tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/dinosaurs-918/articlesDinosaurs – The Conversation2024-03-11T13:10:38Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2252862024-03-11T13:10:38Z2024-03-11T13:10:38ZA brief guide to birdwatching in the age of dinosaurs<p>Have you ever wondered what it would be like travel back in time to the age of dinosaurs? If you stumble upon a time machine, remember to bring your binoculars. Birdwatching is a popular hobby today, with an around <a href="https://www.wwt.org.uk/news-and-stories/blog/get-into-birdwatching/#:%7E:text=Bird%20watching%20in%20the%20UK,that%20we%20look%20after%20them.">3 million participants</a> in the UK alone, and in our modern world there are a staggering <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/pc/pdf/PCv27_BR4">11,000 species</a> of birds to spot. </p>
<p>Despite the popularity of their modern-day descendants, we often forget about ancient birds because of their more famous dinosaur cousins.</p>
<p>Birds are actually <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-dinosaurs-evolved-into-birds.html">a type of dinosaur</a>. They are closely related to smaller, agile meat-eating dinosaurs such as the <em>Velociraptor</em>. Ancient birds came in a variety of forms, from ones with teeth and claws to species barely distinguishable from farmyard <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00766-2">chickens</a>. </p>
<p>So, if you were to point your binoculars over the heads of <em>Triceratops</em> and <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/five-things-you-probably-have-wrong-about-the-t-rex-220011">Tyrannosaurus rex</a></em>, what could you spot? Here is a quick introduction to six of the most interesting ancient bird species. </p>
<h2><em>Archaeopteryx</em></h2>
<p><em>Archaeopteryx</em> is <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/archaeopteryx.html">the iconic “dino-bird”</a> from the Jurassic period. The discovery of <em>Archaeopteryx</em> fossils in Germany over 150 years ago provided scientists with the first clues about the link between dinosaurs and modern birds. </p>
<p>At first glance, the skeleton of <em>Archaeopteryx</em> is just like any other meat-eating dinosaur – sharp teeth, clawed hands and a long bony tail. Surrounding the skeleton of specimens such as the <a href="https://www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/en/about/news/archaeopteryx-named-fossil-year">Berlin <em>Archaeopteryx</em></a> (discovered between <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/archaeopteryx-lithographica-%E2%80%93-the-berlin-specimen-museum-fuer-naturkunde-berlin/1AVxj85ySOZ4JQ?hl=en">1874 and 1876</a>) however, are imprints of feathers which form a pair of distinctly bird-like wings.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="3D rendering of black bird-like dinosaur flying through the sky" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580391/original/file-20240307-21-8fm1ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580391/original/file-20240307-21-8fm1ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580391/original/file-20240307-21-8fm1ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580391/original/file-20240307-21-8fm1ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580391/original/file-20240307-21-8fm1ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580391/original/file-20240307-21-8fm1ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580391/original/file-20240307-21-8fm1ve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"><em>Archaeopteryx</em> looked half way between a dinosaur and a modern bird.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/archaeopteryx-birdlike-dinosaur-flying-through-sky-1722734977">Dotted Yeti/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>But for many years, palaeontologists debated whether <em>Archaeopteryx</em> could have used these wings to fly. Scientists now think it is likely that <em>Archaeopteryx</em> could have flown, but only <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03296-8">in short bursts </a>, like a pheasant. Recent technological advances have given us our first insights into dinosaur colour and studies of fossilised, pigmented cells have shown that <em>Archaeopteryx</em> had <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-65336-y">matt black</a> wing feathers.</p>
<h2><em>Confuciusornis</em></h2>
<p>This crow-sized bird had a beak like that of modern-day birds, but still had large, <a href="https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/items/fc74de43-ec0e-497f-a199-7f89b6b658b9">dinosaur-like claws</a> on its hands. It is thought that they lived in flocks, large numbers of which were killed by ash or gas in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms4151">volcanic eruptions</a> and preserved as fossils. Known from over <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326059155_A_taxonomical_revision_of_the_Confuciusornithiformes_Aves_Pygostylia">1,000 fossil specimens</a> from China, <em>Confuciusornis</em> is one of the most common fossil bird species.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580395/original/file-20240307-30-nefob5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Outline of dinosaur clearly preserved in rock" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580395/original/file-20240307-30-nefob5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580395/original/file-20240307-30-nefob5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580395/original/file-20240307-30-nefob5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580395/original/file-20240307-30-nefob5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580395/original/file-20240307-30-nefob5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580395/original/file-20240307-30-nefob5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580395/original/file-20240307-30-nefob5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Confuciusornis sanctus</em> fossil, encased in rock.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dinosaur-fossil-confuciusornis-sanctus-rock-1232355214">Chawalit Chankhantha/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Some of these birds had a <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0409?casa_token=dLetzDz5OIUAAAAA%3AKUyu-cMBlflBhPXtC6xu-PxSc6wFebScqXzE3LBa33EmqsrzLISDWi08ToliVPfTfyuuDI_psxm7fBY">pair of tail feathers</a> longer than their body, while others lacked these long feathers and would have looked comparatively stumpy. Scientists think these long-tailed birds were the males of the species and those with <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2377">short tails were females</a>. Like modern peacocks and peahens, the males probably used their extravagant tail feathers to woo the females.</p>
<h2><em>Falcatakely</em></h2>
<p>Discovered in 2020, <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2945-x">Falcatakely</a></em>, from Madagascar, would have resembled a small, buck-toothed toucan. Its oversized, banana-shaped bill only had teeth <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03260-x">at the very tip</a>. Although we don’t know what this buck-toothed bird would have eaten, its close relatives ate a <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.18.549506v2.abstract">variety of food</a>, including fruit, fish and even larger prey. </p>
<p>Scientists think that birds such as <em>Falcatakely</em> could fly the same day they <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1100000">hatched from their egg</a>, unlike birds today which spend their first weeks or months helpless in the nest.</p>
<h2><em>Hesperornis</em></h2>
<p>One of the weirdest birds from the age of dinosaurs, <em>Hesperornis</em> would have looked something like a six-foot-tall penguin with a beak full of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12862-016-0753-6#Sec27">sharp teeth</a>. Its <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/4/267">tiny arms</a> would have made T rex look like a weightlifter, so it definitely couldn’t have used them to fly. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Illustration of bird with tiny wings perched on a rock" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580394/original/file-20240307-18-16mtuh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580394/original/file-20240307-18-16mtuh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580394/original/file-20240307-18-16mtuh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580394/original/file-20240307-18-16mtuh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580394/original/file-20240307-18-16mtuh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580394/original/file-20240307-18-16mtuh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580394/original/file-20240307-18-16mtuh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Hesperornis</em> was an aquatic bird that lived at the time of the dinosaurs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/hesperornis-aquatic-bird-that-lived-time-1118302547">Daniel Eskridge/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Instead, <em>Hesperornis</em> used its oversized <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018217307149">feet to propel</a> itself through the water like a modern cormorant. Out of the water, <em>Hesperornis</em> walked <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018217307149">awkwardly upright</a> and probably couldn’t travel far overland.</p>
<h2><em>Vegavis and Asteriornis</em></h2>
<p>Towards the end of the dinosaurs’ reign, the earliest groups of modern birds began to appear. The first of these birds to be discovered was <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03150">Vegavis</a></em> from Antarctica, which in the time of dinosaurs would have been <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018201004527">covered in trees</a> rather than ice. </p>
<p>It was probably an ancestor of ducks and geese and one exceptional fossil of <em>Vegavis</em> even has a rare <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19852">preserved vocal organ</a>. Analysis of this fossil suggested that <em>Vegavis</em> couldn’t make a songbird melody but could have made simple noises such as goose-like honks.</p>
<p>Sixty-six million years ago, not long before the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2006087117">asteroid impact</a>, which caused the extinction of the non-bird dinosaurs, lived <em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2096-0">Asteriornis</a></em>. This quail-sized bird from Belgium was an ancestor of modern ducks and chickens. Although it would have looked unremarkable compared to the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/netherlands-journal-of-geosciences/article/stratigraphic-ranges-of-mosasaurs-in-belgium-and-the-netherlands-late-cretaceous-and-cephalopodbased-correlations-with-north-america/2601C3D2DD398B92DFEDA122E82F9991">giant swimming lizards</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05445-y">huge, toothed seagulls</a> it lived alongside, this may have been to its advantage.</p>
<p>Scientists think that the small size of birds such as <em>Asteriornis</em> helped them to survive the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/article/67/1/1/3960267">mass extinction</a>. Because smaller animals need less food and take less time to reproduce, these humble birds were able to survive and evolve into the birds you can see through your binoculars today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225286/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abi Crane does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If you love learning about dinosaurs don’t let crowdpleasers like the T Rex distract you from the fascinating birdlife that once roamed the Earth.Abi Crane, Postgraduate Researcher in Palaeontology, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2197082024-03-07T13:30:42Z2024-03-07T13:30:42ZTitanosaurs were the biggest land animals Earth’s ever seen − these plant-powered dinos combined reptile and mammal traits<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578965/original/file-20240229-28-gycuea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C0%2C3000%2C1967&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A replica fossil of the titanosaur _Patagotitan_, one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered. It would have weighed about 70 tons (63.5 metric tons.)</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/replica-of-one-of-the-largest-dinosaurs-ever-discovered-is-news-photo/504972828">Spencer Platt/Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’re probably familiar with classic sauropod dinosaurs – the four-legged herbivores famous for their long necks and tails. Animals such as <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520246232/the-sauropods"><em>Brachiosaurus</em>, <em>Apatosaurus</em> and <em>Diplodocus</em></a> have been standard fixtures in science museums since the 1800s.</p>
<p>With their small brains and enormous bodies, these creatures have long been the poster children for <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/triumph-of-the-titans/">animals destined to go extinct</a>. But recent discoveries have completely rewritten the doomed sauropod narrative. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Dz3tM2YAAAAJ&hl=en">I study</a> a lesser known group of sauropod dinosaurs – the Titanosauria, or “titanic reptiles.” Instead of going extinct, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95959-3_10">titanosaurs flourished</a> long after their more famous cousins vanished. Not only were they large and in charge on <a href="https://paleobiodb.org/navigator/">all seven continents</a>, they held their own amid the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.10.035">newly evolved duck-billed and horned dinosaurs</a>, until an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay2268">asteroid struck Earth</a> and ended the age of dinosaurs.</p>
<p>The secret to titanosaurs’ remarkable biological success may be how they merged the best of both reptile and mammal characteristics to form a unique way of life. </p>
<h2>Moving with the continents</h2>
<p>Titanosaurs <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2012.00853.x">originated by the Early Cretaceous Period</a>, nearly 126 million years ago, at a time when many of the <a href="https://deeptimemaps.com/map-lists-thumbnails/global-paleogeography-and-tectonics-in-deep-time/">Earth’s landmasses were much closer together</a> than they are today.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HhkyXrWNoVA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Starting about 200 million years ago, the supercontinent Pangea began to break apart and drift.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Over the next 75 million to 80 million years, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-earths-continents-became-twisted-and-contorted-over-millions-of-years-116168">continents slowly separated</a>, and titanosaurs drifted along with the changing formations, becoming distributed worldwide. </p>
<p>There were nearly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95959-3_8">100 species of titanosaurs</a>, making up more than 30% of known sauropod dinosaurs. They varied greatly in size. From the largest known sauropods ever discovered, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08912960410001715132"><em>Argentinosaurus</em></a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.1219"><em>Patagotitan</em></a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1590/S0001-37652007000300013"><em>Futalognkosaurus</em></a>, whose weight exceeded 60 tons (54.4 metric tons) and were bigger than a semitruck, to the smallest known sauropods, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105389"><em>Rinconsaurus</em></a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2014.12.012"><em>Saltasaurus</em></a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1000781107"><em>Magyarosaurus</em></a>, which were around only 6 tons (5.4 metric tons) and about the size of an African elephant. </p>
<h2>Babies to titans</h2>
<p>Like many reptiles, titanosaurs began life comparatively tiny, hatching from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/24370">eggs no bigger than grapefruits</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/24370">best data on titanosaur nests</a> and eggs comes from a site in Argentina called Auca Mahuevo, featuring 75 million-year-old exposed rocks. The site contains hundreds of fossilized nests containing thousands of eggs, some of which are so well preserved, scientists recovered <a href="https://doi.org/10.1666/05-150.1">skin impressions from ancient embryos</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579040/original/file-20240229-20-4s0o47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black and white microscopic image showing a bumpy pattern." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579040/original/file-20240229-20-4s0o47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579040/original/file-20240229-20-4s0o47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579040/original/file-20240229-20-4s0o47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579040/original/file-20240229-20-4s0o47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579040/original/file-20240229-20-4s0o47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579040/original/file-20240229-20-4s0o47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579040/original/file-20240229-20-4s0o47.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The fossilized skin of a titanosaur embryo discovered in Argentina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of L. M. Chiappe, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>The sheer number of nests found together, in multiple geological layers, suggests titanosaurs <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.05.031">returned to this site repeatedly</a> to lay their eggs. The nests are so closely spaced, it’s unlikely an adult titanosaur would have been able to move freely through the nesting ground. Titanosaurs likely had a hands-off parenting style, similar to many reptiles that lay numerous eggs and don’t spend much time tending the nest or taking care of hatchlings. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf1509">A titanosaur hatchling</a> would have been roughly 1 foot (30 centimeters) tall, 3 feet (1 meter) long and 5-10 pounds (2.5-5 kg). Recent evidence from a site in Madagascar suggests these tiny titans were born ready to rumble.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569145/original/file-20240112-19-8vmjcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustration of a human standing next to five different sized 4-legged, long necked dinosaurs from an baby to towering individual." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569145/original/file-20240112-19-8vmjcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569145/original/file-20240112-19-8vmjcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=259&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569145/original/file-20240112-19-8vmjcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=259&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569145/original/file-20240112-19-8vmjcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=259&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569145/original/file-20240112-19-8vmjcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569145/original/file-20240112-19-8vmjcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569145/original/file-20240112-19-8vmjcx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A titanosaur from Madagascar called <em>Rapetosaurus krausei</em> is known from fossils of tiny hatchlings, giant adults and a variety of in-between sizes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jordan Mae Harris</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fossilized bones from the species <em>Rapetosaurus</em> suggest that by the time they would have been just knee high to a modern human, they were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf1509">likely fending for themselves</a>. Microscopic details recorded deep within the bones indicate baby <em>Rapetosaurus</em> likely foraged independently for plants and moved much more nimbly than their lumbering adult relatives.</p>
<p>For the first century of dinosaur science, paleontologists imagined titanosaurs as giant, overgrown reptiles – and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2400208">used reptilian growth rates to predict their milestones</a>. In this slow-growth model, even the smallest titanosaurs would have taken nearly a century to reach their full size, meaning they would have been relatively small for a good chunk of their lives. New evidence suggests this growth pattern is unlikely.</p>
