Discovering Dinosaurs: The Ultimate Guide to the Age of Dinosaurs

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Is this embarrassing for the dinosaur king? Yes. But T. rex did have serrated, banana-size teeth and one of the most powerful bite forces on record, so it's not like we'd laugh in its face or anything (unless we were walking away at a brisk clip). We think it’s closely related, if not the same, as the ones previously found from this area. It’s coming from a bed very close to the ones that have been described.’ What is an Iguanodon? T. rex wasn’t the only dinosaur with stubby arms. Time and again, large carnivorous dinosaurs evolved to have relatively short forelimbs—including a new species of carcharodontosaur described this year called Meraxes. The shared anatomy hints that being a meat-eater with a big head led dinosaurs like Meraxes to evolve a similar body plan to T. rex, with small arms that could be kept out of the way of struggling prey. More importantly, however, the skull and skeleton of Meraxes are more completely known than those of related dinosaurs such as Giganotosaurus. By comparing the known remains of Giganotosaurus, Tyrannotitan and related dinosaurs to Meraxes, paleontologists can better estimate the body sizes and anatomical particulars of these dinosaurs. Dinosaurs likely ran hot and cold

However, it wasn’t just dinosaurs leaving their mark. The researchers found one footprint with four digits that might have been left by a pterosaur landing in the mud.

Dinosaur discoveries

Will DNA from the likes of Tyrannosaurus ever be found? The consensus has been “No,” as DNA decays too fast after death to survive millions and millions of years. But in a study published in National Science Review this year, researchers have proposed that they’ve found chemical signatures consistent with DNA in the bones of a 70 million-year-old hadrosaur called Hypacrosaurus. The results have yet to be expanded upon or verified, but the idea that even degraded DNA from non-avian dinosaurs might survive is tantalizing for all such a discovery might teach us about prehistoric life. Polar Dinosaurs Remained Year Round

The fossil skeleton, unveiled in December in the journal Nature, belongs to a newfound type of small armored dinosaur called Stegouros elengassen. The creature is named for its bizarrely shingled “roof tail” and an armored beast in the mythology of the Patagonian Aónik’enk people. Its novel tail weaponry is now named the macuahuitl, after a bladed club wielded by the Aztec. Spicomellus ended up in the U.K. museum through the legally complex commercial trade in Moroccan fossils. After passing through the hands of several Moroccan wholesalers, the rib bone reached Moussa Direct, a U.K.-based fossil dealer that sold the specimen to the museum.Some of the key traits that allowed dinosaurs to be such an evolutionary success story—from fuzzy feathers to warm-running metabolisms—may have first evolved in their tiny ancestors. This year experts reported the discovery of a tiny reptile from the Triassic of Madagascar they named Kongonaphon . While not a dinosaur itself, this animal was close to the ancestors of both dinosaurs and related flying reptiles called pterosaurs. This small, insect-eating reptile likely moved nimbly to catch lunch and may have sported a coat of fuzz to help regulate its body temperature. This hints that some key dinosaur traits, such as warm-bloodedness and insulating body coverings, evolved early in their history and were elaborated upon as dinosaurs eventually diversified into all sorts of shapes and sizes. Winner By a Tail Spinosaurus used its tail to swim A scientist known as Richard Owen invented the word "dinosaur" in early 1842 after examining the species that were named by those who came before him. After his examination, he came up with the word “dinosaur.” For this reason, he is credited as the man who discovered dinosaurs despite all the hard work that had already been done for him, hence the argument that all credit should go to his nemesis, Gideon Mantell.