Extinct Species, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 30, 2012

Dinosaur with Giant Nose Discovered

A new dinosaur with a large, prominent nose has been discovered in northern Mexico. The duck-billed dinosaur, Latirhinus uitstlani (lati is Latin for wide and rhinus means nose in Greek), lived during the Late Cretaceous approximately 73 million years ago. Found in Coahuila state, it is described in the latest...

Nov 30, 2012

Dealer Pleads Guilty to Smuggling in Largest International Dino Case Ever

A fossil dealer's guilty plea has set the stage for what is most likely the largest dinosaur fossil repatriation in history, according to an attorney representing the President of Mongolia, the country that will receive most of the fossils that federal officials are seizing from fossil dealer and preparer Eric...

Oct 31, 2012

Mystery Molelike Mammal Survived Dino Extinction

A molelike mammal nicknamed the grave robber survived the event that killed the dinosaurs, new research finds. Necrolestes patagonensis, whose name translates in part to grave robber, was among the mammals that lived through the dinosaur mass extinction. The new study finds that the creature lived 45 million years longer...

Apr 30, 2012

Tyrannosaur Skeleton For Sale, But Ownership Is Questioned

The origin of a rare tyrannosaur skeleton, now sitting mounted and prepared at an auction house in New York City, has been questioned, with some saying the specimen is from Mongolia; if so, that would mean it entered the United States illegally. The rare Tyrannosaurus bataar — standing 8 feet...

Apr 30, 2012

Despite Legal Challenge, Tyrannosaur Sells for $1 million

NEW YORK — A nearly complete tyrannosaur skeleton has sold for just over $1 million, in spite of a call to halt its auction because the fossils may have been taken illegally from Mongolia. During an auction this afternoon (May 20), Heritage Auctions sold the Tyrannosaurus bataar specimen to an...

Apr 30, 2012

Beyond the Tyrannosaur: Other Auction Specimens Alarm Scientists

While the nearly complete tyrannosaur skeleton up for auction on Sunday (May 20) is now the subject of a legal battle, other fossils sold that day may also have been smuggled out of Mongolia, paleontologists say. These include teeth belonging to the same species of dinosaur, a Tarbosaurus bataar, and...

Mar 31, 2012

Fuzzy Dinosaur Fishes at Dawn in New Paleo-Art

A paleontologist-artist has revealed what a meat-eating dinosaur called Unenlagia (whose name means half-bird) may have looked like when it roamed the Earth some 85 million years ago during the late Cretaceous. Paleontologist, consultant and scientific illustrator Scott Hartman depicts Unenlagia fishing in the early morning glow from the sun....

Jan 31, 2012

How Dinosaurs Grew So Huge

How did some dinosaurs reach such soaring heights -- up to 100 feet high in some cases? Efficient lungs and respiration, along with egg laying, might have given dinos a growth edge when compared to other animals, suggests new research. The study also negates a popular theory that animals tended...

Jul 31, 2013

Mokele-Mbembe: The Search for a Living Dinosaur

Mokele-mbembe supposedly resembles an apatosaurus, which lived more than 65 million years ago. (Image credit: Linda Bucklin Shutterstock)Everyone knows that the dinosaurs died out a while ago — in fact, more than 65 million years ago, give or take. Massive, powerful, and awe-inspiring, they have been popular for years, appearing...

Jun 30, 2013

How Taxidermy Keeps Extinct Animals Around

When a giant tortoise named Lonesome George died, his kind, the Pinta Island tortoises of the Galapagos, suffered the same fate as the unfortunate dodo bird: Both bird and tortoise were wiped off their island homes and into extinction. But Lonesome George will be better preserved than any of the...

Jun 30, 2013

Photos: The Near-Complete Wankel T. Rex

Wankel T. rex (Image credit: Photo courtesy Museum of the Rockies)A cast of the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton known as the Wankel T. rex was installed in front of the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana in 2001. The actual fossil specimens are being loaned by...

Dec 31, 2012

Biggest Dinosaurs Had Brains the Size of Tennis Balls

An advanced member of the largest group of dinosaurs ever to walk the Earth still had a relatively puny brain, researchers say. The scientists analyzed the skull of 70-million-year-old fossils of the giant dinosaur Ampelosaurus, discovered in 2007 in Cuenca, Spain, in the course of the construction of a high-speed...

Dec 31, 2012

More Velociraptor-Like Dinos Than Thought

Millions of years ago, there may have been three times as many species of tiny, flesh-tearing dinos roaming the United States and Canada than previously believed, researchers say. Only seven species of small, two-legged carnivores had been identified from the period between 85 and 65 million years ago, just before...

Oct 31, 2014

Giant Armored Dinosaurs Breathed Through 'Krazy Straw' Airways

Carrying around an exoskeleton of bony armor is hard work. But armored ankylosaurs figured out a way to shoulder the load and stay cool. These Cretaceous dinosaurs had Krazy Straw nasal passages that helped them air-condition their brains, according to a new study. These heads are just covered with bone...

Sep 30, 2014

Newfound South American Predator Snacked on Little Dinosaurs

A puma-sized predatory dinosaur that may have snacked on its smaller cousins while stomping about an ancient rift valley dotted with erupting volcanoes has been discovered in Venezuela. The finding could shed light on the evolution of all carnivorous dinosaurs, researchers say. The newfound fossil, from a dinosaur named Tachiraptor...