<p>Scientists like me <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520273528/bone-histology-of-fossil-tetrapods">study titanosaurs’ bones at high magnification</a> to better understand their growth. We look at the microscopic patterns of bone minerals as well as the density and architecture of the spaces that held blood vessels and cells. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579902/original/file-20240305-24-l3albd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A microscopic image showing both horizontal wavy spaces and circular spaces against a solid background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579902/original/file-20240305-24-l3albd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579902/original/file-20240305-24-l3albd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579902/original/file-20240305-24-l3albd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579902/original/file-20240305-24-l3albd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579902/original/file-20240305-24-l3albd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579902/original/file-20240305-24-l3albd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579902/original/file-20240305-24-l3albd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A thin slice of a juvenile titanosaur femur bone. The linear and circular structures are the spaces where a dense network of blood vessels supplied this fast-growing animal with plenty of nutrients.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kristi Curry Rogers</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The more dense the blood supply is to a bone, the faster that animal grows. These signatures are also present in living animals and can accurately reflect <a href="https://doi.org/10.1201/9781351189590">growth rates, anomalies and even age</a>. </p>
<p>Bone data shows titanosaur growth rates were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1201/9781351189590">on par with mammals like whales</a> – much, much faster than any living reptile – meaning they would have reached their enormous adult sizes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185X.2010.00137.x">in just a few decades</a>. Scientists can’t know for sure how long titanosaurs lived, but based on large land animals living today, titanosaurs lived possibly 60 or more years. </p>
<h2>Fueled by plants</h2>
<p>The rapid growth rates of sauropods was partly due to their body temperatures. By studying the chemistry of fossilized teeth <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9296">and eggshells</a>, scientists have determined titanosaurs had body temperatures <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1206196">ranging from about 95 to 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit</a> (35 to 38 degrees Celsius). That’s higher than that of crocodiles and alligators, about the same as modern mammals and a bit lower than most birds, whose bodies can regularly get <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0300-9629(91)90122-S">as warm as 104 F (40 C)</a>.</p>
<p>Titanosaurs’ rapid growth rates were also powered by their prodigious appetites for plants. Microscopic patterns of scratches, wear and pits on their teeth indicate titanosaurs in Argentina fed on a diverse diet rich in grit, suggesting they were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151661">dining on plants found lower to the ground</a>, where sediment would be more commonly found.</p>
<p>In India, chunks of fossilized feces, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-poop-offers-unusual-insight-into-animal-behaviour-197200">otherwise known as coprolites</a>, show titanosaurs there ingested everything from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1118806">ground-level plants all the way up to the leaves and branches</a> of trees.</p>
<p>Like all dinosaurs, titanosaurs replaced their teeth throughout life. But data shows they replaced each tooth <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0069235">about every 20 days</a> for maximum efficiency, one of the highest tooth-replacement rates known for dinosaurs.</p>
<p>Had it not been for the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1177265">asteroid impact 66 million years ago</a>, these long-lived, incredibly diverse and wildly successful animals probably would have kept on thriving, in places as distant as <a href="https://paleobiodb.org/navigator/">Madagascar, Romania, North America and even Antarctica</a>. Instead, titanosaurs were among the witnesses to – and victims of – the most recent mass extinction on Earth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219708/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristi Curry Rogers receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the David B. Jones Foundation. </span></em></p>Some of these giant vegetarians were as tall as a 3-story building. Microscopic analysis of their teeth, bones and eggshells reveals how they grew, what they ate and even their body temperature.Kristi Curry Rogers, Professor of Biology and Geology, Macalester CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2243182024-02-26T17:19:30Z2024-02-26T17:19:30ZA Nasa mission that collided with an asteroid didn’t just leave a dent – it reshaped the space rock<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577638/original/file-20240223-18-v91s4p.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1917%2C1080&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.nasa.gov/details/PIA25329">NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A frequent idea in sci-fi and apocalyptic films is that of an asteroid
striking Earth and causing global devastation. While the probabilities of this kind of mass extinction occurring on our planet are incredibly small, they are not zero. </p>
<p>The results of Nasa’s Dart mission to the asteroid Dimorphos <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02200-3">have now been published</a>. They contain fascinating details about the composition of this asteroid and whether we can defend Earth against incoming space rocks.</p>
<p><a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/dart/">The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart)</a> was a spacecraft mission that launched in November 2021. It was sent to an asteroid called Dimorphos and commanded to collide with it, head on, in September 2022. </p>
<p>Dimorphos posed and poses no threat to Earth in the near future. But the mission was designed to see if deflecting an asteroid away from a collision course with Earth was possible through “kinetic” means – in other words, a direct impact of a human-made object on its surface. </p>
<p>Asteroid missions are never easy. The relatively small size of these objects (compared to planets and moons) means there is no appreciable gravity to enable spacecraft to land and collect a sample. </p>
<p>Space agencies have launched a number of spacecraft to asteroids in recent times. For example, the Japanese space agency’s (Jaxa) <a href="https://www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/missions/spacecraft/current/hayabusa2.html">Hayabusa-2</a> mission reached the asteroid Ryugu in 2018, the same year Nasa’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-space-exploration-missions-to-look-%20out-for-in-2023-195839">Osiris-Rex</a> mission rendezvoused with the asteroid Bennu.</p>
<p>The Japanese Hayabusa missions (1 and 2) fired a small projectile at the surface as they approached it. They would then collect the debris as it flew by. </p>
<h2>High-speed collision</h2>
<p>However, the Dart mission was special in that it was not sent to deliver samples of asteroid material to labs on Earth. Instead, it was to fly at high speed into the space rock and be destroyed in the process.</p>
<p>A high-speed collision with an asteroid needs incredible precision. Dart’s target of Dimorphos was actually part of a <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/asteroids/didymos/">double asteroid</a> system, known as a binary because the smaller object orbits the larger one. This binary contained both Didymus – the larger of the two objects – and Dimorphos, which behaves effectively as a moon.</p>
<p>The simulations of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-024-02200-3">what has happened to Dimorphos</a> show that while we might expect to see a very large crater on the asteroid from Dart’s impact, it is more likely that it has, in fact, changed the shape of the asteroid instead. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Dimorphos." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577962/original/file-20240226-24-ninx49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577962/original/file-20240226-24-ninx49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577962/original/file-20240226-24-ninx49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577962/original/file-20240226-24-ninx49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577962/original/file-20240226-24-ninx49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577962/original/file-20240226-24-ninx49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577962/original/file-20240226-24-ninx49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dimorphos, as pictured by the Dart spacecraft.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/dart/">NASA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ant hitting two buses</h2>
<p>The collision was of a mass of 580kg hitting an asteroid of roughly 5 billion kg. For comparison, this is equivalent to an ant hitting two buses. But the spacecraft is also travelling around 6 kilometres per second. </p>
<p>The simulation results based on observations of the asteroid Dimorphos have shown that the asteroid now orbits around its larger companion, Didymus, 33 minutes slower than before. Its orbit has gone from 11 hours, 55 minutes to 11 hours, 22 minutes. </p>
<p>The momentum change to the core of Dimorphos is also higher than one would predict from the direct impact, which may seem impossible at first. However, the asteroid is quite weakly constructed, consisting of loose rubble held together by gravity. The impact caused a lot of material to be blown off of Dimorphos. </p>
<p>This material is now travelling in the opposite direction to the impact. This acts <a href="http://www.dynamicscience.com.au/tester/solutions1/war/newton/recoilless.htm">like a recoil</a>, slowing down the asteroid.</p>
<p>Observations of all the <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2340837-photo-shows-10000-km-debris-tail-caused-by-%20dart-asteroid-smash/">highly reflective material that has been shed from Dimorphos</a> allows scientists to estimate how much of it has been lost from the asteroid. Their result is roughly 20 million kilograms – equivalent to about six of the Apollo-era Saturn V rockets fully loaded with fuel. </p>
<p>Combining all the parameters together (mass, speed, angle and amount of material lost) and simulating the impact has allowed the researchers to be fairly confident about the answer. Confident not only regarding the grain size of the material coming from Dimorphos, but also that the asteroid has limited cohesion and the surface must be constantly altered, or reshaped, by minor impacts.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Artist's impression of Chicxulub asteroid." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577961/original/file-20240226-24-p85pi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577961/original/file-20240226-24-p85pi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577961/original/file-20240226-24-p85pi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577961/original/file-20240226-24-p85pi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577961/original/file-20240226-24-p85pi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577961/original/file-20240226-24-p85pi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577961/original/file-20240226-24-p85pi2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The dinosaurs were wiped out by a 10km-wide asteroid that hit Earth 66 million years ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/planet-earth-big-asteroid-space-potentially-2107872635">Buradaki / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what does this tell us about protecting ourselves from an asteroid impact? Significant recent impacts on Earth have included the <a href="https://blogs.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/2023/02/15/remembering-the-chelyabinsk-impact-10-years-ago-and-looking-to-the-future/">meteor</a> which broke up in the sky over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013, and the infamous <a href="https://earthsky.org/space/what-is-the-tunguska-explosion/">Tunguska
impact</a> over a remote part of Siberia in 1908. </p>
<p>While these were not the kinds of events that are able to cause mass extinctions – like the 10km object that wiped out the dinosaurs when it struck our planet 66 million years ago – the potential for damage and loss of life with smaller objects such as those at Chelyabinsk and Tunguska is very high.</p>
<p>The Dart mission cost US$324 million (£255 million), which is low for a space mission, and with its development phase completed, a similar mission to go and deflect an asteroid heading our way could be launched more cheaply. </p>
<p>The big variable here is how much warning we will have, because a change in orbit of 30 minutes – as was observed when Dart struck Dimorphos – will make little difference if the asteroid is already very close to Earth. However, if we can predict the object path from further out – preferably outside the Solar System – and make small changes, this could be enough to divert the path of an asteroid away from our planet.</p>
<p>We can expect to see more of these missions in the future, not only because of interest in the science surrounding asteroids, but because the ease of removing material from them means that private companies might want to step up their ideas of <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/things-are-looking-up-for-asteroid-mining/">mining these space rocks</a> for precious metals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224318/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Whittaker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The mission provided details about how to deflect an asteroid should one threaten Earth in future.Ian Whittaker, Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2226322024-02-06T06:13:31Z2024-02-06T06:13:31ZNewly identified prehistoric pterosaur will help us understand evolution of flying reptiles<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573093/original/file-20240202-19-jahq7z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C2246%2C1232&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An artist's impression of the new pterosaur species, Cheoptera </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Witton/Natural History Museum</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When dinosaurs roamed the land, the skies above their heads were filled with a variety of soaring reptiles, which swept through the air on <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pterosaurs-were-monsters-of-the-mesozoic-skies/">slender, membranous wings</a>. These animals, pterosaurs, were not dinosaurs but their <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/watch-a-pterosaur-fly.html">evolutionary cousins</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2023.2298741">We’ve just announced</a> the discovery of a new species of pterosaur nearly 15 years after a fossil was found on the Isle of Skye. It is one of the most complete pterosaur fossils to be found in the UK since palaeontologist <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/mary-anning-unsung-hero.html">Mary Anning</a> unearthed <a href="https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Library-and-Information-Services/Collection-Highlights/Mary-Anning-and-the-Geological-Society/pterosaurs-coprolites-and-sepia/dimorphodon-macronyx">the first</a> from the Dorset coast in 1828. </p>
<p>Pterosaurs were the first backboned animals to achieve powered flight (<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982216314610">insects got there</a> first). Pterosaur fossils are known worldwide but their remains are rare in comparison to those of their land and water-based relatives. This is due to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/pterosaurs-should-%20have-been-too-big-to-fly-so-how-did-they-manage-it-60892">fragile nature of their skeletons</a>, which are composed of thin-walled, hollow bones.</p>
<p>Pterosaur fossils are often incomplete, <a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/pterosaurs-flight-in-the-age-of-dinosaurs/why-are-pterosaur-fossils-rare">crushed and distorted</a>. A sparse pterosaur record has been harvested from the Jurassic period (200-145 million years ago) and <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/the-cretaceous-period.html#:%7E:text=When%20was%20the%20Cretaceous%20Period,Cenozoic%20Era%2C%20our%20current%20era.">Cretaceous period</a> (145-66 million years ago) rocks of the UK since Anning’s discoveries. </p>
<p>But most of these are limited to a few isolated bones <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/oes/news/2013/03/20_new_pterosaur_from_isle_of_wight.page">such as <em>Vectidraco</em></a>, a toothless pterosaur whose fossilised remains were found on the Isle of Wight in 2008 by five-year-old Daisy Morris. </p>
<p>This is where <a href="https://www.scottishtours.co.uk/scotland/isle-of-skye/">the Isle of Skye</a> comes in. Although Skye is most famous for the ancient volcanic landscapes of the <a href="https://www.isleofskye.com/skye-guide/skye-places/the-cuillin">Cuillin Hills</a> mountain range, there are <a href="https://www.isleofskye.com/skye-guide/history/jurassic-skye#:%7E:text=The%20Isle%20of%20Skye%20holds,mainly%20contained%20in%20local%20knowledge.">Jurassic-aged rocks</a> around the margins of the island. </p>
<p>Over the past 50 years teams of geologists and palaeontologists have been gradually uncovering <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/earth-and-environmental-science-transactions-of-royal-society-of-edinburgh/article/diverse-vertebrate-assemblage-of-the-kilmaluag-formation-bathonian-middle-jurassic-of-skye-scotland/B8DD4D46839FA83FA2E57437BDEBF2B8">more of Skye’s ancient</a> past. This work has accelerated thanks to the new imaging techniques, mainly CT scanning, which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/30/getting-under-a-fossils-skin-how-ct-scans-have-changed-palaeontology-dinosaur-lizard">make it easier</a> to study these fossils. </p>
<p>Our new pterosaur was found in 2006 by a team of researchers including Paul Barrett in a loose boulder lying on the beach at <a href="https://canmore.org.uk/site/138335/cladach-a-ghlinne">Cladach a’Glinne</a>, on the edge of a remote bay overshadowed by the Cuillins. </p>
<p>At first sight, the new skeleton was an underwhelming smear of thin, broken, black bone set in a hard, dark-grey mudstone. But, even then, these thin bones suggested that the find would turn out to be interesting.</p>
<p>It took <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/departments-and-staff/staff-directory/lu-allington-jones.html">Lu Allington-Jones</a>, one of the Natural History Museum’s fossil technicians, nearly two years to prepare our discovery for study. The rocks from Skye are extremely hard, and the fossil bones are delicate. </p>
<p>Although Lu’s work allowed us to study some of the bones, others remained encased in rock as they were too dainty to remove or expose further.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573095/original/file-20240202-21-y3x46f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573095/original/file-20240202-21-y3x46f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573095/original/file-20240202-21-y3x46f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573095/original/file-20240202-21-y3x46f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573095/original/file-20240202-21-y3x46f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573095/original/file-20240202-21-y3x46f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573095/original/file-20240202-21-y3x46f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573095/original/file-20240202-21-y3x46f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=589&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Skeleton of the new pterosaur <em>Ceoptera evansae</em> from the Isle of Skye.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Trustees of the Natural History Museum</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once this work was complete, the specimen lay dormant in the museum’s collections for about nine years. But then we decided to examine the fossil using the <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/earthsciences/research/palaeobiology/facilities/xtm-facility/">university’s CT scanner</a>. </p>
