Wow! Wing-backed "dinosaur" Dimetrodons were not really dinosaurs, but more related to Mammals!

When is a dinosaur not a dinosaur? When it's a Synapsida. Today's blog will tell you what that means, and why I just learned that a "dinosaur" I've known about since I was a kid is more related to mammals than reptiles! I'm currently reading a book called "The Rise of Mammals" by Steve Brusatte and that's where I learned the Dimetrodon was a link to the first true mammals. You'll learn about that and how the Permian Period led to a mass extinction. 

(Image: Restoration of Dimetrodon grandis by Bogdanov. CC BY-SA 3.0)

Wing-backed "dinosaur" Dimetrodons were not really dinosaurs, but more related to Mammals! 

Often confused for a dinosaur, Dimetrodon is actually a prehistoric synapsid, making it more closely related to mammals (including humans) than to a Tyrannosaurus Rex. 

WHAT IS A SYNAPSIDA? It's a group of living things characterized by a single opening behind the eye socket in the skull. This lineage eventually led to the evolution of mammals. Because of this, Dimetrodon provides critical insights into the early development of mammalian traits, such as specialized jaw muscles and complex dental structures.

Riley Black of Smithsonian Magazine explained it this way: "There is a single large hole there called the temporal fenestra, and it was the place where some of the lower jaw muscles attached to the skull. The number of these holes in this part of the skull can immediately tell a paleontologist what kind of animal they are looking at. Dinosaurs have two holes in the same area and are called diapsids. The possession of just one of these holes defines a group of vertebrates called synapsids, the group to which modern mammals (including you and I) belong. As odd as it may seem, this means that Dimetrodon is a distant relative of ours."

This predator ruled the Earth roughly 295 to 272 million years ago during the Early Permian period—finishing its reign nearly 40 million years before the first dinosaurs ever appeared.

(Photo: Dimetrodon Skull. Credit: Wikimedia.Jeff Kubina Columbia, Maryland) 

ABOUT THE DIMETRODON

The Back Sail: Its most striking feature is a large dorsal sail formed by elongated neural spines extending from its vertebrae. While paleontologists once believed it was strictly for thermoregulation (warming up in the sun), current theories also suggest it served as a display to attract mates or intimidate rivals.

Unique Teeth: Its name means "two measures of teeth." Unlike the uniform teeth of reptiles, Dimetrodon possessed heterodont dentition— that is, different types of teeth used for different tasks, such as sharp canines for piercing and serrated teeth for shearing flesh.

Size:  Depending on the species, Dimetrodon could grow between 5.6 to 15 feet (1.7 and 4.6 meters) in length and weighed as much as 550 pounds (250 kg). It walked with a sprawling, four-legged gait similar to a modern crocodile.

What Dimetrodon's Ate:  A variety of prey including freshwater fish, amphibians like Eryops, and early land-dwelling herbivores.

******************************* 

ABOUT THE PERMIAN PERIOD- and WHY the "Great Extinction" 

The Permian Period, occurring 299–251 million years ago as the final, critical phase of the Paleozoic Era, saw the assembly of the supercontinent Pangea, massive climatic extremes, and the formation of the Permian Basin. It concluded with Earth's most severe mass extinction, wiping out over 95% of marine life and initiating a new era of life. 

Key Aspects of the Permian Period:

• Significance: It was a defining turning point in Earth's history, transitioning from a cooler early climate to extreme heat, arid deserts, and the assembly of the supercontinent Pangea (all continents combined into 1 massive landmass), which profoundly affected global weather patterns and habitats.
• The End Extinction: The Permian ended with the "Great Dying" (approx. 251.9 million years ago), the largest extinction event in history. 
• Causes likely involved massive volcanic eruptions in the Siberian Traps, releasing carbon dioxide and causing catastrophic global warming, ocean acidification, and oxygen depletion
  .  This d
  rastically altered from high-oxygen to low-oxygen levels, contributing to the mass extinction.
• Geography: Almost all landmasses gathered into the C-shaped supercontinent Pangea, surrounded by the global ocean, Panthalassa.

Discovery: First-ever 'mummified' and hoofed dinosaur discovered in Wyoming badlands

 New dinosaur discoveries fascinate me, and as a kid I collected plastic dinosaur figures and read every book I could find about them. As an adult, I love reading about new fossil discoveries and some of the higher-level science books. Today's blog is about a dinosaur "First." 

