Atacama desert – the world’s driest – near the city of Copiapó.

Experts say the plant-eating titanosaur had a small head and long neck, and an unusually flat back.

Studies suggest the creature lived in what would then have been a lush landscape of flowering plants, ferns and palm trees.

A team led by Chilean geologist Carlos Arévalo unearthed the remains in the 1990s and carried out research in the 2000s. The findings, published in the journal Cretaceous Research, were made public on Monday.

The remains, according to the team, included parts of a humerus, a femur and the ischium, and vertebral elements of the neck and back. They represent a small sub-adult individual, with an estimated length of 6.3m (20ft).

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