<p>Using this equipment, similar to that used in a hospital for diagnosing broken bones, with many months of careful imaging we were able to reveal almost the entire animal in three dimensions. </p>
<p>After comparing it with other pterosaur fossils from around the world, we realised that we were dealing with something new and we called it <em>Ceoptera evansae</em> (from the Gaelic name for Skye, Eilean a’ Cheò, Isle of Mist, and honouring <a href="https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/9226-susan-evans">Professor Susan Evans</a> who has worked extensively in the area). </p>
<p>This pterosaur species is important because of the quality of preservation and its age. It is one of only a <a href="https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/12007/1/zitteliana_2008_b28_05.pdf">handful of pterosaur skeletons</a> from the <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/jurassic">Middle Jurassic period</a>, approximately 167 million years ago. </p>
<p>At this time pterosaurs were undergoing colossal anatomical changes from early small-bodied, long-tailed pterosaurs such as <em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/Dimorphodon">Dimorphodon</a></em> (roughly the size of a raven) to later pterosaurs like <em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/Pteranodon">Pteranodon</a></em> which had a wingspan similar to that of a small airplane. </p>
<p>The lack of good pterosaur specimens from this time interval has hindered scientists’ attempts to understand how pterosaurs evolved from these earlier forms to those that dominated the skies later in Earth’s history. <em>Ceoptera</em> helps to fill this a gap. </p>
<p>For 15 years scientists have studied <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-%20nature/darwinopterus-a-transitional-pterosaur-55145586/">transitional pterosaurs</a> that show a mix of features seen in the
earlier, tailed forms and their later, giant relatives. <em>Ceoptera</em> is one of these transitional forms (called a <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/darwinopterus-a-transitional-pterosaur-55145586/">Darwinopteran</a>), one of the first members of this group known from Europe, and is the second-oldest darwinopteran worldwide. </p>
<p>This makes <em>Ceoptera</em> crucial in understanding the pace of pterosaur evolution, and it has pushed back the appearance of more advanced pterosaurs to the Early Jurassic period, about 10 million years earlier than previously thought. It brings us one step closer to understanding where and when the more advanced pterosaurs evolved. </p>
<p><em>Ceoptera</em>‘s discovery shows how palaeontologists are making new discoveries all the time, even in places like the UK - one of the most heavily surveyed places worldwide. It also shows how new technology can is helping to unearth the mysteries of Earth’s ancient past. </p>
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<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Barrett is affiliated with The Linnean Society (Trustee).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Martin-Silverstone does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Isle of Skye has a rich palaeontological heritage, so perhaps it’s no surprise scientists made an important discovery there.Elizabeth Martin-Silverstone, Research Assistant in Palaeontology, University of BristolPaul Barrett, Individual Merit Researcher, Natural History MuseumLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2214822024-01-24T19:01:54Z2024-01-24T19:01:54ZA newly identified ‘Hell chicken’ species suggests dinosaurs weren’t sliding toward extinction before the fateful asteroid hit<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570405/original/file-20240119-25-cv46uw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=386%2C718%2C3592%2C2613&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Birdlike dinosaur *Eoneophron infernalis* was about the size of an adult human. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zubin Erik Dutta</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Were dinosaurs already on their way out when an asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago, ending the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Cretaceous-Period">Cretaceous</a>, the geologic period that started about 145 million years ago? It’s a question that has vexed <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Yqc3u-gAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">paleontologists</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RCWbDQQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">like us</a> for more than 40 years.</p>
<p>In the late 1970s, debate began about whether dinosaurs were at their peak or in decline before their big extinction. Scientists at that time noted that while dinosaur diversity seemed to have increased in the geologic stage that spanned 83.6 million to 71.2 million years ago, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.232.4750.629">number of species on the scene</a> seemed to decrease during the last few million years of the Cretaceous. Some researchers have interpreted this pattern to mean that the <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-bad-news-for-dinosaurs-chicxulub-meteorite-impact-triggered-global-volcanic-eruptions-on-the-ocean-floor-91053">asteroid that struck the Gulf of Mexico</a> was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1521478113">simply the final blow</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23754-0">for an already vulnerable group of animals</a>.</p>
<p>However, others have argued that what looks like a decrease in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/307360a0">the diversity of dinosaurs</a> may be an artifact of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201195">how hard it is to accurately count them</a>. Fossil formations might <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0606028103">preserve different dinosaurs more or less often</a> based on factors like their favored environment and how easily their bodies fossilized there. The accessibility of various outcrops could influence what kinds of fossils researchers have so far found. These biases are a problem because fossils are what paleontologists must rely on to conclusively answer how healthy dinosaur populations were when the asteroid hit.</p>
<p>At that crucial moment, what was really happening to dinosaur diversity? Discovery, identification and description of new dinosaurs provide vital clues. This is where <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0294901">our work</a> comes in. Close examination of what we’d thought was a juvenile specimen of an already known species of dinosaur from this time period revealed that it was actually part of an adult from a completely new species. </p>
<p>Our work focusing on the life stage of our specimen demonstrates that dinosaur diversity may not have been declining before the asteroid hit, but rather that there are more species from this time period yet to be discovered – potentially even through reclassification of fossils already in museum collections.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570889/original/file-20240123-21-ep8hu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="hand on one of three long fossil bones with a ruler" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570889/original/file-20240123-21-ep8hu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570889/original/file-20240123-21-ep8hu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570889/original/file-20240123-21-ep8hu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570889/original/file-20240123-21-ep8hu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570889/original/file-20240123-21-ep8hu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570889/original/file-20240123-21-ep8hu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570889/original/file-20240123-21-ep8hu1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kyle Atkins-Weltman holds the femur of the new dinosaur as it was received, with the other fossils in the background.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kyle Atkins-Weltman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Clues inside the bones of a birdlike dinosaur</h2>
<p>Our new study focused on four hindlimb bones – a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/femur">femur</a>, a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/tibia">tibia</a> and two <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/metatarsal">metatarsals</a>. They were unearthed in South Dakota, in rocks of the <a href="https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/science/parks/hellcreek.php">Hell Creek Formation</a>, and date to the final 2 million years of the Cretaceous.</p>
<p>When we first examined the bones, we identified them as belonging to a family of dinosaurs known as the caenagnathids – a group of birdlike dinosaurs that had toothless beaks, long legs and short tails. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2020.1726908">Direct</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08965">fossil</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/35003103">and</a> <a href="https://www.infona.pl/resource/bwmeta1.element.agro-article-a7940458-6921-49de-8963-52892bc56dc8">inferred</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092022">evidence</a> <a href="https://experts.umn.edu/en/publications/section-1-systematics-fossil-record-and-biogeography-chapter-1-pe">indicates</a> <a href="https://experts.umn.edu/en/publications/chapter-2-the-fossil-record-of-mesozoic-and-paleocene-pennaraptor">these dinosaurs</a> were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/31635">covered in complex feathers</a>, much <a href="https://www.vertpala.ac.cn/EN/Y2000/V38/I04/241">like modern birds</a>.</p>
<p>The only known species of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092022">caenagnathid from this time and region</a> was <em>Anzu</em>, sometimes called the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/19/dinosaur-chicken-hell-anzu-wyliei">chicken from Hell</a>.” Covered in feathers and sporting wings and a toothless beak, <em>Anzu</em> was between roughly 450 and 750 pounds (200 and 340 kilograms). Despite its fearsome nickname, though, its diet is a matter of debate. It was likely an omnivore, eating both plant material and small animals.</p>
<p>Because our specimen was significantly smaller than <em>Anzu</em>, we simply assumed it was a juvenile. We chalked up the anatomical differences we noticed to its juvenile status and smaller size – and figured the animal would have changed had it continued to grow. <em>Anzu</em> specimens are rare, and no definite juveniles have been published in the scientific literature, so we were excited to potentially learn more about how it grew and changed throughout its lifetime <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520273528.003.0004">by looking inside its bones</a>.</p>
<p>Just like with a tree’s rings, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax6250">bone records rings called lines of arrested growth</a>. Each annual line represents part of a year when the animal’s growth slowed. They would tell us how old this animal was, and how fast or slow it was growing.</p>
<p>We cut through the middle of three of the bones so that we could microscopically examine the internal anatomy of the cross-sections. What we saw <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0294901">completely uprooted our initial assumptions</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570996/original/file-20240123-17-53v1e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="cross-section 'slice' of yellowish fossilized bone with growth lines like the rings of a tree" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570996/original/file-20240123-17-53v1e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570996/original/file-20240123-17-53v1e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570996/original/file-20240123-17-53v1e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570996/original/file-20240123-17-53v1e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570996/original/file-20240123-17-53v1e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570996/original/file-20240123-17-53v1e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570996/original/file-20240123-17-53v1e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teal markers point to lines of arrested growth on the cross-section of fossilized bone. Toward the outside of the bone, the lines are much closer together, reflecting less growth per year. Researchers counted exactly six lines, meaning this animal was between 6 and 7 years old when it died.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Holly Woodward</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a juvenile, we would expect lines of arrested growth in the bone to be widely spaced, indicating rapid growth, with even spacing between the lines from the inside to the outside surface of the bone. Here, we saw that the later lines were spaced progressively closer together, indicating that this animal’s growth had slowed and it was nearly at its adult size.</p>
<p>This was no juvenile. Instead, it was an adult of an entirely new species, which we dubbed <em>Eoneophron infernalis</em>. The name means “Pharaoh’s dawn chicken from Hell,” referencing the nickname of its larger cousin <em>Anzu</em>. Traits unique to this species include ankle bones fused to the tibia, and a well-developed ridge on one of its foot bones. These weren’t features a young <em>Anzu</em> would outgrow, but rather unique aspects of the smaller <em>Eoneophron</em>.</p>
<h2>Expanding the caenagnathid family tree</h2>
<p>With this new evidence, we started making thorough comparisons with other members of the family to determine where <em>Eoneophron infernalis</em> fit within the group.</p>
<p>It also inspired us to reexamine other bones previously believed to be <em>Anzu</em>, as we now knew that more caenagnathid dinosaurs lived in western North America during that time. One specimen, a partial foot bone smaller than our new specimen, appeared distinct from both <em>Anzu</em> and <em>Eoneophron</em>. Where once there was one “chicken from Hell,” now there were two, and evidence for a third: one large (<em>Anzu</em>), weighing as much as a grizzly bear, one medium (<em>Eoneophron</em>), humanlike in weight, and one small and yet unnamed, close in size to a German shepherd.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570405/original/file-20240119-25-cv46uw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=386%2C718%2C3592%2C2613&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="wooded scene with three different sizes of bird-like dinosaur" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570405/original/file-20240119-25-cv46uw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=386%2C718%2C3592%2C2613&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570405/original/file-20240119-25-cv46uw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570405/original/file-20240119-25-cv46uw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570405/original/file-20240119-25-cv46uw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570405/original/file-20240119-25-cv46uw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570405/original/file-20240119-25-cv46uw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570405/original/file-20240119-25-cv46uw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Eoneophron infernalis</em> and the smaller unnamed species now join the larger <em>Anzu</em> as late-Cretaceous caenagnathid dinosaurs from the Hell Creek region.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zubin Erik Dutta</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Comparing Hell Creek with older fossil formations <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2020.1726908">such as the famous Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta</a> that preserves dinosaurs that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-19896-w">lived between 76.5 million and 74.4 million years ago</a>, we find not only the same number of caenagnathid species, but also the same size classes. There, we have <em>Caenagnathus</em>, comparable to <em>Anzu</em>, <em>Chirostenotes</em>, comparable to <em>Eoneophron</em>, and <em>Citipes</em>, comparable to the third species we found evidence for. These parallels in both species count and relative sizes offer compelling evidence that caenagnathids remained stable throughout the last part of the Cretaceous. </p>
<p>Our new discovery suggests that this dinosaur group was not declining in diversity at the very end of the Cretaceous. These fossils show that there are still new species to be discovered, and support the idea that at least part of the pattern of decreasing diversity is the result of sampling and preservation biases.</p>
<p>Did large dinosaurs go extinct the way a Hemingway character quipped he went broke: “<a href="https://cardinalinstitute.com/gradually-then-suddenly/">gradually, then suddenly</a>”? While there are plenty of questions still outstanding in this extinction debate, <em>Eoneophron</em> adds evidence that caenagnathids were doing quite well for themselves before the asteroid ruined everything.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct the full name in English of the new species.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221482/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rather than a juvenile of a known species, several fossilized bones represent a new species – and shed light on the question of whether dinosaurs were already in decline before disaster struck.Kyle Atkins-Weltman, Ph.D. Student in Paleoecology, Oklahoma State UniversityEric Snively, Associate Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Oklahoma State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2188332024-01-04T10:27:36Z2024-01-04T10:27:36ZAfricans discovered dinosaur fossils long before the term ‘palaeontology’ existed<p>Credit for discovering the first dinosaur bones usually goes to British gentlemen for their finds between the 17th and 19th centuries in England. <a href="http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/learning/htmls/plot.htm">Robert Plot</a>, an English natural history scholar, was the first of these to <a href="https://www.amnh.org/explore/videos/dinosaurs-and-fossils/who-discovered-the-first-dinosaur-fossils?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share-from-amnh-org">describe</a> a dinosaur bone, in his 1676 book The Natural History of Oxfordshire. Over the next two centuries dinosaur palaeontology would be dominated by numerous British natural scientists. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/10.1144/SP543-2022-236">our study</a> shows that the history of palaeontology can be traced back much further into the past. We present evidence that the first dinosaur bone may have been discovered in Africa as early as 500 years before Plot’s.</p>
<p>We’re a team of scientists who study fossils in South Africa. Peering through the published and unpublished archaeological, historical and palaeontological literature, we discovered that there has been interest in fossils in Africa for as long as there have been people on the continent. </p>
<p>This is not a surprise. Humankind originated in Africa: <em>Homo sapiens</em> has existed for at least <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22336">300,000 years</a>. And the continent has a great diversity of rock outcrops, such as the Kem Kem beds in Morocco, the Fayum depression in Egypt, the Rift Valley in <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-maasai-legend-behind-ancient-hominin-footprints-in-tanzania-119373">east Africa</a> and the Karoo in southern Africa, containing fossils that have always been accessible to our ancestors. </p>
<p>So it wasn’t just likely that African people discovered fossils first. It was inevitable.</p>
<p>More often than not, the first dinosaur fossils supposedly discovered by scientists were actually brought to their attention by local guides. Examples are the discovery of the gigantic dinosaurs <a href="https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Jobaria/390687"><em>Jobaria</em></a> by the Tuaregs in Niger and <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/542624-Giraffatitan"><em>Giraffatitan</em></a> by the Mwera in Tanzania.</p>
<p>Our paper reviews what’s known about African indigenous knowledge of fossils. We list fossils that appear to have long been known at various African sites, and discuss how they might have been used and interpreted by African communities before the science of palaeontology came to be.</p>
<h2>Bolahla rock shelter in Lesotho</h2>
