Tag: bird
-
Field Museum: The Chicago Archaeopteryx!
The Field Museum is debuting its latest blockbuster specimen, the Chicago Archaeopteryx! With its first appearance in the Jurassic period 151 million years ago, Archaeopteryx is immensely significant due to it being the first “missing link” or transitional fossil that supported the Theory of Evolution. This small fossil also forged the link connecting dinosaurs and…
-
Throwback Thursday #162: Field & Street Archaeopteryx
This is Throwback Thursday #162. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! Back in Throwback Thursday #137, we looked at the traveling Archaeopteryx exhibit back in 1997. Althiough it was…
-
Fossil Friday #83: Tar Pit Fossils
This is the “Fossil Friday” post #83. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world! This week’s stunning contribution comes from long…
-
NYT: Was This Dinosaur More Subaquatic Killer or Giant Wading Bird?
The New York Times’ Science column Trilobites has a story about a new theory as to how Spinosaurus made a living. Spinosaurus lived about 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, in what is now North Africa. Its bones were first discovered in 1915. Ever since, due to some bizarre features, there have debates…
-
New Bird-Like Dinosaur Discovered: Overoraptor chimentoi
SciNews has a story about a new bird-like dinosaur. Discovered in Argentina, Overoraptor chimentoi lived about 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, in what is now Patagonia. All the details on this dinosaur can be read in a paper published in the journal Nature. The fossilized remains of Overoraptor chimentoi were recovered from the beds…
-
SciNews: New Bird-Like Dinosaur Unearthed in Wyoming
SciNews has an article about the discovery of a new bird-like dinosaur in Wyoming. The animal, Hesperornithoides miessleri, lived about 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic period. It has been nicknamed Lori and was about the size of a chicken. Its contemporaries were giant dinosaurs like Stegaoaurus, Diplodocus, and Allosaurus. The description appeared in…
-
Missing Link Found in China
Via PhysOrg: … An international group of researchers from the University of Leicester (UK), and the Geological Institute, Beijing (China) have identified a new type of flying reptile – providing the first clear evidence of an unusual and controversial type of evolution. Pterosaurs, flying reptiles, also known as pterodactyls, dominated the skies in the Mesozoic…
-
More Evidence of Dinosaur to Bird
Via Scientific American (9/24): … The dinosaur-bird transition has been the subject of debate for more than a century, and some researchers are still arguing that other bird-like dinos are too recent to be the ancestors of birds. The quandary, known in the paleontology field as the temporal paradox, has been dealt another…
-
Fossilized iridescent colors
Via National Science Foundation (from geology.com) … A team of paleontologists and ornithologists has now discovered evidence of vivid iridescent colors in fossil feathers more than 40 million years old. The finding, published online August 26 in the journal Biology Letters, signifies the first evidence of a preserved color-producing nanostructure in a fossilized feather…