(Image: Edmontosaurus annectens as it appeared in life. | Credit: Artwork by Dani Navarro)

First-ever 'mummified' and hoofed dinosaur discovered in Wyoming badlands 

LIVE SCIENCE By Patrick Pester published October 29, 2025

Researchers have unearthed two dinosaur "mummies" in the badlands of Wyoming, confirming duck-billed dinosaurs had hooves, alongside a string of other discoveries.

Two extremely rare dinosaur "mummies" found in the badlands of Wyoming are the first examples of hoofed reptiles, according to a new study.

Researchers discovered the pair of 66 million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur (Edmontosaurus annectens) skeletons complete with skin, spikes and hooves, as if the creatures had been naturally mummified.

The fossils aren't true mummies, as their original tissues have been replaced with rock, but they give scientists an unprecedented look at duck-billed dinosaur biology, confirming they had hooves. The researchers reported their findings Oct. 23 in the journal Science.

"It's the first time we’ve had a complete, fleshed-out view of a large dinosaur that we can really feel confident about," study senior author Paul Sereno, a professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago, said in a statement.

(Image:  This mummified duck-billed dinosaur fossil is a juvenile Edmontosaurus annectens, nicknamed "Ed Jr." (Image credit: Photograph courtesy of Tyler Keillor/Fossil Lab)) 

Duck-billed dinosaurs used their hooves to stomp through mud at the end of the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago). They lived alongside other large dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops, just before the age of dinosaurs came to a crashing end when a massive asteroid hit Earth and wiped them all out (except for birds).

Dinosaur mummies are exceptionally preserved fossils that contain a clay copy of dinosaur skin and other organic tissues. Several of these fossils were discovered in Wyoming in the early 1900s, which inspired the new research. Sereno and his colleagues found the two new specimens by tracking down the locations of the historical discoveries, using old photographs and letters, and mapping out what they described as a "mummy zone."

One of the newly discovered Edmontosaurus specimens, nicknamed "Ed Jr.," was a late juvenile and estimated to be about 2 years old at the time of its death. The other specimen, nicknamed "Ed Sr.," was an early adult about 5 to 8 years old when it perished.

DISCOVERY: New species of elasmosaur (Prehistoric sea monster) Identified!

Dinosaurs have always fascinated me since I was a kid, when I received my first set of fossils. They were little fossils of sea life, like anemonies and trilobites (and I wish I knew what happened to them!)... so I've been reading books on dinosaurs since I was about 7 or so. When new species are discovered, it's exciting to me, and today's blog is about one prehistoric sea monster that was recently discovered.

(Image: Two individuals of Traskasaura sandrae hunt the ammonite Pachydiscus in the northern Pacific during the Late Cretaceous. Traskasaura sandrae, named today in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology, was declared the Provincial Fossil of British Columbia in 2023. (Image credit: Robert O. Clark)

 Giant 85 million-year-old mystery sea monster fossil finally identified 

 LIVE SCIENCE, Jess Thomson May 28, 2025

A brand new species of elasmosaur named Traskasaura sandrae has been identified from three specimens found on Vancouver Island.

Scientists have finally solved the mystery behind the identity of a prehistoric sea monster.

The marine reptile, which could grow to around 39 feet (12 meters) long and had heavy teeth for crushing prey, was previously known from several sets of fossils unearthed over the past two decades.

One key fossil was a complete but badly-preserved adult skeleton from about 85 million years ago, discovered in 1988 on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It was thought to come from a group of long-necked reptiles known as plesiosaurs. However, until now, scientists weren't sure if it belonged to a new species or a previously discovered one.

"The identity of the animal that left the fossils has remained a mystery," F. Robin O'Keefe, a professor of anatomy at Marshall University in West Virginia, said in a statement. "Our new research published today finally solves this mystery."

In a new study published May 22 in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, O'Keefe and colleagues formally classified all the fossils as Traskasaura sandrae. 

This species is so different from other marine reptiles that researchers assigned it to a brand new genus, Traskasaura, within a subgroup of plesiosaurs called elasmosaurs.

Elasmosaurs, like other plesiosaurs, lived throughout the Cretaceous period (145 to 66 million years ago) alongside the dinosaurs and shared the oceans with other marine reptiles, including ichthyosaurs and mosasaurs.

Plesiosaurs were characterized by having small heads on long necks, broad bodies and four large, paddle-like limbs. The mythical Loch Ness Monster is usually depicted as a plesiosaur. They are thought to have breathed air and probably had to surface regularly, akin to modern-day marine mammals.