<p>One of the highlights of our paper is the archaeological site of Bolahla, a Later Stone Age rock shelter in Lesotho. Various dating techniques indicate that the site was occupied by the Khoesan and Basotho people from the 12th to 18th centuries (1100 to 1700 AD). The shelter itself is surrounded by hills made of consolidated sediments that were deposited under a harsh Sahara-like desert some 180 million to 200 million years ago, when the first dinosaurs roamed the Earth. </p>
<p>This part of Lesotho is particularly well known for delivering the species <em>Massospondylus carinatus</em>, a 4 to 6 metre, long-necked and small-headed dinosaur. Fossilised bones of <em>Massospondylus</em> are abundant in the area and were already so when the site was occupied by people in the Middle Ages. </p>
<p>In 1990, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3889171">archaeologists</a> working at Bolahla discovered that a finger bone of <em>Massospondylus</em>, a fossil phalanx, had been transported to the cave. There are no fossil skeletons sticking out the walls of the cave, so the only chance that this phalanx ended up there was that someone in the distant past picked it up and carried it to the cave. Perhaps this person did so out of simple curiosity, or to turn it into a pendant or toy, or to use it for traditional healing rituals. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dinosaur-tracksite-in-lesotho-how-a-wrong-turn-led-to-an-exciting-find-208963">Dinosaur tracksite in Lesotho: how a wrong turn led to an exciting find</a>
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<p>After heavy rains, it is not unusual that the people in the area discover the bones of extinct species that have been washed out of their mother-rock. They usually identify them as belonging to a dragon-like monster that devours people or even whole houses. In Lesotho, the Basotho call the monster “Kholumolumo”, while in South Africa’s bordering Eastern Cape province, the Xhosa refer to it as “<a href="https://chosindabazomhlaba.com/2022/03/29/ukufika-kwamacikilishe-angamagongqongqo/">Amagongqongqo</a>”.</p>
<p>The exact date when the phalanx was collected and transported is unfortunately lost to time. Given the current knowledge, it could have been at any time of occupation of the shelter from the 12th to 18th centuries. This leaves open the possibility that this dinosaur bone could have been collected up to 500 years prior to Robert Plot’s find.</p>
<h2>Early knowledge of extinct creatures</h2>
<p>Most people knew about fossils well before the scientific era, for as far back as collective societal memories can go. In Algeria, for example, people referred to some dinosaur footprints as belonging to the legendary “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940109380182">Roc bird</a>”. In North America, cave paintings depicting dinosaur footprints were painted by the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940109380182">Anasazi people</a> between AD 1000 and 1200. Indigenous Australians identified dinosaur footprints as belonging to a legendary “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420940109380182">Emu-man</a>”. To the south, the notorious conquistador Hernan Cortes was given the fossil femur of a Mastodon by the <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Fossil_Legends_of_the_First_Americans.html?id=CMsgQQkmFqQC&redir_esc=y">Aztecs</a> in 1519. In Asia, Hindu people refer to ammonites (coiled fossil-sea-shells) as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/shaligrams-the-sacred-fossils-that-have-been-worshipped-by-hindus-and-buddhists-for-over-2-000-years-are-becoming-rarer-because-of-climate-change-209311">Shaligrams</a>” and have been worshipping them for more than 2,000 years. </p>
<h2>Claiming credit</h2>
<p>The fact that people in Africa have long known about fossils is evident from folklore and the archaeological record, but we still have much to learn about it. For instance, unlike the people in Europe, the Americas and Asia, indigenous African palaeontologists seem to have seldom used fossils for traditional medicine. We are still unsure whether this is a genuinely unique cultural trait shared by most African cultures or if it is due to our admittedly still incomplete knowledge. </p>
<p>Also, some rather prominent fossil sites, such as the Moroccan Kem Kem beds and South African Unesco <a href="https://www.maropeng.co.za/content/page/introduction-to-your-visit-to-the-cradle-of-humankind-world-heritage-site">Cradle of Humankind</a> caves, have still not provided robust evidence for indigenous knowledge. This is unfortunate, as fossil-related traditions could help bridge the gap between local communities and palaeontologists, which in turn could contribute <a href="https://theconversation.com/graffiti-threatens-precious-evidence-of-ancient-life-on-south-africas-coast-157777">preserving</a> important heritage sites.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rock-stars-how-a-group-of-scientists-in-south-africa-rescued-a-rare-500kg-chunk-of-human-history-192508">Rock stars: how a group of scientists in South Africa rescued a rare 500kg chunk of human history</a>
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<p>By exploring indigenous palaeontology in Africa, our team is putting together pieces of a forgotten past that gives credit back to local communities. We hope it will inspire a new generation of local palaeoscientists to walk in the footsteps of these first African fossil hunters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julien Benoit receives funding from the DSI-NRF African Origins Platform program and GENUS (DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences) </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Penn-Clarke receives funding from GENUS (DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Helm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some time between 1100 and 1700 AD, a Massospondylus bone was discovered and carried to a rock shelter in Lesotho.Julien Benoit, Senior Researcher in Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of the WitwatersrandCameron Penn-Clarke, Senior Researcher, University of the WitwatersrandCharles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2165482023-12-26T08:48:13Z2023-12-26T08:48:13ZUnusual ancient elephant tracks had our team of fossil experts stumped – how we solved the mystery<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559289/original/file-20231114-17-wm62rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elephants communicate underground by generating seismic waves. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anadolu Agency</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past 15 years, through our scientific study of tracks and traces, we have identified more than 350 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.07.039">fossil vertebrate tracksites</a> from South Africa’s Cape south coast. Most are found in cemented sand dunes, called aeolianites, and all are from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Pleistocene-Epoch">Pleistocene Epoch</a>, ranging in age from about 35,000 to 400,000 years. </p>
<p>During that time we have honed our identification skills and have become used to finding and interpreting tracksites – a field called ichnology. And yet, every once in a while, we encounter something we immediately realise is so novel that it has been found nowhere else on Earth.</p>
<p>Such a moment of unexpected discovery happened in 2019 along the coastline of the De Hoop Nature Reserve, about 200km east of Cape Town. Less than two metres away from a cluster of fossil elephant tracks was a round feature, 57cm in diameter, containing concentric ring features. Another layer was exposed about 7cm below this surface. It contained at least 14 parallel groove features. Where the grooves approached the rings, they made a slight curve towards them. The two findings, we hypothesised, were connected with each other and appeared to have a common origin.</p>
<p>Elephants are the largest, heaviest land animals. They leave large, deep, easily recognisable tracks. We’ve documented 35 fossilised elephant track sites in our study area, as well as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/qua.2021.32">first evidence</a> of fossilised elephant trunk-drag impressions. </p>
<p>Elephants, like another group of massive land creatures, dinosaurs, can be viewed as geological engineers that create minor earth-moving forces on the ground they walk(ed) on. This can be related also to a remarkable ability that elephants possess: communicating by generating seismic waves. These are a form of energy that can travel under the surface of the Earth.</p>
<p>The feature we found in 2019 seemed to reflect just such a phenomenon: an elephant triggering waves that rippled outwards. After additional investigation and a thorough search for alternative explanations, we could report in a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016787823000792">recently published study</a> that we believe we’ve found the world’s first trace fossil signature of seismic, underground communication between elephants. </p>
<h2>Elephant seismicity</h2>
<p>Since the 1980s, an ever-increasing body of literature has documented “elephant seismicity” and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300007">seismic communication through infrasound</a>. The lower threshold of human hearing is 20Hz; below that, low frequency sounds are known as infrasound. Elephant “rumbles”, originating in the larynx and transmitted into the ground through the limbs, fall within the infrasonic range. </p>
<p>Infrasound at high amplitude (it would seem very loud to us if at a slightly higher frequency) can travel further than high frequency sounds, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.062">over distances as great as 6km</a>. Elephants have an advantage here. Lighter creatures cannot <a href="https://doi.org/10.1152/physiol.00008.2007">generate low-frequency sound waves through vocalisation</a>. It is thought that long-distance seismic communication can allow elephant groups to interact over substantial distances, and it has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.062">been shown</a> that sandy terrain allows the communication to travel furthest.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fossil-tracks-and-trunk-marks-reveal-signs-of-ancient-elephants-on-south-africas-coast-164306">Fossil tracks and trunk marks reveal signs of ancient elephants on South Africa's coast</a>
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<p>Continuing the elephant-dinosaur analogy, we considered the multitude of publications on dinosaur tracks. We are aware of only a single example that exhibits possible concentric rings within a track, from Korea, and none that involve parallel grooves. This suggests something unique about elephants that generates concentric rings within tracks and leads to the associated groove features. Elephant rumbling provides a plausible explanation.</p>
<p>In our scenario at De Hoop Nature Reserve, we postulate that vibrations from rumbling travelled down the elephant limb and created the concentric ring features. They are reminiscent of some of the patterns that become evident when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFAcYruShow">sprinkling sand onto a vibrating surface</a>. The surface on which the concentric rings appear must have been just below the dune surface at the time. The parallel grooves would then represent a trace fossil signature of subsurface communication. We’re not yet sure how old the trace fossil is; we’ve sent samples for testing.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A video showing sand vibrating when it’s exposed to sound.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Rumblings in rock art</h2>
<p>Elephant seismicity is a relatively new field of study for scientists. However, those who have lived close to elephants won’t be surprised at the idea of the animals communicating through vibration. Indeed, vibrations from elephant rumblings can sometimes be felt (rather than heard) by the astute observer. And it appears that this knowledge is not just recent. </p>
<p>The rock art experts on our team have identified and interpreted rock art that suggests the indigenous San people appreciated and celebrated this knowledge in southern Africa thousands of years ago. Elephants were of profound importance to the San and were prominently featured in <a href="https://www.archaeology.org.za/sites/default/files/attachments/publications/2019/09/02/ds_2018_december.pdf">their works of art</a>. Several rock art sites appear to contain paintings of elephants in relation to sound or vibration.</p>
<p>For example, at the Monte Cristo site in the Cederberg the artist has painted 31 elephants, in several groups. They are in a realistic arrangement. Fine red lines surround each elephant; zigzag lines touch the abdomen, groin, throat, trunk, and specifically the feet. Many zigzag lines link the elephant to the ground. The finest lines are closest to the elephants, and every elephant is connected to this set of lines. These are in turn connected to broader lines surrounding the elephant group, which radiate out and away from the elephants as concentric rings. </p>
<p>This is interpreted as the San artist’s probable illustration of seismic communication between elephants. The feeling of shaking and vibration, which the San call <em>thara n|om</em>, is vital to the San healing dances, including the <a href="https://www.archaeology.org.za/sites/default/files/attachments/publications/2019/09/02/ds_2018_december.pdf">elephant song and elephant dance</a>. Lines of energy, called <em>n|om</em>, are regarded as a vibrant life-giving force that animates all living beings and is the source of <a href="https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/book-reviews/view/28011/way-of-the-bushman">all inspired energy</a>.</p>
<p>We believe that an understanding of elephant seismicity requires the integration of three bodies of knowledge: research on extant elephant populations, ancestral knowledge (often manifested in rock art) and the trace fossil record. </p>
<p>That elephant seismic communication might leave a trace fossil record has never been reported before, or even postulated. Our findings may have the potential to stimulate multi-disciplinary research into this field. This could include a dedicated search for sub-surface patterns in the sand in the vicinity of modern rumbling elephants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Helm does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Elephants can be viewed as geological engineers that create minor tectonic forces on the substrate they walk on.Charles Helm, Research Associate, African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2194352023-12-20T16:05:40Z2023-12-20T16:05:40ZCould dinosaurs be the reason humans can’t live for 200 years?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565275/original/file-20231212-17-7baa92.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C4000%2C2640&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/human-hand-compare-real-dinosaur-footprint-1205774944">Rattana/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>All human beings age. It is part of our biology and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4010874/">limits our lifespan</a> to slightly over 120 years.</p>
<p>Not all animals <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925443917302193">experience ageing</a> during their lives. Some animals’ bodies do not gradually degenerate as they get older the way our bodies do.</p>
<p>But for humans once they reach about age 30 their <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/your-probability-of-dying-doubles-every-eight-years-180948228/">chance of dying</a> <a href="https://arxiv.org/PS_cache/q-bio/pdf/0411/0411019v3.pdf">doubles roughly</a> every eight years. So even if you are fortunate enough to become a centenarian, your chance of dying each year will be high. </p>
<p>This high mortality reflects numerous other health problems, such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804956/#R4">loss of muscle mass</a> and general frailty, <a href="https://www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0035-1555115">cognitive decline</a>, loss of vision and hearing and many other degenerative changes that characterise the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10041/#:%7E:text=Aging%20is%20the%20time%2Drelated,disease%20(which%20affect%20individuals).">human ageing process</a>. </p>
<p>And the reason humans age so markedly may be due to the fact our ancestors evolved during the <a href="https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/embr.202051617">time of the dinosaurs</a>.</p>
<p>Compared to other mammals, humans have a long life. We have the longest lifespan of all land-based mammals, and of all mammals <a href="https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2015/01/06/scientists-sequence-genome-longest-lived-mammal/">only whales probably</a> outlive us. I say “probably” because you need to keep animals in captivity to do a detailed study on lifespan, which for whales is virtually impossible due to their size and longevity. </p>
<p>We know that species of whales and dolphins <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1903844116">exhibit menopause</a>, and all mammals show some form of reproductive decline with age. In fact, all studied mammals show physiological ageing and increased mortality with age, even if some species – like mice and voles – age much faster than others – such as humans, whales, and elephants. </p>
<p>But many species of reptiles, amphibians and fish do not show signs of ageing. <a href="https://genomics.senescence.info/species/nonaging.php">Examples include</a> turtles and tortoises, salamanders and rockfishes. </p>
<p>One study of 77 species of reptiles and amphibians published in Science in 2022 showed that age-related increases in mortality <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm0151">are not seen</a> in many species of reptiles and amphibians. It is as if these animals do not age at all. Some of these animals, such as turtles, probably live longer than humans.</p>
<p>Perhaps if we study these apparently non-ageing species for long enough they will show signs of ageing. But good luck studying animals such as the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaf1703">Greenland shark</a>, which has been estimated to live nearly 400 years. </p>
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<p>For now we can at least say that among reptiles, amphibians and fish, some species not only live longer than the longest living mammals, but they age substantially slower. Besides, some of these non-ageing species grow throughout their lives, which means that older females <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0531556500002424">lay more eggs</a>, again in stark contrast to what happens in mammals. </p>
<p>These animals die mainly from being eaten by predators and diseases. Indeed, most animals in the wild do not die of old age and, until the 20th century, of course, most people died of infectious diseases.</p>
<p>Some reptiles, amphibians and fish are also known for their <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2221-3759/9/3/36">ability to regenerate</a> tissue. </p>
<h2>Pressure on mammals</h2>
<p>Amphibians evolved from fish about 370 million years ago, and about 50 million years later reptiles evolved from amphibians. <a href="https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Introductory_Biology_(CK-12)/12%3A_Vertebrates/12.07%3A_Vertebrate_Evolution">Mammals then evolved</a> from reptiles about 250-300 million years ago. </p>
<p>We are all products of evolution, which we see in relics such as <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.14.460388v1">our tailbone</a>. Our evolutionary history can have a profound influence in modern times. For example, humans maintain evolutionary traits from when our ancestors roamed the savannah that are no longer fit for the modern world, from <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-sugar-why-were-hardwired-to-love-it-and-what-eating-too-much-does-to-your-brain-podcast-175272">craving sugar</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-morbid-curiosity-can-lead-people-to-conspiracy-theories-214532">behaviour</a> that leads to prejudices. </p>
<p>About 200 million years ago, massive volcanic eruptions <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/end-Triassic-extinction">wiped out 76%</a> of marine and land species. Afterwards, the dinosaurs became the dominant predators in the land. To survive and avoid being hunted to extinction by dinosaurs, mammals became small, nocturnal and short-lived. </p>
