All tag results for 'dinosaurs'

DINOSAURS ARE COMING BACK PEOPLE! JURASSIC PARK ALERT!

Either that, or even more giant elephants…

A strawberry-blond (yep, strawberry blond!) woolly mammoth was discovered preserved in ice in Siberia.

Researchers state they found

Tags: cloning, dinosaurs, discovery, ice age, living cells, prehistoric, science, woolly mammoth

Princeton University geoscientists Adam Maloof & Catherine Rose identified fossils of soft-bodied animals from approximately 577 million years ago to 542 million years ago.

Or at least they think the fossils are from animals - that's only their "best guess."

The fossils were found in Australia and the results suggest that primitive sponge-like creatures lived in ocean reefs all those years ago.

The research suggests that the organisms were about the size of a small fingertip and had weirdly shaped bodies with a huge network of internal canals.

Here's what a scientist said:

"We were accustomed to finding rocks with embedded mud chips, and at first this is what we thought we were seeing. But then we noticed these repeated shapes that we were finding everywhere – wishbones, rings, perforated slabs and anvils. We realized we had stumbled upon some sort of organism, and we decided to analyze the fossils. No one was expecting that we would find animals that lived before the ice age, and since animals probably did not evolve twice, we are suddenly confronted with the question of how a relative of these reef-dwelling animals survived the 'snowball Earth.'"

The 'Snowball Earth' is the theory that the entire globe was frozen solid at one point before 650 million years ago.

Images recreated from their finding have led scientists to believe these fossil remains belonged to a spongelike creature. Previously, the oldest known and undisputed fossilized sponges date to around 520 million years old.

History is being made, people.

But are we sure those (above) are fossils? They look like pizza to us - ha!

[Image via Maloof Lab/Situ Studio.]

Tags: animal, australia, dinosaurs, discovered, fossils, life, limestone, old, rock, seven million years

Thank evolution for birds!

A long time ago in a land far, far away, GIANT insects roamed the Earth's skies with unparalleled size and freedom.

How big are we talking? Their wingspan was the size of a modern-day HAWK!

Researchers believe that the insects became massive due to the large levels of oxygen in the atmosphere some 300 million years ago.

The data shows that the higher the oxygen level, the larger the insects.

But things changed.

Around 140 million years ago, birds started evolving and learned how to fly. With better aerodynamics and predatory skills, the birds began competing with the insects for prey, and soon the birds began eating the giant insects as well.

80 million years later, bats also started to evolve and along with further evolved birds (and the possible arrival of an asteroid), dinosaurs and the giant insects became extinct.

Again, we can't thank evolution enough!

Could U imagine insects the size of modern birds in the sky?!?!?!

Creepy!

Tags: birds, dinosaurs, evolution, giant, insects, natural selection, research, science

A press release has the world (of science) up in arms over whether or not we will have T-Rex overloads in the future.

The opening lines read:

Tags: dinosaurs, outer space, research, science, technology, wacky

Ever imagine what a T-Rex would like with feathers?

Well imagine no more cuz this is a reality!

Chinese and Canadian scientists and have discovered the Yutyrannus, a early cousin to the Tyrannosaurus. They found fossils of the 1.5 ton adult and two juveniles.

The most fascinating part of the Yutyrannus is

Tags: china, dinosaurs, feathers, science, tyrannosaurus rex, yutyrannus

Yeah - WE SAID IT!!!

A newfound dinosaur species that use its thighs to kick predators likely had a bad temper to boot!

The 46-foot-long Brontomerus mcintoshi had an immense blade on its hipbones where strong muscles would have attached, according to a new study.

Brontomerus—"thunder thighs" in Greek—may have even attacked like a modern-day chicken, relentlessly kicking and stomping pursuers to death.

The team suspects the dinosaur—a type of sauropod, or plant-eating, four-legged lumberer—used its massive legs to either maneuver over hilly ground or deliver "good, hard" kicks to predators.

Wedel, assistant professor of anatomy at Western University of Health Sciences said,

"I could only imagine how ill-tempered these sauropods would have been. You've got a little brain, you're permanently paranoid about all these meat-eaters around, and you're trying to protect your young."

Sounds like humans and dinos are more closely related than we thought….

[Image via WENN.]

Tags: attack, bone, death, dinosaurs, eating, news, species, study

A new dinosaur has been discovered!

And by new, we mean old.

The Eodromaeus (pronounced eyo-DRO-may-us), a 4-foot long hunter that lived 230 million years ago in what is now South America has been revealed as the quick-moving predator that set the stage for the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex to follow in its footsteps.

Paul C. Sereno of the University of Chicago, a leader of the team that discovered Eodromaeus, says of the creature:

"It was a little dinosaur, but it carried a big evolutionary stick."

Sounds like it! Move over Spielberg, this is the guy we really have to thank for Jurassic Park.

Its features, like a balancing tail and air pockets in the skull, show it was closely related to T. rex, but it only weighed 10-15 pounds!

Nick Longrich of the department of geology and geophysics at Yale University agrees with the significance of the discovery, saying:

"It's very significant, because it helps give us a better idea of what the ancestor of carnivorous dinosaurs – including Tyrannosaurus, Allosaurus and the birds – would have looked like."

Excitement is in the air of the paleontology world as the new find brings scientists to within a few million years of the original "Eve" dinosaur!

Very cool stuff! We love dinosaurs and are still crossing our fingers they might come back one day.

What do U think of the new dinosaur?

[Image via AP Images.]

Tags: dinosaurs, paleontology, predator, scientists