The first T. sandrae specimen was unearthed in 1988 in the Haslam Formation on Vancouver Island, was formally described by scientists in 2002 and dates back to between 86 and 83 million years ago. Other fossils found in the same region include a right humerus and an "excellently preserved" juvenile skeleton.

New pterosaur species with hundreds of tiny hooked teeth discovered!

If you enjoy reading about new dinosaur-era discoveries like I do, today's blog is for you, too. Recently a new Pterosaur (a flying reptile) named Balaenognathus maeuseri was discovered. Here's the story! 

(Image: An artist’s impression of Balaenognathus maeuseri. Credit: Megan Jacobs) 

New pterosaur species with hundreds of tiny hooked teeth discovered

by University of Portsmouth, Jan 23, 2023

An unusual new species of pterosaur has been identified, which had over 400 teeth that looked like the prongs of a nit comb.

The fossil was found in a German quarry and has been described by paleontologists from England, Germany and Mexico.

Professor David Martill, lead author of the research, from the University of Portsmouth's School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences, said, "The nearly complete skeleton was found in a very finely layered limestone that preserves fossils beautifully.

"The jaws of this pterosaur are really long and lined with small fine, hooked teeth, with tiny spaces between them like a nit comb. The long jaw is curved upwards like an avocet and at the end it flares out like a spoonbill. There are no teeth at the end of its mouth, but there are teeth all the way along both jaws right to the back of its smile.

"And what's even more remarkable is some of the teeth have a hook on the end, which we've never seen before in a pterosaur ever. These small hooks would have been used to catch the tiny shrimp the pterosaur likely fed on—making sure they went down its throat and weren't squeezed between the teeth."

The discovery was made accidentally while scientists were excavating a large block of limestone containing crocodile bones.

Professor Martill said, "This was a rather serendipitous find of a well-preserved skeleton with near perfect articulation, which suggests the carcass must have been at a very early stage of decay with all joints, including their ligaments, still viable. It must have been buried in sediment almost as soon as it had died."

The pterosaur belongs to a family of pterosaurs called Ctenochasmatidae, which are known from the limestone in Bavaria, Germany, where this one was also found.

Since the first pterosaur was described from there in the 18th century, hundreds of remains of these flying reptiles have been discovered, making the quarries of the Franconian Jura in Bavaria one of the richest pterosaur localities in the world.

"This pterosaur had teeth in the upper and lower jaw, which are a mirror image of each other. There is one other pterosaur with more teeth—Pterodaustro from Argentina—but it has stubby teeth in its upper jaw and even longer teeth in its lower jaw, so this new specimen is very different from other ctenochasmatids," Professor Martill added.

The teeth of the new pterosaur suggest an extraordinary feeding mechanism while it waded through water. It would use its spoon-shaped beak to funnel the water and then its teeth to squeeze out excess liquid, leaving prey trapped in its mouth.

The animal likely dabbled as it waded through shallow lagoons, sucking in tiny water shrimps and copepods and then filtering them out through its teeth just like ducks and flamingos.

It has been named Balaenognathus maeuseri. The generic name roughly translated means whale mouth because of its filtering feeding style. The specific name is after one of the co-authors Matthias Mäuser who sadly passed away during the writing of the paper.

Findings: Dinosaurs took over the planet because they could endure the cold

 As someone who has had an affinity for dinosaurs since I was a kid, I never thought of dinosaurs thriving in cold environments. That's likely because all of the images and sketches I have seen had them in warm, jungle-like environments. Now, scientists have discovered that they thrived in cold, too. Here's the story...

(Image: A juvenile Edmontosaurus climbing out of the water next to an adult Edmontosaurus in “Prehistoric Planet.” (Image credit: Apple TV+)

Dinosaurs took over the planet because they could endure the cold, scientists say

By Ben Turner LIVE SCIENCE July 6, 2022

Their adaptation to cold environments gave them an edge during an early extinction event.

Dinosaurs took over the planet thanks to their surprising ability to endure freezing-cold temperatures, ancient footprints have revealed.

The dinosaur tracks, stamped into the sandstone and siltstone of ancient lake beds in the Junggar Basin of northwestern China, suggest that more than 200 million years ago, the reptiles had already adapted to survive the cold of the polar regions before a mysterious mass extinction event plunged the world into freezing darkness.