<p>Our ancestors of this time were not like us at all. They were more like <a href="https://www.livescience.com/60888-rat-creatures-were-earliest-eutherian-mammal-ancestors.html">voles and mice</a>, small animals going out in the dark to catch insects. Under the pressure from the dinosaurs, ancestral mammals had to reproduce rapidly, just like mice and rats do now. And just like mice, rats and voles, our ancestors had short lifespans. </p>
<p>For 100 million years, during the time of the dinosaurs, mammals were at or near the bottom of the food chain. Mammals were more often prey than predators. During this time there was no reason for mammals to keep processes and genes related to long life, such as DNA repair and tissue regeneration systems. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bies.202300098">longevity bottleneck hypothesis</a> proposes that repair and regeneration systems were lost, mutated or inactivated by the evolution of early mammals. This imposed biological constraints that shape how mammals age to this day. </p>
<p>After the dinosaurs disappeared when an asteroid hit the Earth <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-an-asteroid-caused-extinction-of-dinosaurs.html">66 million years</a> ago, mammals conquered the world. An astonishing diversity of species evolved with a variety of lifespans. Some species, like humans, evolved a long lifespan, but they may have done it under constraints, remnants from the time of the dinosaurs.</p>
<h2>Why dinosaurs made a difference</h2>
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<img alt="Lizard rests on the ground" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564332/original/file-20231207-15-xjtuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564332/original/file-20231207-15-xjtuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564332/original/file-20231207-15-xjtuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564332/original/file-20231207-15-xjtuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564332/original/file-20231207-15-xjtuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564332/original/file-20231207-15-xjtuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564332/original/file-20231207-15-xjtuw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Tuatara lives for over a hundred years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tuatara-310936394">BeautifulBlossoms/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>We can take a guess by looking at species that did not undergo the same evolutionary pressures as early mammals. For example, the tuatara, a reptile endemic to New Zealand, may look like a lizard but it diverged from snakes and lizards about 250 million years ago. It is sometimes referred to as a “living fossil”, due to its slow evolution. </p>
<p>Tuataras are thought to live for more than 100 years and age much slower than human beings, as a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm0151">2022 DNA analysis study showed</a>. Perhaps they have kept their anti-ageing genes, unlike even the longest lived mammals. </p>
<p>Our lifespan may be limited because of our evolutionary history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219435/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joao Pedro de Magalhaes receives funding from the Wellcome Trust, Longevity Impetus Grants, LongeCity, and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.</span></em></p>Our mammal ancestors evolved to compete with dinosaurs but may have lost something in the process.Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, Chair of Molecular Biogerontology, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2200112023-12-19T16:53:46Z2023-12-19T16:53:46ZFive things you probably have wrong about the T rex<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566317/original/file-20231218-17-rt6kdx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C12%2C8142%2C5444&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/adventurous-young-boy-imitating-dinosaur-toy-2124861329">Jacob Lund/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An icon from the age of dinosaurs, <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em> has featured in everything from blockbuster movies to the shape of chicken nuggets. As a creature to be feared for its bone-crushing bite or ridiculed for its inability to give a high five, T rex has captured the imagination of children and adults alike. </p>
<p>One skeleton broke records in 2020 when it sold at auction for <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/stan-t-rex-sells-record-32-million-auction">US$32 million</a> (£25 million). But how well do you really know T rex? Here is the truth behind five common misconceptions about this dinosaur.</p>
<h2>Myth: T rex had bad eyesight</h2>
<p>Scientists think that T rex had excellent vision, despite what Jurassic Park might have you believe. The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-03706-0">grapefruit-sized eyes</a> of T rex could have distinguished objects with up to five times more precision than those of a falcon and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26%5B321%3ABVITD%5D2.0.CO%3B2">13 times better</a> than a human. </p>
<p>They also had <a href="https://www.uv.es/pe/2000_1/retinal/text.pdf">superior colour vision</a>. Like birds and crocodiles, T rex could distinguish more colours of the rainbow than humans and see ultraviolet light. Although it makes for good dramatic tension in fiction, standing still would not hide you from a hungry T rex. </p>
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<h2>Myth: Chickens are the direct descendants of T rex</h2>
<p>This myth has its origins in truth. All birds, including chickens, are not only descendants of dinosaurs but <a href="https://evolution-outreach.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1007/s12052-009-0133-4">are themselves dinosaurs</a>. Birds belong to a lineage of dinosaurs closely related to the raptors (including <em>Velociraptor</em>). </p>
<p>Early birds, such as <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/archaeopteryx.html"><em>Archaeopteryx</em></a>, had wings like modern birds but teeth and long tails like their ancestors. These ancient birds first appeared <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature12168">in the Jurassic period</a>, millions of years before T rex evolved. </p>
<p>Scientists have identified an ancestor of modern ducks and chickens as the quail-sized <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2096-0"><em>Asteriornis</em></a>, nicknamed the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/wonderchicken">wonderchicken</a> by scientists. It was still living at the time of T rex. A handful of these humble bird species <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982218305347">survived the mass extinction</a> that killed their dinosaur relatives and evolved into all the birds we know today.</p>
<p>T rex, rather than being the grandparent of the modern chicken, is more like an oversized cousin to all birds.</p>
<h2>Myth: T rex had tiny, useless arms</h2>
<p>Muscle reconstructions show that T rex arms <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kenneth-Carpenter-2/publication/314895700_Looking_again_at_the_forelimbs_of_Tyrannosaurus_rex/links/58c70de0aca27232ac8297b6/Looking-again-at-the-forelimbs-of-Tyrannosaurus-rex.pdf">were strong</a> for their size and had a reasonable range of motion. It is likely they were used in a range of behaviour. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.eaapublishing.org/journals/index.php/biosis/article/view/60">most plausible suggestions</a> scientists have come up with so far include slashing and holding onto prey and use in communicating between T rex individuals.</p>
<p>T rex actually <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03043773">couldn’t twist its arms</a> to make its hands face palm downward, as is commonly depicted. To improve the accuracy of your next T rex impression, face your palms towards each other, as if clapping. </p>
<p>At around one metre long, T rex arms are larger than human arms but still small compared with their 13-metre long bodies. Small arms are common among larger theropods (two-legged, predatory dinosaurs) and have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982222008600">evolved several times</a> in this group. Other dinosaurs in this group had even smaller arms. </p>
<p>The eight-metre long <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/carnotaurus.html"><em>Carnotaurus</em></a>, a horned predator from South America, had <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0024408298901935">stubby arms</a> less than 50 centimetres long. </p>
<h2>Myth: T rex lived alongside <em>Stegosaurus</em></h2>
<p>The age of dinosaurs was probably longer than you think. T rex lived at the end of the Cretaceous period, just before the dinosaur-killing <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2006087117">asteroid strike</a> 66 million years ago. <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/stegosaurus.html"><em>Stegosaurus</em></a>, and other popular Jurassic dinosaurs such as <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/dino-directory/diplodocus.html"><em>Diplodocus</em></a>, lived around 150 million years ago. </p>
<p>T rex lived closer to the modern day than to the time of <em>Stegosaurus</em>. By the time T rex walked the Earth, <em>Stegosaurus</em> were already fossils beneath their feet.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566315/original/file-20231218-21-hst1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Kids food dinosaur shapes on a plate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566315/original/file-20231218-21-hst1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566315/original/file-20231218-21-hst1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566315/original/file-20231218-21-hst1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566315/original/file-20231218-21-hst1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566315/original/file-20231218-21-hst1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566315/original/file-20231218-21-hst1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566315/original/file-20231218-21-hst1i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The T rex lived long after stegosaurus went extinct.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/kids-food-dinosaur-shaped-chicken-fish-1427323466">Erhan Inga/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Myth: T rex was scaly and grey or green</h2>
<p>The idea that T rex might have had feathers is contentious, even among palaeontologists. There is evidence of feathers in many dinosaur species, leading some scientists to conclude that feathers were <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1235463">widespread among dinosaurs</a>. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10906"><em>Yutyrannus</em></a>, a nine-metre long relative of T rex, was found preserved with a coat of fuzzy feathers. </p>
<p>So does this mean T rex was also fluffy? Not so fast. Some scientists think that a full feather coat would leave the giant, warm-blooded T rex at risk of overheating. </p>
<p>This thinking is supported by <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2017.0092">preserved patches of skin</a> found from many parts of the body that appear to be scaled. Although we don’t know for certain either way, the real T rex was probably something between fully scaly and fully fuzzy. </p>
<p>The science of dinosaur colour is one of the most <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-earth-073019-045641">exciting developments</a> in recent palaeontology. Scientists have been able to determine the colours and patterns of some exceptionally well preserved dinosaurs by studying fossilised pigement-containing capsules within cells in feathers and scales. </p>
<p>Although no one has worked out what colour T rex was yet, we now know that dinosaurs came in a range of colours, including <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1186290">red</a> and <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1213780">iridescent black</a>, and patterns <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature08740">such as stripes</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220011/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abi Crane does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Impress your niece or nephew with these T rex facts.Abi Crane, Postgraduate Researcher, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2152782023-11-16T14:27:49Z2023-11-16T14:27:49ZJurassic Park: why we’re still struggling to realise it 30 years on<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556310/original/file-20231027-26-umzgc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C5%2C3964%2C2658&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/human-hand-compare-real-dinosaur-footprint-1205774944">Rattana/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Jurassic Park is arguably the ultimate Hollywood blockbuster. Aside from the appeal of human-chomping dinosaurs, tense action sequences and ground-breaking cinematography, its release in 1993 was a movies-meet-science milestone.</p>
<p>As global audiences were soaking up the gory action, the premise of the movie - extracting DNA from fossil insects preserved in amber to resurrect dinosaurs - was given the credibility of publication by several <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/363536a0">high-profile studies</a> on <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1411508">fossil amber</a>. The authors recovered ancient DNA from amber, and even <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.7538699">revived</a> amber-hosted bacteria. The world seemed primed for a real-life Jurassic Park. </p>
<p>But since then, the science has taken many twists and turns. An increasing number of palaeontologists are reporting evidence of DNA and proteins, which also give genetic information, in fossils. These chemical traces could provide unprecedented insights into ancient life and evolution. But such reports are the source of ongoing debate and controversy among scientists. Our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02177-8">recent study</a>, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, offers new insight.</p>
<h2>Ancient DNA</h2>
<p>DNA yields the most detailed information, compared to other molecules, on how closely species are related. However, DNA is extremely fragile and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/362709a0">decays rapidly</a> after an organism dies. </p>
<p>That said, DNA can sometimes survive in polar climates, because the freezing temperatures slow down decay. Geologically young DNA (thousands of years old) therefore has the potential to resurrect extinct animals from the last ice age through to the recent past. </p>
<p>Commercial companies such as <a href="https://reviverestore.org/pleistocene-patreon/">Pleistocene Park</a>, <a href="https://colossal.com/de-extinction/">Colossal</a> and <a href="https://reviverestore.org/projects/woolly-mammoth/">Revive & Restore</a> are working on projects to bring back the woolly mammoth and passenger pigeon. </p>
<p>There is a long time gap between these mammoths and dinosaurs, which went extinct 66 million years ago. There is some evidence, though, that genetic material may survive in fossils even on these timescales. </p>
<p>For example, fossil chromosomes – fragments of DNA smaller than a cell – have been <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1249884">found in plants</a> up to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0034666720302694">180 million years old</a> and a 75 million-year-old <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwz206">dinosaur</a>.</p>
<p>Scientists have yet to find evidence, however, that actual DNA can survive for tens of millions of years. </p>
<h2>Ancient proteins</h2>
<p>Proteins also code information (in the form of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/amino-acid/Standard-amino-acids">amino acid sequences</a>) that can shed light on the evolutionary links among species. </p>
<p>Scientists believe that proteins can survive for longer than DNA. Indeed, researchers have found many examples of fossilised proteins, most notably intact amino acid sequences of collagen (a protein found in connective tissues), but these are at most a few million years old.</p>
<p>Scientists don’t expect large protein fragments <a href="https://doi.org/10.1042/BIO02403012">to survive</a> for as long as these smaller ones. So the scientific community was electrified in 2007 by the report of <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1137614">68 million-year-old collagen fragments</a> in a <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em> bone.</p>
<p>Controversy soon followed though as <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2017.0544">concerns mounted</a> about the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1155006">team’s methodology</a>, such as the potential for contamination and the lack of rigorous controls and independent verification. </p>
<p>Similar debate surrounds more recent reports of degraded proteins and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms8352">collagen fibres</a> in fossils as old as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14220">130 million years</a>. </p>
<h2>A way forward</h2>
<p>These studies highlight the difficulties of working with fossils, especially using analytical methods that may not be appropriate to use on ancient tissues. The evidence for survival of fossil protein remnants, however, has proved compelling. </p>
<p>These studies are also stimulating other researchers to explore new methods and analytical approaches that might be better suited for use with fossils. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02177-8">new study</a> explores one such approach, using a focused beam of light plus X-rays to irradiate samples of ancient feathers. These techniques reveal which chemical bonds are present, providing information on the structure of proteins. In turn, this helps us to detect traces of proteins in fossil feathers. </p>
<p>Our analyses of the 125 million-year-old feathered dinosaur <em>Sinornithosaurus</em> revealed abundant corrugated protein structures, consistent with a protein called beta-keratin, which is common in modern feathers. Spiral protein structures (indicative of another protein called alpha-keratin) were present only in small amounts. </p>
<p>When we simulated the process of fossilisation in laboratory experiments, we found that corrugated protein structures unravel and form spiral structures when heated. </p>
<p>These findings suggest that ancient feathers were remarkably similar in chemistry to modern-day feathers. It also suggests that spiral protein structures in fossils are probably artefacts of the fossilisation process. </p>
<p>But ultimately, our findings suggest traces of proteins do survive for hundreds of millions of years.</p>
<h2>Real-life Jurassic Park – science fact or fiction?</h2>
<p>Palaeontologists today can test fossils for evidence of ancient molecules using an arsenal of techniques that were not available 30 years ago. This has allowed us to identify fragments of molecules in fossil animals that are tens to hundreds of millions of years old.</p>
<p>Scientists have discovered haemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells, in 50-million-year-old insects, and melanin pigments in the ink sacs of 200-million-year-old squid. </p>
<p>Ultimately though, we need intact DNA to resurrect species. So although scientists have made a lot of progress, the prospect remains in the realm of science fiction. All data from fossils and experiments to date suggests that DNA is simply unlikely to survive for tens of millions of years. </p>
<p>Even if scientists did find DNA fragments in dinosaur fossils, these would probably be very short. Short fragments of DNA are unlikely to give us useful information about a species. And we don’t yet have the technology to validate such rare DNA fragments as original rather than random combinations of amino acids, generated during fossilisation. </p>
<p>Better lab protocols and fossilisation experiments are helping us to make more accurate interpretations of fossils. This is paving the way for more rigorous studies of ancient molecules. </p>
