Extinct Species, features and articles | Educational Science

May 31, 2019

The Biggest Dinosaur to Ever Walk the Earth Just Wants to Text You

The biggest dinosaur ever discovered just wishes you'd drop him a line. In a new program launched by Chicago's Field Museum, the cast skeleton of the titanosaur dubbed Máximo will text you back answers to questions about the dinosaur's life in prehistoric Patagonia — or anything else you'd like to...

Apr 30, 2019

Car-Size 'Sea Monster' Terrorized Triassic Oceans

Researchers excavated the remains of four of these now-extinct sea monsters from the rocky slopes of the Austrian Alps. But even at 13 feet long (4 meters), these creatures — known as phytosaurs — weren't fully grown. The phytosaurs were only about 8 years old when they died, and they...

Jan 31, 2019

This Spiky-Spined Beast Is the Most Punk-Rock Dino Ever Discovered

Some dinosaurs are known for their long necks, others for their horned heads or club-like tails. Bajadasaurus pronuspinax, a newly described dinosaur discovered in Patagonia, Argentina, will be known for its sexy mohawk. In a study published Feb. 4 in the journal Scientific Reports, a team of archaeologists from CONICET,...

Jan 31, 2019

Titanosaur the Size of a School Bus Had Heart-Shaped Tail Bones

A newfound dinosaur seems to wear its heart on its tail, according to paleontologists who found the enormous beast and realized this hopeless romantic had heart-shaped tail bones. But this dinosaur, named Mnyamawamtuka moyowamkia, is extraordinary beyond its lovely tail. Paleontologists spent five years climbing a steep cliff in Tanzania...

Dec 31, 2018

Why This Enormous, Scaly Foot Looks Like It's from a Dinosaur

A photo showing an enormous, scaly foot that dwarfed the photographer's hand recently captivated Twitter. With muscular digits tipped by powerful claws, the appendage resembles a dinosaur's foot — and that's exactly what it is. The foot's owner was an imposing (though deceased) flightless bird called a southern cassowary (Casuarius...

Dec 31, 2018

What's the world's largest dinosaur?

The battle for the title of world's largest dinosaur is complicated. Here's why: Paleontologists rarely discover an entire skeleton. They're more likely to uncover bone fragments and then try to estimate a profile of height and weight. Moreover, there are three categories for largest dinosaur on record: the weightiest, longest...

Nov 30, 2021

55-foot-long Triassic sea monster discovered in Nevada

A sea monster that lived during the early dinosaur age is so unexpectedly colossal, it reveals that its kind grew to gigantic sizes extremely quickly, evolutionarily speaking at least. The discovery suggests that such ichthyosaurs — a group of fish-shaped marine reptiles that inhabited the dinosaur-era seas — grew to...

Sep 30, 2021

Michigan boy finds 'dragon's tooth' that belonged to a mastodon

A boy in Michigan was recently hiking with his family when he stepped into a creek and stumbled over something rocky that resembled a tooth. At first, he thought it belonged to a dinosaur, but paleontologists later found that the massive molar came from a mastodon. Julian Gagnon, age 6,...

Aug 31, 2021

Who will buy 'Big John,' the biggest triceratops ever found?

An enormous triceratops nicknamed Big John is expected to fetch big bucks on the auction block in France, in October. The skeleton, which is more than 66 million years old and is approximately 60% complete, is the largest triceratops ever found. It measures about 26 feet (8 meters) long; the...

Aug 31, 2021

Tyrannosaurs bit each other's faces in dino fight clubs

Tyrannosaurs viciously bit each other on the face, though likely not with the intention to kill. Rather, these biting brawls were probably the result of different individuals' competing for prizes, such as territory, mates or higher status, a new study finds. Researchers made the discovery after analyzing 202 tyrannosaur skulls...

Jul 31, 2021

Rare embryo from dinosaur age was laid by human-size turtle

About 90 million years ago, a giant turtle in what is now central China laid a clutch of tennis ball-size eggs with extremely thick eggshells. One egg never hatched, and it remained undisturbed for tens of millions of years, preserving the delicate bones of the embryonic turtle within it. In...

May 31, 2021

Baby dinosaurs hatched in the Arctic 70 million years ago

Baby dinosaurs toddled around the chilly region that is now the Alaskan Arctic about 70 million years ago, according to the unexpected discovery of more than 100 baby dinosaur bones and teeth there, a new study reports. It was surprising to find evidence of a prehistoric nursery in such a...

Mar 31, 2021

Long-necked dinosaurs migrated hundreds of miles, 'stomach stones' reveal

During the Jurassic period, long-necked dinosaurs migrated hundreds of miles across what is now the American Midwest, a new study finds. How do researchers know that these giant beasts migrated? The dinosaurs gulped down pink stones in what is now Wisconsin, trekked westward more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) and...

Mar 31, 2021

Never mind outrunning a T. rex — you could probably outwalk it

Could you run faster than a T. rex? According to new research, you might be able to outpace one by walking. In the movie Jurassic Park (Warner Bros, 1993), a carful of terrified people famously tries to escape a loping T. rex, but science quickly threw shade at the movie...

Apr 30, 2022

Nuzzling T. rexes and grappling sauropods: Dinosaurs on 'Prehistoric Planet' will astonish you

What would happen if you put Sir David Attenborough and a specialist team of wildlife filmmakers in a time machine and set the dial to 66 million years ago — to the end of the Cretaceous period and the final days of the dinosaurs? An upcoming documentary series aims to...