Dinosaurs first appeared in temperate southerly latitudes roughly 231 million years ago during the Triassic period (around 252 million to 201 million years ago), back when Earth's continents were still joined together to form a supercontinent called Pangea. By around 214 million years ago, dinosaurs had spread northwards toward Arctic regions, but they still remained a minor group compared to other species on Earth — such as the ancestors of modern crocodiles that ruled over the tropics and subtropics, scientists reported in a new study. At the time of Pangea, the Junggar Basin was about 71 degrees north of Earth's equatorial plane, falling comfortably within the Arctic Circle.

Then, 202 million years ago in an episode called the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, a chain of massive volcanic eruptions cooled the planet dramatically, killing more than 75% of species on land and in the oceans, and paving the way for the cold-adapted dinosaurs to emerge from the Triassic period and dominate the Jurassic (around 201 million to 145 million years ago), researchers explained in a study published July 1 in the journal Scientific Advances.

How Dinosaurs Came to Rule the Jurassic Period

"Dinosaurs were there during the Triassic under the radar all the time," lead author Paul Olsen, a professor of biology and paleo environment at Columbia University's Columbia Climate School in New York City, said in a statement. "The key to their eventual dominance was very simple. They were fundamentally cold-adapted animals. When it got cold everywhere, they were ready, and other animals weren't."

Footprints in the basin in China, imprinted along the shorelines of shallow lakes that were once there, confirmed the presence of dinosaurs in the freezing region. The researchers also found small pebbles within the usually fine-grained sediments that they identified as ice-rafted debris — rocky material that winter ice sheets had carried from the shore out to the middle of the lake, depositing them there when the sheets melted in summer.

Dinosaurs Thrived in Freezing Weather

"This shows that these areas froze regularly, and the dinosaurs did just fine," study co-author Dennis Kent, an adjunct senior research scientist and geologist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said in the statement.

All this evidence suggests that dinosaurs didn't just survive freezing weather — they thrived in it, leaving them well placed to become the undisputed rulers of the planet by the end of the Triassic. But how did they do it? Prior research has suggested that many dinosaur groups were warm-blooded and had high metabolisms, and a growing body of evidence hints that many non-avian dinosaurs had a special kind of insulation that their cold-blooded crocodilian cousins lacked: feathers.

"Severe wintery episodes during volcanic eruptions may have brought freezing temperatures to the tropics, which is where many of the extinctions of big, naked, unfeathered vertebrates seem to have occurred," Kent said. "Whereas our fine feathered friends, acclimated to colder temperatures in higher latitudes, did OK."

The researchers' findings defy the popular notion of dinosaurs as animals that could only survive in warm climates, Stephen Brusatte, a professor of paleontology and evolution at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, who was not involved in the research, said in the statement.

"There is a stereotype that dinosaurs always lived in lush tropical jungles, but this new research shows that the higher latitudes would have been freezing and even covered in ice during parts of the year," Brusatte said. "Dinosaurs living at high latitudes just so happened to already have winter coats [while] many of their Triassic competitors died out."

Now that the researchers have documented signs that dinosaurs inhabited these chilly regions, they plan to look for more difficult-to-find fossils in former polar areas, to shed more light on how the ancient reptiles lived there.

Fantastic Science Book: Locked in Time: Animal Behavior Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils

As a meteorologist, I love all things science. In addition to weather, I'm especially fascinated by dinosaurs and fossils. So when I heard about "Locked in Time: Animal Behavior Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils" by Dean Lomax, I knew I had to read it. This book contains 50 amazing fossil finds, and each finding is accompanied by Amazing illustrations by paleoartist Bob Nicholls of the dinosaur, bird, marine animal or insect that is the topic of the finding. 

The author is brilliant in his explanations, and i was amazed that he could discuss details about the lives, structure and habits of mammals, dinosaurs, marine mammals, birds and snakes. Dean Lomax knows how to bring prehistoric creatures into the knowledge of modern mankind.

Even people who are remotely interested in paleontology will find this fascinating. 5 of 5 Stars! Here's the description of the book:

SUMMARY:

Fossils allow us to picture the forms of life that inhabited the earth eons ago. But we long to know more: how did these animals actually behave? We are fascinated by the daily lives of our fellow creatures―how they reproduce and raise their young, how they hunt their prey or elude their predators, and more. What would it be like to see prehistoric animals as they lived and breathed?