<p>In the future, these studies may challenge what we think we know about how long molecules can survive, and may even reshape our understanding of the evolution of life on Earth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215278/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tiffany Shea Slater receives funding from the European Research Council and the Irish Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maria McNamara receives funding from the European Research Council and Science Foundation Ireland. </span></em></p>New laboratory experiments add analytical rigour to the search for ancient biomoleculesTiffany Shea Slater, Postdoctoral Researcher, Palaeobiology, University College CorkMaria McNamara, Professor, Palaeobiology, University College CorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2145722023-10-03T00:14:40Z2023-10-03T00:14:40ZHoles in baby dinosaur bones show how football-sized hatchlings grew to 3-tonne teens<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551328/original/file-20231002-25-pmkx02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=71%2C862%2C3242%2C2128&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/maiasaura-dinosaurs-cross-swamp-3d-illustration-2316905179">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite their public image as torpid, lumbering creatures, many dinosaurs were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12822">evidently warm-blooded, highly active animals</a>, capable of prolonged and strenuous aerobic exercise. </p>
<p>In new research, my colleagues and I determined how much energy minibus-sized dinosaurs called Maiasaura used while growing to adulthood. </p>
<p>Our results, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2023.24">published</a> in the journal Paleobiology, show Maiasaura was capable of taking in huge amounts of energy and nutrients and using them for rapid growth and levels of activity comparable to those of modern mammals.</p>
<h2>How bones heal and grow</h2>
<p>Living an active lifestyle can leave traces in the skeleton. Locomotion and weight-bearing activity cause stresses and strains that result in microfractures in the bones. If these tiny cracks build up, the outcome can be a catastrophic fracture.</p>
<p>Fortunately, the leg bones of dinosaurs – like those of birds, mammals and varanid lizards such as the Komodo dragon – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.00514">repair themselves</a> in a process known as bone remodelling. </p>
<p>This occurs by blood capillaries growing through old bone, which is dissolved and replaced by new bone. Under the microscope, the new bone can be seen as column-like structures called “secondary osteons”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-smart-were-our-ancestors-turns-out-the-answer-isnt-in-brain-size-but-blood-flow-130387">How smart were our ancestors? Turns out the answer isn't in brain size, but blood flow</a>
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<p>Many palaeontologists have looked for and found these secondary osteons in dinosaur bones as evidence for the bone remodelling that is characteristic of warm-blooded animals. </p>
<p>However, little attention has been given to the bones of juvenile dinosaurs, in which primary bone is being laid down in a process called bone modelling. </p>
<p>The main impediment to this research is the shortage of collections of bones from a single dinosaur species at different stages of growth. </p>
<h2>‘Good mother reptile’</h2>
<p>Possibly the best growth series of dinosaur bones in the world comes from the fossil beds of the Two Medicine Formation in the US state of Montana. </p>
<p>Fossils from this formation have yielded much information about the eggs, hatchlings and early lives of a dinosaur named Maiasaura (meaning “good mother reptile”). </p>
<p>This herbivorous hadrosaur apparently tended her eggs and <a href="https://iknowdino.com/maiasaura-episode-37/">raised her offspring</a> for more than a year after hatching. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551329/original/file-20231002-23-va3j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustration showing a mother Maiasaura with one of her young." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551329/original/file-20231002-23-va3j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551329/original/file-20231002-23-va3j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551329/original/file-20231002-23-va3j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551329/original/file-20231002-23-va3j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551329/original/file-20231002-23-va3j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551329/original/file-20231002-23-va3j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551329/original/file-20231002-23-va3j3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Maiasaura tended their eggs and raised offspring for more than a year after they hatched.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.deviantart.com/ntamura/art/Maiasaura-mother-and-son-80065377">N. Tamura</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
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<p>Young Maiasaura grew <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2015.19">astonishingly fast</a>, reaching 200-400 kilograms by their second year, and over 3,000kg by their teens. </p>
<p>In comparison, cold-blooded saltwater crocodiles today weigh only about 6kg at the age of two, and reach adulthood at between ten and 16 years old, when females weigh about 34kg and males about 115kg.</p>
<p>Such high growth rates in Maiasaura involved rapid lengthening and thickening of their long bones, and the process doubtlessly required much oxygen and nutrients from the blood. </p>
<p>The shafts of long bones of the leg, such as the femur (thigh bone) and tibia (shin bone), are supplied with blood by the principal nutrient artery, which enters the bone through a hole (called a foramen) that is visible on the surface.</p>
<h2>How to measure blood flow from bones</h2>
<p>A decade ago, I wondered whether the size of the foramen could be an indirect measurement of the rate of blood flow to a bone. </p>
<p>This turned out to be true, and since then the “foramen technique” has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.0968">used on fossils</a> to estimate blood flow rate and hence how much energy and nutrients were used in the bones of adult dinosaurs.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three photos of a fossilised bone, with a small round discolouration circled." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551330/original/file-20231002-15-y0rv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551330/original/file-20231002-15-y0rv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551330/original/file-20231002-15-y0rv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551330/original/file-20231002-15-y0rv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551330/original/file-20231002-15-y0rv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551330/original/file-20231002-15-y0rv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551330/original/file-20231002-15-y0rv8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fossilised Maiasaura shin bone, showing the foramen – the hole which allows an artery to supply blood to the bone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photos by Heath Caldwell of a specimen in the Museum of the Rockies.</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To apply the foramen technique to the fast-growing juvenile Maiasaura, I teamed up with Heath Caldwell, a student at Montana State University, who searched for the tiny foramina among the fossil collection at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. </p>
<p>Holly Woodward of Oklahoma State University had previously determined the ages of the animals when they died. Qiaohui Hu at Adelaide University used the best techniques for measuring foramen size and relating it to nutrient artery size. </p>
<h2>Rapid growth doesn’t come cheap</h2>
<p>Our work produced clear results. Blood flow rates calculated from foramen size were similar in one-year-old dinosaurs weighing between 189kg and 455kg and in six- to 11-year-old adults weighing between 1,680kg and 3,200kg. </p>
<p>In other words, a one-year-old had about four times as much blood flowing to each gram of its shinbone as a full-grown adult did. The flow rate per gram in the femur of a two kilogram hatchling Maiasaura was 15 times higher than that of the adults. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hot-fuss-is-warm-blooded-dinosaur-theory-right-or-wrong-8174">Hot fuss: is warm-blooded dinosaur theory right or wrong?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These differences reveal how much more energy and nutrients it took to build bones in the early rapid growth stages of a Maiasaura’s life than it did to maintain the bones in adulthood. </p>
<p>The size of the foramen in adults was also comparable to those in mammals alive today, and much larger than in most modern reptiles. These findings support the view that dinosaurs were not cold-blooded and sluggish, but warm-blooded, very active, fast-growing animals that dominated the Mesozoic landscape.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214572/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger S. Seymour receives funding from The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Small holes in baby dinosaur bones add to the growing mass of evidence that the ancient creatures were warm-blooded and highly active.Roger S. Seymour, Professor Emeritus of Physiology, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132712023-09-13T14:00:06Z2023-09-13T14:00:06ZFlowering plants survived the dinosaur-killing asteroid – and may outlive us<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547777/original/file-20230912-15-mm7cp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C44%2C5937%2C3943&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pink-rose-flower-pastel-ink-creative-1336421165">Zamurovic Brothers/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you looked up 66 million years ago you might have seen, for a split second, a bright light as a mountain-sized asteroid burned through the atmosphere and smashed into Earth. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04446-1">It was springtime</a> and the literal end of an era, the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/youth-and-education-in-science/mesozoic">Mesozoic</a>. </p>
<p>If you somehow survived the initial impact, you would have witnessed the devastation that followed. Raging firestorms, megatsunamis, and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11539442/">a nuclear winter</a> lasting months to years. The 180-million-year reign of non-avian dinosaurs was over in the blink of an eye, as well as at least <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.215.4539.1501?casa_token=DrtWs804WZsAAAAA:4SB3Ih2f1Ffnvilw9c8jxUViVd3IvyUVQRQ9PHOIezMQ7O5K9fR3a_nTWZWVKDJ94uKgsCBUfMH7Kg">75% of the species</a> who shared the planet with them. </p>
<p>Following this event, known as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/K-T-extinction">Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction</a> (K-Pg), a new dawn emerged for Earth. Ecosystems bounced back, but the life inhabiting them was different.</p>
<p>Many iconic pre-K-Pg species can only be seen in a museum. The formidable <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em>, the <em>Velociraptor</em>, and the winged dragons of the <em>Quetzalcoatlus</em> genus could not survive the asteroid and are confined to deep history. But if you take a walk outside and smell the roses, you will be in the presence of ancient lineages that blossomed in the ashes of K-Pg. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513999/original/file-20230307-18-3frmra.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Many people think of plants as nice-looking greens. Essential for clean air, yes, but simple organisms. A step change in research is shaking up the way scientists think about plants: they are far more complex and more like us than you might imagine. This blossoming field of science is too delightful to do it justice in one or two stories.</em>
<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/plant-curious-137238?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=PlantCurious2023&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of a series, Plant Curious</a>, exploring scientific studies that challenge the way you view plantlife.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Although the living species of roses are not the same ones that shared Earth with <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em>, their lineage (family Rosaceae) <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17116-5">originated tens of millions of years</a> before the asteroid struck.</p>
<p>And the roses are an not unusual angiosperm (flowering plant) lineage in this regard. Fossils and genetic analysis suggest that the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-020-1241-3">vast majority of angiosperm families</a> originated before the asteroid. </p>
<p>Ancestors of the ornamental orchid, magnolia and passionflower families, grass and potato families, the medicinal daisy family, and the herbal mint family all shared Earth with the dinosaurs. In fact, the explosive evolution of angiosperms into the roughly 290,000 species today may have been facilitated by K-Pg. </p>
<p>Angiosperms seemed to have taken advantage of the fresh start, similar to the early members of our own lineage, <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(23)00767-4.pdf">the mammals</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Purple flower growing out of a crack in the pavement" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547779/original/file-20230912-35629-s73lh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547779/original/file-20230912-35629-s73lh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547779/original/file-20230912-35629-s73lh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547779/original/file-20230912-35629-s73lh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547779/original/file-20230912-35629-s73lh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547779/original/file-20230912-35629-s73lh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547779/original/file-20230912-35629-s73lh2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flowers are surprisingly resilient.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/purple-flower-growing-on-crack-street-776381272">PopTika/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, it’s not clear how they did it. Angiosperms, so fragile compared with dinosaurs, cannot fly or run to escape harsh conditions. They rely on sunlight for their existence, which was blotted out. </p>
<h2>What do we know?</h2>
<p>Fossils in different regions tell different versions of events. It is clear there was high angiosperm turnover (species loss and resurgence) <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abf1969?casa_token=s5xuTGC7SpAAAAAA%3AJHgkvkmunfwRZLpwfcoumaus-20jehSJ4vDnlJa8LRzFqco_pveiJVbdvHm1h2P3SXvHckDRN5ERuw">in the Amazon</a> when the asteroid hit, and a decline in plant-eating insects <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.042492999#:%7E:text=The%20most%20specialized%20associations%2C%20which,associations%20regained%20their%20Cretaceous%20abundances">in North America</a> which suggests a loss of food plants. But other regions, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0034666723001021?via%3Dihub">such as Patagonia</a>, show no pattern. </p>
<p>A study in 2015 analysing angiosperm fossils of 257 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/genus-taxon">genera</a> (families typically contain multiple genera) found K-Pg had <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.13247">little effect</a> on extinction rates. But this result is difficult to generalise across the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/sysbio/article/71/2/301/6275244">13,000 angiosperm genera</a>. </p>
<p>My colleague Santiago Ramírez-Barahona, from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and I took a new approach to solving this confusion in a study we <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2023.0314">recently published</a> in Biology Letters. We analysed large angiosperm family trees, which previous work mapped from mutations in DNA sequences from 33,000-73,000 species. </p>
<p>This way of tree-thinking has laid the groundwork for major insights about the evolution of life, since the first family tree was scribbled by Charles Darwin. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547814/original/file-20230912-25-6n0182.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Scribble of a diagram with handwritten notes to the sides and underneath" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547814/original/file-20230912-25-6n0182.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547814/original/file-20230912-25-6n0182.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547814/original/file-20230912-25-6n0182.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547814/original/file-20230912-25-6n0182.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=978&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547814/original/file-20230912-25-6n0182.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1229&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547814/original/file-20230912-25-6n0182.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1229&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547814/original/file-20230912-25-6n0182.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1229&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Charles Darwin’s first diagram of an evolutionary tree from 1837.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although the family trees we analysed did not include extinct species, their shape contains clues about how extinction rates changed through time, through the way the branching rate ebbs and flows. </p>
<p>The extinction rate of a lineage, in this case angiosperms, can be estimated using mathematical models. The one we used compared ancestor age with estimates for how many species should be appearing in a family tree according to what we know about the evolution process. </p>
<p>It also compared the number of species in a family tree with estimates of how long it takes for a new species to evolve. This gives us a net diversification rate - how fast new species are appearing, adjusted for the number of species that have disappeared from the lineage. </p>
<p>The model generates time bands, such as a million years, to show how extinction rate varies through time. And the model allowed us to identify time periods that had high extinction rates. It can also suggest times in which major shifts in species creation and diversification have occurred as well as when there may have been a mass extinction event. It shows how well the DNA evidence supports these findings too. </p>
<p>We found that extinction rates seem to have been remarkably constant over the last 140-240 million years. This finding highlights how resilient angiosperms have been over hundreds of millions of years. </p>
<p>We cannot ignore the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-prisms-extinction/article/endcretaceous-plant-extinction-heterogeneity-ecosystem-transformation-and-insights-for-the-future/D74EBD512E4261E4C28BB7AF024E80B9">fossil evidence</a> showing that many angiosperm species did disappear around K-Pg, with some locations hit harder than others. But, as our study seems to confirm, the lineages (families and orders) to which species belonged carried on undisturbed, creating life on Earth as we know it. </p>
<p>This is different to how non-avian dinosaurs fared, who disappeared in their entirety: their entire branch was pruned. </p>
<p>Scientists believe <a href="https://genome.cshlp.org/content/24/8/1334.short">angiosperm resilience</a> to the K-Pg mass extinction (why only leaves and branchlets of the angiosperm tree were pruned) may be explained by their ability to adapt. For example, their evolution of new seed-dispersal and pollination mechanisms. </p>
<p>They can also <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2017.0912">duplicate their entire genome</a> (all of the DNA instructions in an organism) which provides a second copy of every single gene on which selection can act, potentially leading to new forms and greater diversity.</p>
<p>The sixth mass extinction event <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.1400253">we currently face</a> may follow a similar trajectory. A worrying number of angiosperm species are already threatened with extinction, and their demise will probably lead to the end of life as we know it. </p>
<p>It’s true angiosperms may blossom again from a stock of diverse survivors - and they may outlive us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Thompson received PhD funding from Roger and Sue Whorrod (University of Bath alumni and philanthropists).</span></em></p>The fossil record tells conflicting stories about what happened to flowering plants after the asteroid.Jamie Thompson, Postdoctoral Evolutionary Biologist, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2111562023-08-14T15:06:14Z2023-08-14T15:06:14ZFossil footprint discoveries and what they tell us<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541937/original/file-20230809-26-9gcmy3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Footprints on a sandy surface don’t usually last long: they’re washed away by water, wiped out by wind or covered over by new tracks. At certain sites in southern Africa, though, some traces of animals have lasted for many thousands or even millions of years – fleeting moments preserved in sand that turned to rock. </p>
