Tag: dinosaurs
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T. Rex, King of the Dinosaurs, Had a Body Temperature of 97 Degrees
The New York Times has a story about recent T. rex research. There’s been a long running debate about whether dinosaurs were warm or cold blooded – endothermic or exothermic. New research, published recently in the journal Science Advances, adds a little evidence to the warm blooded side. Scientists at the University of California, Los…
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A Feather Found in Dinosaur Poop Might Explain How Birds Beat Extinction
The New York Times has a story about an amazing, chance discovery. In 2016, a researcher in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana picked up a small rock that turned out to be a small piece of fossilized dinosaur dung. Fossilized dung is called a coprolite and this one had a “big” surprise. It had…
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PBS Eons at the Field Museum!
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eons (@eonsshow) PBS Eons posted this video a few days ago on Instagram. In making Life and Death on Pangea, not only did we get to tell the story of one of the most dramatic times in Earth’s history, but we got visit places that were…
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A Nearly 200-Year-Old Museum Known for Its T. Rex Faces Extinction
The New York Times has a piece about the plight of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. The institution first opened its door in 1828… nearly 200 years ago. It is the oldest natural history museum in the US. Due to financial difficulties since the Covid-19 pandemic, it is being forced to close at the…
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Denver Museum of Nature & Science – Only a few days left … Ends September 7th, 2026
Only a few days left!!!! Step inside the world of sauropods in “The World’s Largest Dinosaurs.” Stand beneath a towering, life-sized 60-foot Mamenchisaurus and discover the amazing biology behind the largest animals to ever live.
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Would VELOCIRAPTOR make a good pet? | Cromo Paleo Show
The Cromo Paleo Show has an entertaining video on Youtube. Somehow, I don’t think a pet dinosaur will turn out well… Would Velociraptor make a good pet? 🦖 In this episode of the “Would It Make a Good Pet?” series, we dive deep into the REAL science behind owning one of the most famous dinosaurs…
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Paleontology rocked by organic molecules found in 66-million-year-old dinosaur bones
Science Daily has a story about another discovery of organic molecules in dinosaur bones. Since the early 2000’s, paleontologists have been finding organic material in dinosaur bones. The discoveries have been met with skepticism by paleontologists. Now a study in the journal Analytical Chemistry adds new evidence. Professor Steve Taylor, chair of the Mass Spectrometry…
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Throwback Thursday #331: Happy (Belated) Unearth Day, SUE!
Last Wednesday was SUE’s Unearth Day! SUE was found by Sue Hendrickson on August 12th, 1990. Sue hung back at camp, while the rest of the team from the Black Hills Institute went to town to fix a flat tire on one of their trucks. Sue decided to explore some area around the camp. She…
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Storms that built a graveyard: ancient monsoons created a spectacular dinosaur fossil site
The Conversation has an interesting post about an important fossil site in northeastern Italy. The Villaggio del Pescatore site dates to 80 million years ago, which was near the end of the Cretaceous Period. Fossil animals found in the locality were swept in to the area by monsoon rains and tropical cyclones. Dinosaurs, crocodiles, and…
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Throwback Thursday #327: Walter Cronkite and… dinosaurs!
David Bressan of the History of Geology group on Facebook has an interesting post about the 1991 A&E documentary series “Dinosaur!”. Walter Cronkite was the host. Several episodes are available to watch on YouTube. I vaguely remember watching the series when it aired. Revisiting it today is fascinating as it offers an opportunity to see…
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NPR: Mystery bidder buys T. rex nicknamed ‘Gus’ for a record $50 million
NPR has a story about the recent auction of “Gus” the Tyrannosaurus rex at Sotheby’s in New York. The winning bid of 50.1 million represents the highest price ever paid for a dinosaur. “Gus” was found by the late Gary “Gus” Licking, a cattle rancher in Harding County, South Dakota. The same county that has…
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Paleontologists Discover New Species of Titanosaur in Uruguay
SciNews has a post about a new species of titanosaur from Uruguay. Mesetasaurus protector lived between 86 and 72 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. The paper describing this species was published in the journal Ameghiniana. The new species was a member of a group of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs known as Aeolosaurini, a lineage that…
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The 250-million year rise and fall of the dinosaurs | Steve Brusatte
Big Think has a video with Steve Brusatte, an American paleontologist, a professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Edinburgh, and author of a few pop-science books. Steve grew up in Ottawa, IL. He’s spoken to ESCONI in the past. In this video, Steve discusses the origin and the evolution of dinosaurs, mammals, and…
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Throwback Thursday #325: Journey to the Beginning of Time
Ok, who remembers “Journey to the Beginning of Time” on Garfield Goose on morning television in Chicago? Just recently, the trailer to the US version of the movie recently appeared in one of my feeds, so I did a little research to find out more about the film/episodes.