From dinosaurs fighting to their deaths to elephant-sized burrowing ground sloths, this book takes readers on a global journey deep into the earth’s past. Locked in Time showcases fifty of the most astonishing fossils ever found, brought together in five fascinating chapters that offer an unprecedented glimpse at the real-life behaviors of prehistoric animals. 

(Photo: Dr. Dean Lomax, author) 

Dean R. Lomax examines the extraordinary direct evidence of fossils captured in the midst of everyday action, such as dinosaurs sitting on their eggs like birds, Jurassic flies preserved while mating, a T. rex infected by parasites.

Each fossil, he reveals, tells a unique story about prehistoric life. Many recall behaviors typical of animals familiar to us today, evoking the chain of evolution that links all living things to their distant ancestors.

(Image: Illustration by paleoartist Bob Nicholls in the book); 

Locked in Time allows us to see that fossils are not just inanimate objects: they can record the life stories of creatures as fully alive as any today. Striking and scientifically rigorous illustrations by renowned paleoartist Bob Nicholls bring these breathtaking moments to life.

Discovery: Big-headed pterosaur may have preferred walking over flying

Pterosaurs are flying reptiles that dominated Earth's skies during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. In today's blog you'll read about a pterosaur with the largest head. In fact, this type of flying reptile had heads so big that scientists think it preferred walking around over flying. Imagine trying to hold up your head if it weighed about 1/4th of your body weight! Here's the story from  Science news:

(Caption: This reconstruction shows Tupandactylus navigans, a type of pterosaur with a large crest on the top of its head. The ancient reptile had a long neck, which combined with its oversize head, could have made sustained flying difficult. Credit: V. BECCARI)

This big-headed pterosaur may have preferred walking over flying 

ScienceNews By Nikk Ogasa< Aug. 26, 2021

In 2013, a police raid at Santos Harbor in Brazil recovered about 30,000 smuggled fossils, including the most intact specimen of a type of big-headed pterosaur ever found. A new analysis of the fossil provides insight into the flying reptile’s foraging style, flight capability and anatomy, researchers report August 25 in the Journal PLOS ONE.

Identified as Tupandactylus navigans, the fossil is a member of a group of pterosaurs called tapejarids. These pterosaurs are known for their oversize, crested skulls, and hail from the early Cretaceous Period, which lasted from about 145 million to 100 million years ago.

Some well-preserved tapejarid fossils have been found in China, but they aren’t as complete as the newly analyzed fossil, and the pterosaur’s anatomy hadn’t been fully described. “This is the first time we have the full skull and the full [body],” says Victor Beccari, a paleontologist at the NOVA School of Science & Technology in Caparica, Portugal.

When Beccari’s team received the fossil in 2016, it had already been cut into six blocks. “It’s a shame,” Beccari says, “but we used it to our advantage.” The researchers fit the sliced pieces inside a CT scanner, and then used the scans to produce a 3-D model of the pterosaur’s skeleton that revealed parts still buried inside rock.

(Caption: This Tupandactylus navigans fossil is the most complete specimen of a tapejarid — a group of pterosaurs known for their cranial crest (orange) — ever found. Credit: V. BECCARI)

Previous studies suggested that tapejarids had a short, stout neck to support their large head during flight. But Beccari’s team showed that the neck accounted for over half of the spine’s length, which could have made sustained flight difficult. The fossil’s long hind legs and relatively short arms hint that tapejarids could have been comfortable walking.

These observations suggest that T. navigans may have behaved similarly to peacocks, Beccari says. The tapejarid’s crest probably attracted mates, and the pterosaur may have flown to treetops to look for food or escape from predators, he says. “But it spent most of its time walking on the ground.”

A Dinosaur Fossil that's a Lesson not to Over Eat!

Recently a fossil discovery was a two for one, because an Ichthyosaur (a dolphin-like sea dweller) decided to over-eat itself to death. It's a lesson to everyone about over-eating. Here's the amazing find. 

(Photo: An ancient, dolphinlike reptile called an ichthyosaur may have died from overeating. A bulge in the belly of this fossilized creature (pictured) contains the remains of a reptile called a thalattosaur, which was nearly as long as the ichthyosaur itself. Credit:  RYOSUKE MOTANI)

This ichthyosaur died after devouring a creature nearly as long as itself
The feat surprised scientists who expected the marine reptile to gulp prey like fish and squid
ichthyosaur fossil
By Maria Temming, SCIENCE NEWS
AUGUST 20, 2020 AT 11:00 AM

For its last meal, an ancient marine reptile called an ichthyosaur may have bitten off more than it could chew.