<p>They tell scientists about the creatures that lived in ancient times, how they behaved and what their environment was like. Studying fossil footprints also adds to what the body fossil record reveals.</p>
<p>In these articles from our archive, scientists share some of their exciting fossil footprint finds.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Zebra crossing – with a difference</h2>
<p>Charles Helm studies the fossilised tracks, trails, burrows and excavations made by animals. He’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-discovery-fossilised-giant-zebra-tracks-found-in-south-africa-201687?notice=Article+has+been+updated">discovered</a> how, tens of thousands of years ago, a huge horse species roamed along South Africa’s Cape south coast. </p>
<p>These findings also revealed that these Giant Cape Zebras must have been a fairly regular sight on the landscape. An insight that body fossil records don’t provide.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-discovery-fossilised-giant-zebra-tracks-found-in-south-africa-201687">New discovery: fossilised giant zebra tracks found in South Africa</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Oldest human footprints</h2>
<p>Armed with specialist skills and world-class technology, Charles Helm also teamed up with geographer Andrew Carr to <a href="https://theconversation.com/worlds-oldest-homo-sapiens-footprint-identified-on-south-africas-cape-south-coast-205310?notice=Article+has+been+updated.">investigate</a> tracks along South Africa’s coast. That’s how they identified something truly remarkable: a footprint left by one of our human ancestors 153,000 years ago. So far, it’s the oldest footprint in the world attributed to our species, <em>Homo sapiens</em>
.</p>
<p>They explained how the finding also confirms that the Cape south coast was an area in which early modern humans survived, evolved and thrived, before spreading out of Africa to other continents.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/worlds-oldest-homo-sapiens-footprint-identified-on-south-africas-cape-south-coast-205310">World's oldest _Homo sapiens_ footprint identified on South Africa's Cape south coast</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Dinosaur behaviour insights</h2>
<p>Today, dinosaur fossils can be found in many parts of the world. South Africa and Lesotho’s main Karoo Basin, for example, contains many dinosaur fossils and dinosaur markings, like footprints.</p>
<p>Miengah Abrahams <a href="https://theconversation.com/footprints-take-science-a-step-closer-to-understanding-southern-africas-dinosaurs-185480?notice=Article+has+been+updated.">explains</a> that fossil footprints are a treasure chest of information. They can reveal what organism made the tracks, offer clues to their behaviour and even provide evidence about the conditions in which they lived. She outlines what’s been learnt from dinosaur tracks in the Karoo Basin. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/footprints-take-science-a-step-closer-to-understanding-southern-africas-dinosaurs-185480">Footprints take science a step closer to understanding southern Africa's dinosaurs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>__</p>
<h2>An unexpected discovery</h2>
<p>In this <a href="https://theconversation.com/dinosaur-tracksite-in-lesotho-how-a-wrong-turn-led-to-an-exciting-find-208963?notice=Article+has+been+updated">article</a>, Miengah Abrahams tells the story of how she unexpectedly came across some new dinosaur footprints in Lesotho. For a geologist studying dinosaur tracksites this wasn’t a massive surprise, but it was the first time a dinosaur from the ornithischian group – a four-footed, plant-eating, “bird-hipped” community – had been documented in the Roma Valley, an area rich in fossil footprints.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dinosaur-tracksite-in-lesotho-how-a-wrong-turn-led-to-an-exciting-find-208963">Dinosaur tracksite in Lesotho: how a wrong turn led to an exciting find</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211156/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Some footprints last thousands or even millions of years, preserved in sand that turned to rock.Natasha Joseph, Commissioning EditorMoina Spooner, Assistant EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2083602023-08-03T15:21:16Z2023-08-03T15:21:16ZSix must-see summer exhibitions – reviewed by our experts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539792/original/file-20230727-19-h7rmry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C31%2C5301%2C3491&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-august-15-2017-female-706599463">I Wei Huang</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Looking for something to do this Summer? Our experts have gone to some of the best exhibitions around the UK and given us their take on it. From retrospectives of painter Peter Howson’s work in Edinburgh and filmmaker Brian Desmond Hurst’s work in Belfast to a groundbreaking photography exhibition in London and a huge inflatable sculpture installation in Manchester.</em> </p>
<h2>1. <a href="https://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/whats-on/when-apple-ripens-peter-howson-65">When The Apple Ripens: Peter Howson at 65</a> – Edinburgh City Arts Centre, Edinburgh</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.flowersgallery.com/artists/167-peter-howson/">Peter Howson’s</a> story is about seeking dignity in human suffering and violence, and finding redemption. It is also uniquely Scottish.</p>
<p>Howson’s Edinburgh retrospective, <a href="https://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/whats-on/when-apple-ripens-peter-howson-65">When The Apple Ripens</a>, covers three key stages of his life: the early works of portraiture and recording of the aftermath of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22079683">Thatcherite Britain</a>; the impact of his <a href="http://www.hasta-standrews.com/features/2017/12/5/peter-howson-and-the-bosnian-war">experiences as a war artist</a> in Bosnia and Kosovo; and finally, his therapeutic <a href="https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/21712/Froelich_Peter_Howson_and_The_Language_of_Salvation.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">conversion to Christianity</a> after years of battling with alcoholism and drugs.</p>
<p>An unmistakably Scottish feature of Howson’s work is the undertone of <a href="https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/sbet/19-2_195.pdf">Calvinism</a> with its god-fearing, joyless culture of toil and penitence. He demonstrates empathy, acceptance and respect for worthy subjects, but he has also created works of satire and mockery, attacking the evils of the world, particularly fascism. </p>
<p>His purpose and dedication to his artisanship are evident, but it is his moving display of human suffering and his pursuit of redemption that mark him out as a great contemporary British artist. This is a timely showcase to celebrate his 65th year.</p>
<p><em>Until October 1<br>
Reviewed by Blane Savage, Lecturer in MA Creative Media Practice</em></p>
<h2>2. <a href="https://pallant.org.uk/whats-on/gwen-john-art-and-life/">Gwen John: Art and Life in London and Paris</a> – Pallant House Gallery, Chichester</h2>
<p>Born in 1876, the Welsh painter <a href="https://artuk.org/discover/artists/john-gwen-18761939">Gwen John</a> was a genuinely unique <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/modernism#:%7E:text=Although%20many%20different%20styles%20are,up%20the%20work">modernist painter</a>. She didn’t create loud, macho work, nor sexy, objectified nudes, nor abstract forms, like many male modernists. She was fiercely herself, making small, intimate, idiosyncratic paintings that share a definite style and palette over the course of her career.</p>
<p>This exhibition includes works by some of John’s greatest influences, including her one-time tutor <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/whis/hd_whis.htm">James McNeill Whistler</a> as well as <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pcez/hd_pcez.htm">Paul Cezanne</a>, <a href="https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/edouard-vuillard">Edouard Vuillard</a>, <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/walter-sickert">Walter Sickert</a>, her brother <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/augustus-john-om-1362">Augustus John</a> and her lover <a href="https://rodinmuseum.org/collection/about-auguste-rodin">Auguste Rodin</a>.</p>
<p>It decisively reframes John, often characterised as a recluse: “This is a story of connection, rather than isolation,” the first wall text states, “of a woman who was part of the culture of her age”. </p>
<p>Pallant House’s exhibition is fundamentally biographical and engages with the nuances of a woman who eschewed the norms of both sexes to make her own way. It valiantly takes on the task of proclaiming her importance in the history of modern art. </p>
<p><em>Until October 8<br>
Reviewed by Eliza Goodpasture, PhD candidate in the History of Art</em></p>
<h2>3. <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/contemporary-african-photography-a-world-in-common">A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography</a> – Tate Modern, London</h2>
<p>For most visitors, this exhibition serves as an enlightening journey that challenges their perspective. It confronts and dismantles enduring colonial stereotypes associated with Africa. Simultaneously, it stands as a long-awaited affirmation of African photographers, validating their unique use of the medium.</p>
<p>The show’s curator, Osei Bonsu, developed three major themes – “identity and tradition”, “counter histories” and “imagined futures”. The 36 featured photographers tell stories of an Africa that celebrates its spirituality and is untangling itself from its colonial past. This is awe-inspiring work by a new generation of artists who draw on the rich social and political history of the continent to tell their stories.</p>
<p>By working with masks, mirrors, self-portraiture or consenting sitters, the featured artists all circumnavigate the historic and often still-present exploitative relationship between the camera and the African continent. This is a decolonial approach to photography we can all learn from, but it also poses the question of how African photographers will make visible the richness of everyday life on the continent.</p>
<p><em>Until January 4 2024<br>
Reviewed by Kerstin Hacker, Senior Lecturer in Photography</em></p>
<h2>4. <a href="https://www.ulstermuseum.org/whats-on/film-art-brian-desmond-hurst-film-director-exhibition">Film as Art: Brian Desmond Hurst, Film Director</a> – Ulster Museum, Belfast</h2>
<p>This exhibition at the Ulster Museum presents the story of film director Brian Desmond Hurst’s eventful life and times through archive film posters, production stills, photographs, letters and a video compilation of clips from some of his work. Born in the heart of working-class East Belfast in 1895, Hurst’s long life – like his film œuvre – was a bundle of surprises and contradictions. </p>
<p>An artistically ambitious and intelligent filmmaker, Hurst’s output was confined almost entirely to British genre cinema (including classics such as Caesar and Cleopatra, 1945; Scrooge, 1951; and Malta Story,1953). He was a caustic wit with a gift for melodramatic scene setting, bipartisan on the <a href="https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/the-irish-question">Irish question</a> (Irish-British relations), bisexual in his love life, and an essentially elusive figure clearly regarded with genuine affection by his wide circle of friends, and his family. This modest but often fascinating exhibition is an important public testament to this remarkable filmmaker and his achievements.</p>
<p><em>Until January 11 2024<br>
Reviewed by Des O'Rawe, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies</em></p>
<h2>5. <a href="https://www.theherbert.org/whats-on/1697/dippy-in-coventry-the-nations-favourite-dinosaur">Dippy in Coventry: The Nation’s Favourite Dinosaur</a> – Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry</h2>
<p>Billed as the “dinosaur in residence”, Dippy the famous sauropod from the Natural History Museum is on long loan to the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry. This is the 26-metre skeleton of one of the longest dinosaurs ever – the marvel of the Jurassic.</p>
<p>Dippy, properly <em>Diplodocus</em>, lived 155 million years ago in Wyoming. What you see is a perfect, life-sized plaster cast of the original skeleton, which is in the Pittsburgh Natural History Museum. This perfect plaster copy of the skeleton arrived at the Natural History Museum in 1905 and it has been a favourite ever since.</p>
<p>Dippy has been on tour since 2018, travelling from London to Dorset, Birmingham, Belfast, Glasgow, Newcastle and Norwich, and – after a brief touchdown in London – has been in Coventry for a few months.</p>
<p>This is a fun museum visit no child will complain about. Your five-year-old will hold forth like a professor, giving you all the details of Dippy’s life and times.</p>
<p><em>Until February 2026<br>
Reviewed by Mike Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology</em></p>
<h2>6. <a href="https://factoryinternational.org/whats-on/yayoi-kusama-you-me-and-the-balloons/">Yayoi Kusama: You, me and the Balloons</a> – The Warehouse at Aviva Studios, Manchester</h2>
<p>This exhibition offers a captivating journey into the Japanese artist’s world in the largest-ever immersive show of her inflatable works. The installations provide various levels of engagement, from playful interactions to deeper contemplation of meaning.</p>
<p>Kusama’s universe is magic to observe, in the first room visitors are confronted by inflatable tentacles that fill the room with their impressive size. The journey to the larger space provides a unique vantage point, allowing time to linger here revealed the subtle movements of the floating inflatable universe above. The large mirrored wall also creates distorted reflections, blurring the lines between reality and Kusama’s dream world. </p>
<p>The installations encourage different experiences. The Dots Obsession Dome invite this a brief immersion, while the smaller Peephole Dome elicit genuine reactions and introspection through the unexpected eyes looking back at you. The exhibition offers rich people-watching opportunities, where you lose track of time completely. </p>
<p><em>Until August 28<br>
Reviewed by Lucy Gannon, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader in Interior Design</em></p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Launches 4 August. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208360/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our experts have you covered with recommendations of what to see this summer.Blane Savage, Lecturer in MA Creative Media Practice and BA(Hons) New Media Art, University of the West of ScotlandDes O'Rawe, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, Queen's University BelfastEliza Goodpasture, PhD candidate in the History of Art, University of YorkKerstin Hacker, Senior Lecturer in Photography, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLucy Gannon, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader BA in Interior Design, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityMichael J. Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2089632023-08-03T14:39:56Z2023-08-03T14:39:56ZDinosaur tracksite in Lesotho: how a wrong turn led to an exciting find<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539023/original/file-20230724-14014-ctdnz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An artistic impression of the various dinosaur species that once roamed the Roma Valley.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Akhil Rampersadh</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I am a poor navigator. This is not an easy thing for a field geologist to admit. We need to be able to find our planned area of interest in good time and make our way back to our potentially hidden and distant vehicles at the end of the day. It’s especially true that I am a poor navigator when I need to use nondescript bushes, the distant hill shape, and the odd fallen boulder as reference points. </p>
<p>So it was no surprise when I led my MSc student Loyce Mpangala and our PhD candidate field assistant Akhil Rampersadh astray in Lesotho’s Roma Valley. We were walking back to our car after looking at a <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-giant-dinosaur-that-roamed-southern-africa-200-million-years-ago-86004">dinosaur tracksite</a> that I’d visited before. The tracksite, which is marked on Google Maps as an attraction, was on the other side of a sparsely populated hill with numerous informal walkways, overlooking the National University of Lesotho.</p>
<p>Walking along the wrong (I didn’t know it then) footpath, I spotted a dinosaur footprint I hadn’t seen before. Once you’ve worked on dinosaur tracks for seven years and visited the same site a few times you get to know their shape and their personality. And this one was different. The first footprint I spotted superficially resembled others on the hill: three-toed, longer-than-wide with claw marks; but it was far away from the known site we had just visited. </p>
<p>After taking a few more steps, we spotted some more footprints. These had distinct shapes we had not yet seen in the Roma area: short, wide footprints with rounded, stubby toes. When we looked more closely, they were sometimes paired with star-shaped handprints. These footprints were made by herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs and it is the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2023.2221306">first time</a> their distinct shape has been documented in the Roma Valley, which is rich in fossil footprints. It adds to scientists’ knowledge of the extensive trace fossil diversity of the local dinosaur community during the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Jurassic-Period">Early Jurassic</a> period about 200 million years ago. </p>
<p>I guess sometimes – and I cannot overemphasise how rarely – the wrong turn can lead you to the right place. </p>
<h2>New, old and very old</h2>
<p>The tracksite was new to our dino-tracking team from South Africa’s University of Cape Town. But it was not a new discovery. It is known as the Mokhosi site and was reported in 2003 by David Ambrose, a tracking enthusiast and mathematics professor at the National University of Lesotho. He noted that a number of large three-toed prints were preserved, with more likely to be beneath the recent sand covering. </p>
<p>Our extensive uncovering (a glamorous way for saying sweeping) of the 18 metre by 2 metre tracksite showed that more fossil evidence had indeed been captured in the rock. We documented 35 footprints; most were part of trackways, heading in all directions. </p>
<p>The footprints were all three-toed and fell into two main shape groupings – those that were longer-than-wide, with slender toes and sharp claw marks, and those that were wider-than-long, with robust, rounded toes. The latter were occasionally associated with smaller and shallow handprints, in front and slightly to the outer side of their corresponding footprints. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/footprints-take-science-a-step-closer-to-understanding-southern-africas-dinosaurs-185480">first group of tracks</a> (longer-than-wide) are a type commonly preserved in southern Africa and can be attributed to carnivorous theropod dinosaurs. The theropod tracks at Mokhosi reach a maximum length of about 40cm, meaning that these meat-eating travellers would have had a hip height of about 2 metres, towering over humans.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/footprints-take-science-a-step-closer-to-understanding-southern-africas-dinosaurs-185480">Footprints take science a step closer to understanding southern Africa's dinosaurs</a>
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<p>The second group of hand- and footprints preserve characteristics consistent with herbivorous ornithischian dinosaur trackmakers. Our excitement rose as we carefully dusted these tracks: globally, ornithischian footprints are rarer than theropods during the Early Jurassic. </p>
<p>This marks the first time these distinct quadrupedal ornithischian footprints have been found in the Roma Valley. It’s remarkable, given that a high number of tracksites (14) have been identified and studied in the area.</p>
<h2>Waiting to be found again</h2>