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‘Gus’ the T. rex presented in New York ahead of auction
Phys.org has an article about “Gus” the Tyrannosaurus rex. “Gus” lived during the late Cretaceous Period, about 67 million years ago. The fossil is about 61% complete by bone count and 75-80% by bone mass. It was discovered in Harding County, South Dakota in 2021. “Gus” is named after the late rancher Gary “Gus” Licking,…
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Inside the making of the world’s most modern natural history museum
National Geographic has an interesting story about the making of the new Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi. The museum opened in late 2025, with beautiful modern exhibits. This is the story of its making…
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After 35 Years, 152-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur ‘Big Al’ Returns Home To Wyoming
Cowboy State Daily has a story about “Big Al” the Allosaurus… He is headed home! “Al”, the star of the 2000 BBC documentary “Walking with Dinosaurs”, was found near Shell, WY in 1990. He lived about 152 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. A 2002 paper, “Record-Breaking Pain: The Largest Number and Variety of…
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The Field Museum’s Dinopalooza 2026, Saturday, June 13th, 2026
The Field Museum’s annual paleontology extravaganza “Dinopalooza 2026” is today! Come on out and join the fun!
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High-Energy X-Ray CT Scanning of large, dense fossils
Today’s post comes from Ravi Chandran and Tyler Keillor. Ravi Chandran is an ESCONI member and volunteer in Paul Sereno’s lab. Tyler Keiller is Manager of the fossil lab and past ESCONI member. He has presented at Paleofest and for ESCONI in the past. He is also paleo-artist. The Fossil Lab in Washington Park (5437…
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A 75-million-year-old fossil reveals a shocking tyrannosaur secret
Science Daily has a story about the feeding habits of tyrannosaurs. The diet of tyrannosaurs has been long and sometimes controversial, remember when it was proposed that T-rex was a scavenger? Well a new paper in the journal Evolving Earth, found evidence of cannibalism from marks on a massive tyrannosaur foot bone. Interestingly, the marks…
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PBS Eons: How Dinosaurs May Have Cursed Us With Aging
PBS Eons has a new episode. This one is about how aging in mammals might be due to evolved traits while we lived alongside dinosaurs.
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Science Quickly: The dinosaurs at your window: How birds survived the asteroid that killed all other dinosaurs
Scientific American’s “Science Quickly” had an interview with Steve Brusatte on a recent episode. Steve’s new book “The Story of Birds” is available to day April 28th, 2026.
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Video for ESCONI April 2026 Paleontology Meeting – “Digging the Marl of the Lance Formation”
The April 2026 Paleontology Study Group Meeting featured Keith Robitschek and his presentation “Digging the Marl of the Lance Formation”.
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The revolution in dinosaur science started 50 years ago—here’s what we have learned
Phys.org has a story about the dinosaur renaissance that started about 50 years ago. Before the research that led to the revolution in dinosaur science, dinosaurs were thought to dumb, slow, lumbering animals that went extinct because mammals were faster and smarter. Bone histology, birds as dinosaurs, feathers, lifespan, diet, and behavior are just a…
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New ‘scimitar-crested’ Spinosaurus species discovered in the central Sahara
Phys.org has a story about a new species of spinosaurus. Spinosaurus mirabilis was found in Niger at a remote locale in the central Sahara by a team of 20 researchers led by Paul Sereno, Ph.D., Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago. The animal is described in the paper “Scimitar-crested Spinosaurus species from…
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Throwback Thursday #305: The Sinclair Dinosaurs at the New York World’s Fair in 1964-1965
This is Throwback Thursday #305. 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! email:esconi.info@gmail.com. The Sinclair Oil company was formed by Harry Sinclair in 1916. The dinosaur known as “Dino” first appeared…
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Netflix: “The Dinosaurs”… Coming March 6th, 2026
Netflix has a new dinosaur documentary “The Dinosaurs”, which premiers on March 6th, 2026. The trailer is on Youtube. Welcome to The Dinosaurs – an epic journey into a lost world. From executive producer Steven Spielberg, Amblin Entertainment, and the award‑winning team behind Our Planet, this groundbreaking documentary series follows the rise and fall of…
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Throwback Thursday #303: Looking Back At ESCONI For February 2026
A look back at February 1956, 1976, and 2001
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PNAS: Can paleontologists pinpoint the dawn of the dinosaurs?
PNAS has an interesting news feature about the origin of the dinosaurs. When and where did they first appear? Evidence points to an amimal known as Lewisuchus admixtus that lived in what is now Argentina about 236 million years ago. There’s a small, but fierce, jawbone in Argentina’s national natural science museum in Buenos Aires.…
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You Wouldn’t Want to Butt Heads With This Small Dinosaur
The New York Times’ Trilobites column has a story about the discovery of a new dinosaur in Mexico. The animal, Xenovenator espinosai, was discovered in 2000 in the Cerro del Pueblo formation in northeastern Mexico by Martha Aguillón-Martinez. It lived about about 73 million years ago when the area was a marshy coastline. The animal’s…