The dolphinlike creature was nearly 5 meters long, about the length of a canoe. And its belly contained the remains of a lizardlike reptile called a thalattosaur that was almost as long: 4 meters. This is the longest known prey of a marine reptile from the dinosaur age, and may be the oldest direct evidence of a marine reptile eating an animal larger than a human, researchers report August 20 in iScience. In fact, this particular thalattosaur may have been such a big meal that the ichthyosaur died after stomaching it.

Ichthyosaur Credit: New Scientist Magazine

The ichthyosaur’s blunt teeth suggest it should have favored small, soft prey like cephalopods (SN: 10/3/17). “Now we have really solid evidence saying these [blunt] teeth can be used to eat something big,” says Ryosuke Motani, a paleobiologist at the University of California, Davis. “That means the other species with similar teeth we discounted before … may be megapredators too.”

Motani and colleagues examined the nearly complete skeleton of an adult ichthyosaur that was unearthed in southwestern China in 2010. The reptile, from the genus Guizhouichthyosaurus, lived during the Triassic Period about 240 million years ago. Upon closer inspection of a big lump of bones in the creature’s belly, Motani’s team discovered that the last thing the ichthyosaur ate was the body of a thalattosaur, sans head and tail. The thalattosaur remains show little evidence of being degraded by stomach acid, suggesting the ichthyosaur died shortly after its enormous meal.

These fossils provide “pretty good evidence that the bigger animal ate the smaller one,” says vertebrate paleontologist Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved in the study. “If this really is the case, it’s quite stunning,” because the predator was not much larger than its prey — at least in terms of length. The ichthyosaur is thought to have been roughly seven times more massive than the whip-thin thalattosaur.

The researchers believe the ichthyosaur most likely hunted, rather than scavenged, its meal. For one thing, it would have been unusual to come across a whole dead animal that no other predator had gobbled up, and the ichthyosaur would have had to shovel down the huge meal on the seafloor — tough for an air-breathing creature.

Plus, the thalattosaur’s limbs were still at least partially attached to its body, while its tail was uncovered about 20 meters away. Studies of how bodies decompose underwater suggest that if the thalattosaur was a carcass when the ichthyosaur found it, the prey’s limbs would have rotted off before its tail, the authors argue.

(Ichthyosaur illustration
A 5-meter-long ichthyosaur chowed down on the body of a 4-meter-long thalattosaur, minus the prey’s head and tail, as seen in this illustration.   D.-Y. JIANG ET AL/ISCIENCE 2020)
Motani suspects that killing and eating the thalattosaur may have spelled the ichthyosaur’s demise. The ichthyosaur’s fossilized body and head, while well preserved, are detached from one another, hinting that the animal may have died of a broken neck. The ichthyosaur could have injured its neck while holding the thalattosaur in its jaws and thrashing its head, which is how crocodiles and killer whales rip up their food without particularly sharp teeth.

The ichthyosaur also could have hurt itself while swallowing such large prey. “This is not a snake that’s adapted to swallow something really big, so it has to swallow just like dolphins and crocodiles do,” Motani says. That means swimming against its prey to shove the food down its throat, or sticking its head above water and using gravity to gulp the meal down. “It could easily damage its neck doing this.”

Dinosaur Discovery: An ancient crocodile that 'ran like an ostrich'

If you read this blog, you know that I find dinosaurs fascinating, and I like to highlight the latest discoveries. Today's blog is about about a prehistoric crocodile that could stand upright and run like an ostrich. These crocodiles were bigger than people, too. This article also provides a graphic showing their size in comparison to a human. Here's the story from BBC News (originally published on June 11):

Fossil tracks left by an ancient crocodile that 'ran like an ostrich'
By Jonathan Amos
BBC Science Correspondent

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Image copyrightA.ROMILIO/UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

Image captionAn artist's impression of what one of these creatures might have looked like

Scientists have been stunned to find that some ancient crocodiles might have moved around on two feet.

The evidence comes from beautifully preserved fossil tracks in South Korea.

Nearly a hundred of these 18-24cm-long indentations were left in what were likely the muddy sediments that surrounded a lake in the Early Cretaceous, 110-120 million years ago.

The international team behind the discovery says it will probably challenge our perception of crocodiles.

