Extinct Species, features and articles | Educational Science

May 21, 2023

Humongous, 100-foot-long dinosaur from Argentina is so big its fossils broke the road during transport

Paleontologists in Argentina have discovered the remains of a ginormous long-necked dinosaur that measured about 100 feet (30 meters) long when it lived about 90 million years ago, a new study finds. Examining this enormous dinosaur wasn't always easy. The fossils of the titanosaur — the largest of the long-necked...

May 23, 2023

Watch exclusive clip of never-before-depicted dinosaur from Prehistoric Planet season 2

The wait is finally over for season two of Prehistoric Planet, with the two first episodes now available to stream on Apple TV+ and three more to come this week. The return of the award-winning show features a dazzling new cast of characters, including dinosaurs, pterosaurs and other ancient creatures...

May 25, 2023

Massive dino from Brazil ate 'like a pelican,' controversial new study finds. Why is it causing an uproar?

A large predatory dinosaur related to Spinosaurus may have scooped up prey like a pelican by extending its lower jaw, European researchers propose in a new study. But the findings have upset some paleontologists who contest that the fossils were illegally taken from Brazil and should be returned to their...

Jun 9, 2023

Dinosaur named after 2-faced Roman god could be 'missing link' in duck-billed dinos' evolution

Paleontologists have unearthed a never-before-seen raptor-like dinosaur that lived during a period of extreme climate change around 100 million years ago. Researchers think the newfound species, named after the two-faced Roman god Janus, could be an evolutionary missing link between two key dinosaur groups. The newly described species, Iani smithi,...

Jun 20, 2023

Blade-like spikes covered newly discovered dinosaur unearthed in the UK

Paleontologists in the U.K. have uncovered the remains of a never-before-seen armored dinosaur with blade-like spikes that protruded from the sides of its heavily-protected body. The newly described species, named Vectipelta barretti, belongs to the suborder Ankylosauria — a group of large herbivorous dinosaurs with four short legs, wide and...

Jun 27, 2023

Never-before-seen 'missing link' dinosaur walks, drinks and socializes in stunning new animation

Paleontologists have unearthed a never-before-seen species of primitive duck-billed dinosaur in Chile — the likes of which has never been found in the Southern Hemisphere. The discovery of the car-size herbivore, which has been brought to life in a stunning new video, changes what we know about the history of...

Aug 17, 2023

'We were freaking out': Scientists left 'flabbergasted' by detailed dinosaur footprints covering a cliff in Alaska

Flabbergasted researchers have discovered that the face of a 20-story cliff in Alaska is covered in the fossilized footprints of dozens of dinosaurs, giving the impression that the creatures defied gravity to walk across its surface, though a geological process is actually to blame. The rock face, located in Denali...

Aug 31, 2023

One of the longest dino tracks in the world revealed by drought in Texas state park

An ongoing drought has revealed about 70 dinosaur tracks at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. The footprints, which date back about 110 million years, had been hidden under water and mud in the Paluxy River, which cuts through the state park, according to the Chron.com. Experts think...

Sep 27, 2023

125 million-year-old dinosaur feathers were remarkably similar to modern bird feathers, analysis reveals

Feathers from modern-day birds have more in common with dinosaur feathers than experts previously thought and have a similar protein composition, a new X-ray analysis reveals. The discovery offers new insight into the evolution of feathers over hundreds of millions of years. Paleontologists examined feathers from three ancient animals, including...

Oct 3, 2023

Giant never-before-seen long-necked 'titan' dinosaur unearthed in Europe

A massive, never-before-seen sauropod roamed what is now Spain roughly 122 million years ago, new fossils show. The unusual shape of its bones suggests the newly described titan was quite primitive, which could help scientists better understand the evolution of these gigantic, long-necked dinosaurs. The newly identified species, named Garumbatitan...

Oct 12, 2023

75 million-year-old 'forgotten lord of the oasis' titanosaur fossils from Egypt fill a 'black hole' in dinosaur history

A strange species of tiny titanosaur has finally been given a name, nearly 50 years after its bones were unearthed from the Egyptian desert. The newly described species, called Igai semkhu, lived 75 million years ago in what is now the Kharga Oasis. The name Igai semkhu translates to Forgotten...

Dec 21, 2023

10 jaw-dropping dinosaur fossils unearthed in 2023

Non-avian dinosaurs have not roamed Earth for around 66 million years. But thanks to the fossils they left behind, we can piece together their history. And this year, paleontologists uncovered even more ancient clues about our planet's former residents. From a tyrannosaur's last meal and communal nests to a fossilized...

Dec 31, 2023

Why was the name 'Brontosaurus' brought back from the dead?

The biggest animals ever to have walked on Earth were the long-necked, long-tailed dinosaurs known as sauropods, and the most famous of these giants was likely Brontosaurus, the thunder lizard. For more than a century, scientists stopped using the genus name Brontosaurus, but in 2015, researchers suggested it was time...

Jan 3, 2024

Nanotyrannus vs. T. rex saga continues: Controversial study 'doesn't settle the question at all'

In the latest episode of a long-standing debate over the identity of a set of dinosaur fossils, a controversial new study has found that the dino bones belong not to a young Tyrannosaurus rex but to a separate species: Nanotyrannus lancensis. In the decades since the first skull was discovered...

Jan 5, 2024

Dinosaur finger bone from Lesotho rock shelter suggests Africans discovered fossils centuries before British did

Credit for discovering the first dinosaur bones usually goes to British gentlemen for their finds between the 17th and 19th centuries in England. Robert Plot, an English natural history scholar, was the first of these to describe a dinosaur bone, in his 1676 book The Natural History of Oxfordshire. Over...