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Jan-Mar 2011
Paleo-news archive: January-March 2011
Giant prehistoric dinosaur cousin of T.
rex identified
(Mar 31, 2011)
A giant predatory theropod dinosaur, similar in size and stature to
Tyrannosaurus rex, has been identified by palaeontologists.
The new dinosaur, named Zhuchengtyrannus magnus, probably
stood four metres tall, was 11 meters long and weighed around six
tonnes. Like T. rex, it was a carnivore with huge powerful
jaws.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Prehistoric reptile skin secrets revealed
in new image
(Mar 24, 2011)
A unique image, for the first time, has mapped organic compounds that
are still surviving in a 50-million-year-old sample of reptile skin.
The infrared picture reveals the chemical profile of the skin, offering
an insight into how it was preserved. A team of UK scientists say
the sample was so well preserved that it was hard to tell the difference
between the fossil and the fresh samples.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Dinosaur named 'thunder-thighs'
(Feb 23, 2011)
Scientists have named a new dinosaur species "thunder-thighs" because
of the huge thigh muscles it would have had. Fossil remains recovered
from a quarry in Utah, are fragmentary but enough to tell researchers
the creature must have possessed extremely powerful legs. The new
species, described in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica,
is a sauropod – the family of dinosaurs famous for their long
necks and tails.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Fossil find puts 'Lucy' story on firm footing
(Feb 11, 2011)
New fossil evidence seems to confirm that a key ancestor of ours could
walk upright consistently – one of the major advances in human
evolution. The evidence comes in the form of a 3.2 million-year-old
bone that was found at Hadar, Ethiopia. Its shape indicates the diminutive,
human-like species Australopithecus afarensis had arches
in its feet.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Humans 'left Africa much earlier'
(Jan 28, 2011)
Modern humans may have emerged from Africa up to 50,000 years earlier
than previously thought, a study suggests. Researchers have uncovered
stone tools in the Arabian peninsula that they say were made by modern
humans about 125,000 years ago. The tools were unearthed at the site
of Jebel Faya in the United Arab Emirates, a team reports in the journal
Science.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Two-clawed and parrot-sized: new T.rex cousin
unveiled
(Jan 26, 2011)
A tiny distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex has been discovered
in China with only a single claw on each forelimb. Linhenykus
monodactylus weighed no more than a large parrot and was found
in sediments between 84 and 75 million years old. The dinosaur belongs
to a sub-branch of the theropods, the dinosaur group which includes
T.rex and Velociraptor, and which gave rise to modern
birds.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Did pterosaurs fly out of their eggs?
(Jan 21, 2011)
A spectacular fossil apparently of a pterosaur and its egg may help
to unlock the mystery of how the winged reptiles reproduced. The fossil's
discoverers think it provides evidence that the beasts produced clutches
of young and provided no parental care – essentially suggesting
that hatchlings could fly.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
'Dawn runner' casts light on birth of the
dinosaurs
(Jan 14, 2011)
Scientists have unveiled one of the earliest dinosaurs yet found,
an agile meat-eater from the late Triassic period, some 230 million
years ago. Researchers writing in the journal Science say
Eodromaeus or "dawn runner" was a small, two-legged creature
of not much more than 1.2m in length and 4-6kg in weight. They reconstructed
the dinosaur, a probable ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex, from
an almost complete set of bones found in the Valley of The Moon, in
northwestern Argentina.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Ammonite diet revealed in X-rays
(Jan 7, 2011)
Exquisite X-ray images featured in Science magazine are providing
new insights on how the ammonites lived and perhaps also on why they
died out. The pictures have been produced by a team of French and
American researchers using the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
in Grenoble. They reveal the mouthparts of three ammonite specimens
discovered in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, a place renowned for the
excellent preservation of fossils.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Sabertooth cats threatened most ancient
human ancestor
(Jan 3, 2011)
Humankind's oldest known ancestor probably lived in fear of several
large sabertooth cats that roamed the same ancient lakeside habitat
in Africa. Paleontologists have identified two new sabertooth species
among fossils unearthed at Toros Menalla in Chad. In 2001, a team
unearthed remains of a seven million-year-old human-like creature
– or hominid – known as "Toumai" at the central African
site.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
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