"People tend to think of crocodiles as animals that don't do very much; that they just laze around all day on the banks of the Nile or next to rivers in Costa Rica. Nobody automatically thinks I wonder what this [creature] would be like if it was bipedal and could run like an ostrich or a T. rex," Martin Lockley, an emeritus professor at the University of Colorado, US, told BBC News.

The study is sure to provoke a lively debate. Not all researchers will necessarily accept the team's interpretation.

Image copyrightKYUNG SOO KIM/CUE

Image captionPreserved in the rock: The smaller toes are actually the inside digits of the feet

Prof Lockley and colleagues have assigned the name Batrachopus grandis to the animal that made the tracks, although no physical remains of it have yet been uncovered.

The acknowledgement of the creature's existence rests solely on the fossil prints themselves. These look very similar in shape, albeit much larger, to those made by Batrachopus crocs that lived tens of millions of years earlier in the Jurassic. Except those older beasts very evidently were quadrupeds - they did walk on all fours.

A bipedal interpretation for the new Korean trace fossils is the only explanation, claims Prof Lockley.

"We can see all the digits, all the ridges in the skin - just as if you were looking at your hands," he explained. "They put one foot in front of another; they could pass a sobriety test walking on a straight line. And there are no front footprints."

The depth of the impressions made by the heel also supports the idea of a more upright posture, said team-leader Prof Kyung Soo Kim from South Korea's Chinju National University of Education.

"Our trackways are very narrow-looking - more like a crocodile balancing on a tight-rope," he remarked.

"When combined with the lack of any tail-drag marks, it became clear that these creatures were moving bipedally.

"They were moving in the same way as many dinosaurs, but the footprints were not made by dinosaurs. Dinosaurs and their bird descendants walk on their toes.

"Crocodiles walk on the flat of their feet leaving clear heel impressions, like humans do."

Image copyrightKYUNG SOO KIM/CUE

Image captionThe prints would be indicative of an animal more than 3m in length

For Prof Lockley, the new prints also help re-interpret a South Korean trackway he and other colleagues described eight years ago. In 2012, this group thought a set of less-well defined and slightly younger indentations might have been left by giant versions of the flying reptiles known as pterosaurs.

These animals are broadly recognised to have shuffled forwards when on the ground using their feet and hands - rather like a bat. This enigmatic trackway, however, had looked bipedal - perhaps the consequence of a pterosaur wading through water with just its feet in contact with the sediment.

Prof Lockley now believes this trackway was also very probably a bipedal Batrachopus.

Prof Phil Manning from the University of Manchester, UK, was not part of the discovery team. As a fossil trackway specialist himself, he described the prints as "very interesting" and welcomed their publication to begin a discussion - but he doubted the interpretation.

"For me, the tracks just don't fit the overall geometry a crocodilian and what it's capable of producing," he told BBC News.

"Look at any videos of living crocs and the rotation of their feet when they're galloping: it's outwards, not inwards towards the midline of the trackway. Just from their orientation, it looks more like some kind of dinosaurian track-maker to me. But whether it's a croc - unfortunately, we just don't have the fossil bones to tell us."

The tracks of Batrachopus grandis are reported in the journal Scientific Reports.

In the News: New Dinosaur Species May Have Flown Like a Bat

Ambopteryx longibrachium - Like a Bat-o-saur

If you've been reading this blog, you know that I've (Rob) loved dinosaurs since I was a kid. I used to have plastic dinosaurs and I knew every name, and the different periods in which they lived. I still know quite a few, and I still get excited whenever there's a discovery of a new species. That just happened in May 2019. Here's the story from Discover Magazine.


New Dinosaur Species May Have Flown Like a Bat
By Nathaniel Scharping | May 8, 2019 2:15 pm


A 3-D reconstruction of Ambopteryx longibrachium. The dinosaur was likely able to fly thanks to wings similar to bats today. (Credit: Min Wang, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Powered flight among large living things has been around for hundreds of millions of years. Dinosaurs, and their relatives the pterosaurs, figured out how to take to the skies long before their avian descendants today did. Now, a new species of dinosaur is shedding some light on the evolutionary path that lofted reptiles skyward.

The fossil, discovered in Liaoning Province in China and named Ambopteryx longibrachium, is actually notable for the fact that it seems to be an altogether different experiment in flight than the one that led to birds today. Instead of the feathery wings that give birds lift, this dinosaur, dated to 163 million years ago, had a wing structure that looked much more like a bat’s.
Bat-osaur


(IMAGE RIGHT:  The fossil of Ambopteryx longibrachium discovered in China. (Credit: Min Wang, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences))

Like birds, bats rely on elongated forearm and finger bones to support their wings. Bats, however, use a thin, fleshy membrane called a patagium to provide lift, in place of feathers. This adaptation has served bats well for millions of years, but it appears that their unique take on flight wasn’t necessarily new.

A. longibrachium, as well another related dinosaur, Yi qi, have arm bones that look quite similar to those of a bats, and their fossils show evidence for a patagium-like membrane. Additionally, both species had a special wrist bone, called a styliform element, that pointed backwards from the wrist and helped to support the wing membrane.

Both species are part of the scansoriopterygids, a family of small, feathered theropod dinosaurs that likely lived in the trees. The styliform element and patagium were unique adaptations among theropods, they say, shared only with Y. qi, and probably allowed the dinosaurs to glide from trees like flying squirrels.

The find was published in Nature.


Dinos in the Sky

Theropod dinosaurs, the large group that includes the scansoriopterygids as well as more notable species like Tyrannosaurus rex, also include the lineage that would one day become birds. Those avian dinosaurs evolved the ability to fly entirely separately, however. With this latest find, it’s likely that theropod dinosaurs found the path to flight on two separate occasions.

Another group of ancient fliers, the pterosaurs, had a similar wing structure, but that group of reptiles diverged long before A. longibrachium appeared, and aren’t even considered dinosaurs. This means that these kinds of bat-like wings evolved in A. longibrachium entirely on their own, an altogether separate experiment in flight.

The fossil also gives some indication of what A. longibrachium ate. Gastroliths, stones that helped grind food into digestible bits, were found along with the fossil, as well as what appear to be bones in the dinosaur’s stomach. The theropods were likely omnivores, the researchers say.

11 Amazing Fossil Discoveries!

If you're interested in science, palentology or dinosaurs, here's a short special from "Epic Wildlife" that you need to see. It's called "11 Amazing Fossil Discoveries."  We were unaware of many of these findings, and they're amazing.

 From the Dragon like creature found in China, to one of the best Fossil exhibits in the world, these are 11 AMAZING Fossil Discoveries!
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/eIVIQPTdNX4

Scientists Identify New Dinosaur Zhuchengtyrannus Magnus!

 When I was a kid, I was fascinated with dinosaurs. In fact, my younger brother and I had a lot of plastic dinosaurs and used to play with them. Well, since the 1960s a huge number of new species have been discovered, and here's another new discovery recently from China! 

Scientists Identify New Dinosaur Zhuchengtyrannus Magnus

Updated: Tuesday, 05 Apr 2011, 10:41 AM EDT 

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - Scientists discovered a relative of the dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex in what may be the largest concentration of dinosaur bones found in the world.
Ironically, media reports state, construction workers made the find in China while building a museum for other fossils.
The dinosaur, as reported by University College Dublin , has been named Zhuchengtyrannus magnus. It likely measured about 36 feet long, stood about 13 feet tall and weighed about six tons or more than 13,000 pounds.
Scientists matched it up to T. rex using fossil skull and jaw bones. The university stated it is one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs that scientists ever identified.
The dinosaur's name means "Tyrant from Zhucheng," identifying the eastern Shandong Province city in which the find was made.
LiveScience said the dig has uncovered more than 7,600 fossils in the city, which has become known for its bones. Scientists discovered a large field of hadrosaurus fossils in the 1960s and more than 50 tons of fossils have been found there since then.
The university suggested the site likely contained so many fossils because it was a flood plain where dinosaur bodies may have washed up together during floods and fossilized.
Zhao Xijin, the paleontologist heading up the project, told the Xinhua news agency that most of the fossils dated back to the late Cretaceous of the Mesozoic period. The BBC said that period extended from 99 to 65 million years ago, when scientists believe dinosaurs became extinct.
The find, as reported by the BBC, consisted of skull and jaw bones. Scientists used them to match the fossils up to the Tyrannosaurines, a group of theropods that may have evolved into modern birds. The dinosaurs, which existed in North American and eastern Asia, are identified by their small arms, two-fingered hands and powerful jaws.
Colleagues working on the project include Xu Xing of the Beijing Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. Discovery News said Xing has named more than 30 other dinosaurs. Xinhua said a fossil park will be built near the site.