<p>When we walked back to our car after a long day, we took a moment to stare back at the wonderful site we’d stumbled across. We knew that the future rains and winds would once again hide the Mokhosi tracksite, leaving only small clues to the keen eye of what lies beneath the sand. </p>
<p>We wish the same excitement to the next passerby who unveils this little wonder. </p>
<p>To help you, I’d like to note that the nearby bush is “bushier than the surrounding ones”, that the hill gradient “changes ever so slightly above the track-bearing sandstone”, and that the nearby boulders are completely “nondescript”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208963/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research component of this project was supported from the following research grants obtained by MA: DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence Genus (grant number 86073); NRF Thuthuka (grant number 138151); UCT Research Development Grants 2020 – 2021. AR is a recipient of postgraduate funding from the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeoscience (Genus). LM is a recipient of postgraduate funding from the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeoscience (Genus) and Palaeontological Scientific Trust (PAST), Johannesburg, South Africa; DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeoscience.</span></em></p>Fossilised tracks of a group of plant-eating dinosaurs have been found in Lesotho’s Roma Valley for the first time.Miengah Abrahams, Lecturer, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2101102023-07-20T14:45:19Z2023-07-20T14:45:19ZThirty years after Jurassic Park hit movie screens, its impact on science and culture remains as strong as ever – podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538375/original/file-20230719-22038-i0v8x9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5351%2C3564&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Jurassic Park franchise has spawned several movies, theme parks and spin-off products.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Jurassic Park</em>, the 1993 film about dinosaurs, is a cultural tour de force. Not only did the film herald a new era in computer-generated movie effects, it also revived the field of paleontology. And if that wasn’t enough, it raised questions about the ethics of DNA research.</p>
<p>Based on Michael Crichton’s novel by the same name, <em>Jurassic Park</em> told the story of an ambitious theme park that used resurrected dinosaurs as its attractions. But as the story unfolds, things start to go wrong.</p>
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<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-561" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/561/4fbbd099d631750693d02bac632430b71b37cd5f/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>In this Discovery episode of <em>The Conversation Weekly</em>, we speak with Travis Holland, a senior lecturer at Charles Sturt University in Australia. He researches media and fan studies, and has looked at the popular and scientific cultural impact <em>Jurassic Park</em> continues to have.</p>
<p>“We started to see through the mid part of the 1900s a dinosaur renaissance, where there was a spate of interesting research discoveries happening all around the world,” Holland said. “Jurassic Park came at the tail end of that. It took all of this new science and made it public.”</p>
<h2>Philosophical questions</h2>
<p>The film’s plot is based on the ability of scientists to produce animals from DNA and resurrect prehistoric animals using that technology. Since 1993, DNA science has developed so much that this premise is no longer a far-fetched science fiction plot.</p>
<p>The film — and its science — have influenced and shaped research not only in paleontology, but also in genetic technologies. In a somewhat prescient move related to genetic science, Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/21/life-will-find-a-way-could-scientists-make-jurassic-park-a-reality">was born three years after <em>Jurassic Park</em> was released</a>.</p>
<p>In a highly publicized announcement, the biotech company <a href="https://colossal.com/mammoth/">Colossal Biosciences is trying to bring back the woolly mammoth</a> and other extinct species.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Texas-based company Colossal Biosciences is trying to resurrect extinct species.</span></figcaption>
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<p><em>Jurassic Park</em> posed the question to viewers that even if the science to resurrect extinct species did exist, should it be used? The film doesn’t resolve this question, and it’s one that has grown in importance as genetic technologies are becoming more sophisticated and mainstream.</p>
<h2>Representation and art</h2>
<p>Holland’s work considers <em>Jurassic Park</em> within a lineage of dinosaur representations and depictions — what he refers to as paleo-media. These representations of dinosaurs were a combination of thorough paleontological research and art.</p>
<p>“Charles R. Knight painted a mural called the Leaping Laelaps, which is these two therapod dinosaurs leaping at each other,” Holland says. “I’d suggest that that piece of art possibly inspired even the Velociraptors and the way they leaped in Jurassic Park.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538385/original/file-20230719-27-tivq2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="an illustration of two light green dinosaurs jumping in a meadow" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538385/original/file-20230719-27-tivq2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538385/original/file-20230719-27-tivq2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538385/original/file-20230719-27-tivq2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538385/original/file-20230719-27-tivq2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538385/original/file-20230719-27-tivq2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538385/original/file-20230719-27-tivq2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538385/original/file-20230719-27-tivq2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">CAPTION.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Laelaps-Charles_Knight-1897.jpg">(Charles R. Knight/Wikimedia Commons)</a></span>
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<p>Since 1993, there have been a total of six <em>Jurassic Park</em> films released in the franchise, with the most recent one coming out last year. To hear how the film continues to inspire new generations of scientists, artists and filmmakers, tune in to this Discovery episode of <em>The Conversation Weekly</em>.</p>
<hr>
<p>This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood and hosted by Nehal El-Hadi. Mend Mariwany is the executive producer of The Conversation Weekly. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.</p>
<p>You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also sign up to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>. A transcript of this episode will be available soon.</p>
<p>Listen to <em>The Conversation Weekly</em>_ via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210110/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nehal El-Hadi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Jurassic Park was a technological breakthrough for film because of its use of CGI. It also revived an interest in paleontology and raised ethical questions about DNA use.Nehal El-Hadi, Science + Technology Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2086942023-06-30T10:51:08Z2023-06-30T10:51:08ZDid our mammal ancestors live alongside dinosaurs? New research hopes to end long-running debate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534772/original/file-20230629-25-yojgb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4992%2C3113&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/scene-dinosaurs-asteroid-explosion-end-prehistoric-1944614881">david.costa.art/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you were asked to think of a mammal, chances are high you would think of a placental mammal – horses, dogs, cats, humans, even bats and rats all fall into that category. It includes <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jmammal/article/99/1/1/4834091">some 6,000 species</a> who live in the oceans as well as on land. </p>
<p>Today placentals are by far the most abundant and widespread mammals, although there are two other groups, monotremes (echidnas and platypuses) and marsupials (pouched kangaroos and koalas).</p>
<p>Debate has raged for many years among palaeontologists (who study the earth through fossils) over whether placental mammals, evolved alongside dinosaurs or appeared only after they died out.</p>
<p>My team’s <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)00767-4">study used a new method</a> to investigate this question and our findings may help settle this debate. We think placental mammals may have evolved roughly 70 million years ago, meaning they would have walked the Earth at the same time as the dinosaurs.</p>
<h2>Estimating origins</h2>
<p>There are two main methods palaeontologists use to estimate when a group of animals first evolved. The first is reading the fossil record - the oldest fossil in a group determines the date when it first evolved. For placental mammals, there are a couple of fossils from around 65 million years ago, just after the mass extinction of dinosaurs. These include <em>Purgatorius</em>, considered <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.210050">an ancestor of primates</a> (and thus humans).</p>
<p>However, the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2015.0130">fossil record is full of gaps</a>. Only a <a href="https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/abs/10.1144/SP358.6">fraction of life has ever been fossilised</a>, and fossil hunters have probably only found a small percentage of the organisms preserved in Earth’s sediments. A species’ chance of featuring in a scientific study as a fossil are similar to winning the lottery. </p>
<p>Another way of estimating when groups first evolved is through <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-the-molecular-clock-46242">molecular clock</a> dating studies. Scientists can compare the DNA of organisms to work out when they emerged as distinct species. </p>
<p>Two species that are similar in their genetic makeup probably have family trees that split from each other fairly recently. Very different species diverge further back in time, allowing for the build-up of more genetic differences. </p>
<p>The genetic difference between two species is roughly proportional to their time of evolutionary divergence, or their origin.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/biosciences/news/2022/jan/species-level-timeline-mammal-evolution-integrating-phylogenomic-data">Molecular clock studies</a> of placental mammals suggest the group first evolved in the Cretaceous period, around 80 million years ago and nearly 20 million years before fossils of placental mammals first start to appear. So which is correct?</p>
<h2>Rocks or clocks?</h2>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)00767-4">study, published in Current Biology</a>, my colleagues and I used a new method of interpreting the fossil record to estimate the age of placental mammals: statistical analysis.</p>
<p>First, we gathered records of more than 15,000 fossils of placental mammals, focusing on those that are well-researched enough to place in the placental mammal family tree. The <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-020-01387-8">Bayesian Brownian Bridge</a> (BBB) model is a scientific formula that uses the distribution of fossils through time to estimate the age of a group. We used the BBB to estimate the ages of 380 families within placental mammals.</p>
<p>Rather than comparing species directly to each other like in molecular clock studies, the BBB model allowed us to take a wider view and compare families. As well as following the pattern of a family’s diversity through time, the BBB model also estimates a sampling rate, or how frequently fossils appear in the fossil record.</p>
<p>This helped us to fill the gaps in the fossil record. </p>
<p>For young lineages that evolved only a few hundred thousand years ago, this sampling rate may be quite high, because we have more fossils from <a href="https://thesedimentaryrecord.scholasticahq.com/article/31399-we-need-a-global-comprehensive-stratigraphic-database-here-s-a-start">younger rocks</a>. Younger rocks are more intact, and often closer to the surface. But for older groups, the sampling rate may be quite low because geological processes degrade and destroy rocks and fossils over time. </p>
<p>Additionally, a species needs to be fairly widespread and abundant to be fossilised, otherwise it has very little chance of winning that lottery. Which means the age of a group will always be older than the oldest fossil in that group, but it doesn’t tell us by how much. </p>
<h2>The origins of placental mammals</h2>
<p>This is what the sampling rate helps with - families with low sampling rates likely had more of a gap between the oldest fossil and the true origin of that family.</p>
<p>The BBB model estimated the age of placental mammals to be within the Cretaceous period, around 70-80 million years ago – possibly up to 20 million years before the asteroid impact. </p>
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<p>Our results show that placental mammals co-existed with dinosaurs for several million years. Ancestors to rabbits and hares (<em>Lagomorpha</em>), cats and dogs (<em>Carnivora</em>) and primates probably all evolved in the time of dinosaurs. Early placental mammals were probably <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1229237">small and shrew-like</a>. </p>
<p>From an origin at the feet of dinosaurs, placental mammals have soared to become the most dominant animals on Earth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208694/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Carlisle receives funding from the University of Bristol. </span></em></p>New research shows that placental mammals survived the mass extinction that killed the
dinosaurs.Emily Carlisle, PhD student in Palaeobiology, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2074392023-06-09T13:26:08Z2023-06-09T13:26:08ZJurassic Park yn 30 a'r chwyldro effeithiau arbennig ddigwyddodd yn sgil y ffilm<p>Mae’r mis hwn yn nodi 30 mlynedd ers ffilm a newidiodd y sinema am byth. Defnyddiodd Jurassic Park 1993 ddelweddau a gynhyrchwyd gan gyfrifiadur (CGI) arloesol i ddod â deinosoriaid yn fyw yn addasiad Steven Spielberg o'r nofel o'r un enw.</p>
<p>Daeth y ffilm yn ddigwyddiad yr oedd yn rhaid ei weld yn gyflym iawn a chafodd cynulleidfaoedd eu syfrdanu gan yr olygfa o weld deinosoriaid credadwy yn ymlwybro ar draws y sgrin fawr am y tro cyntaf. Nid yn unig y gwnaeth Jurassic Park <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=uWiWCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=jurassic+park+cgi&ots=2GhA2wlixw&sig=lhUvmRpL2KYrbQWDfE1fRizz7FE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=jurassic%20park%20cgi&f=false">gamau enfawr</a> mewn gwneud ffilmiau effeithiau arbennig, ond fe wnaeth hefyd baratoi'r ffordd ar gyfer myrdd o gynyrchiadau dilynol a oedd yn cynnwys bwystfilod o bob lliw a llun.</p>
<p>Cafodd Jurassic Park ei eni yn 1983 fel sgript sgrin gan Michael Crichton. Fe oedd awdur a chyfarwyddwr y ffilm, Westworld (1973), oedd yn adrodd stori parc adloniant lle’r oedd androidau yn camweithio ac yn rhedeg yn benwyllt. Ond cyhoeddwyd ei stori ar thema deinosoriaid am y tro cyntaf fel y nofel Jurassic Park, a ryddhawyd ym 1990 ac a ddaeth yn werthwr gorau.</p>
<p>Dyna pryd y daeth i sylw Steven Spielberg. Erbyn y 1990au cynnar, nid oedd Spielberg yn ddieithr i wneud ffilmiau ffuglen wyddonol ar gyllideb fawr. Roedd ffilmiau fel Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) ac E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) wedi dangos bod ganddo hanes o wneud ffilmiau hynod lwyddiannus. Roedd Jurassic Park, felly, yn berffaith ar gyfer ei gynhyrchiad nesaf.</p>
<p>Newidiodd addasiad Spielberg, a ysgrifennwyd gan Crichton a David Koepp, nifer o agweddau ar y nofel i roi diweddglo boddhaol i’r ffilm, ond gan adael digon o ddiweddglo rhydd i’w harchwilio ymhellach mewn ffilmiau eraill.</p>
<p>Wrth gwrs, nid Jurassic Park oedd y tro cyntaf i ddeinosoriaid gael sylw ar y sgrin fawr. Mae King Kong (1933) yn enghraifft gynnar o ffilm a wthiodd ffiniau'r hyn a oedd yn bosibl ar y pryd trwy gynnwys golygfeydd o'r gorila enfawr yn ymladd â deinosoriaid.</p>
<p>Daeth creaduriaid yn fyw o flaen y gynulleidfa sinema trwy gyfuno animeiddiad stopio-symudiad ag ôl-dafluniad (lle mae ffilm a saethwyd yn flaenorol yn cael ei thaflunio ar gefndir a bod actorion yn cael eu recordio yn perfformio o'i flaen). Roedd ffilmiau eraill fel Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), The Lost World (1960) a The Land That Time Forgot (1974) wedi ceisio ffyrdd amgen o ddod â deinosoriaid i'r sgrin, gan gynnwys pypedwaith a hyd yn oed ffitio ymlusgiaid byw gyda phrostheteg.</p>
<p>O'r dulliau hyn, dewiswyd cyfuniad o animeiddiad stopio-symudiad ar gyfer saethiadau hir a phypedau animatronig ar gyfer sesiynau golwg agos i ddechrau gan Spielberg ar gyfer Jurassic Park.</p>
<h2>CGI ac animeiddio</h2>
<p>Cafwyd canlyniadau da gan brofion stopio-symudiad, yn enwedig wrth ddatblygu’r hyn a elwir yn “go-motion”, sef techneg a oedd yn niwlio modelau i ddarparu ymdeimlad o symudiad tebyg i weithred fyw. Ond roedd Spielberg a'i dîm yn dal yn awyddus i fynd ymhellach gyda'r hyn oedd yn bosib. Darparodd Dennis Muren o’r cwmni effeithiau arbennig, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), ymagwedd amgen drwy ddefnyddio modelu ac animeiddio CGI.</p>
<p>Ar gefn gwaith CGI arloesol yn The Abyss (1989) a Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), cynhyrchodd Muren a'i dîm gyfres brawf o ddeinosoriaid ysgerbydol. Fe wnaeth profion yn cynnwys <em>Tyrannosaurus Rex</em> gyda chroen ychwanegol gadarnhau ymhellach y sylweddoliad mai dyma'r ffordd i barhau ar gyfer y ffilm. Adeiladodd y dechneg hon fodel y deinosor o esgyrn, ychwanegu cyhyr ac yna yn olaf, y croen.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Golygfa'r T. rex yn dianc.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Roedd yn ymddangos bod y tîm stopio-symudiad a oedd wedi'i ymgynnull wedi'i ddileu gan y dechnoleg arloesol hon. Fodd bynnag, y gwneuthurwyr modelau a’r animeiddwyr oedd yr arbenigwyr ar ddeinosoriaid a’u symudiadau. Fe wnaethant ailhyfforddi fel animeiddwyr cyfrifiadurol i barhau i ddefnyddio eu sgiliau ar y cynhyrchiad.</p>
<p>Mae Jurassic Park yn cynnwys 15 munud o ddeinosoriaid ar y sgrin, gyda thua naw munud ohonynt yn cynnwys animatronegau Stan Winston a chwe munud o animeiddiad CGI ILM. Gwelir llwyddiant y cyfuniad hwn yn yr olygfa <em>T. Rex</em> eiconig. Mae nifer o saethiadau animatronig yn cynnwys lluniau agos o’r <em>T. Rex</em> wrth i’r saethiadau uchder llawn ddarparu bygythiad a phŵer y creadur.</p>
<p>Mae'r modd y mae Spielberg yn cyfarwyddo'r olygfa - o adeiladu tensiwn atmosfferig y storm law, trwy'r datgeliad cychwynnol a'r ymatebion, yr ymosodiad hirfaith a'r ddihangfa ddilynol - yn tywys y gynulleidfa trwy ystod o emosiynau. Er bod y darnau CGI yn gymharol fyr, maent yn cael effaith enfawr ar y stori, heb sôn am y gred bod y digwyddiad yn digwydd o'n blaenau mewn gwirionedd. Mae'n gynrychiolaeth wirioneddol o bŵer sinema.</p>
<h2>Effaith</h2>
<p>Ar ôl ei ryddhau, daeth Jurassic Park yn llwyddiant ysgubol. Roedd hefyd yn gyfle perffaith i ddatblygu ac arddangos y datblygiadau diweddaraf mewn CGI. Roedd y wefr o weld rhuthr y <em>Gallimimus</em>, arswyd ymosodiad y <em>T. Rex</em> ac arswyd yr helfa <em>Velociraptor</em> wedi swyno cynulleidfaoedd ar draws y byd. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Golygfa rhuthr y Gallimimus yn Jurassic Park.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Ysbrydolodd Jurassic Park nifer o ffilmiau â themâu debyg fel Dinosaur (2000) gan Disney a chyfres deledu y BBC, Walking with Dinosaurs (1999). Ond yn fwy na hynny, fe helpodd i greu chwyldro yn y defnydd o effeithiau arbennig CGI mewn ffilmiau.</p>
<p>O'r chwe munud hynny o ddeinosoriaid wedi'u hanimeiddio, mae CGI bellach wedi integreiddio cymaint â'r diwydiant nes bod bron pob cynhyrchiad ffilm a theledu yn cynnwys rhyw fath o CGI. Gall hyn olygu’n syml glanhau agweddau ar y ddelwedd a ffilmiwyd yn ddigidol gyda thynnu ac ailosod, estyniadau set, ychwanegu modelau set CGI neu gerbydau a phropiau animeiddiedig, at ffilmio gyda sgrin werdd a delweddau cyfansoddi, neu uno actorion o fewn amgylcheddau CGI llawn.</p>
<p>Mae'r ffilm yn parhau i fod yn bwynt arwyddocaol yn hanes sinema. Dyma gyhoeddodd fod creaduriaid CGI wedi cyrraedd, gan baratoi'r ffordd ar gyfer y deng mlynedd ar hugain dilynol o wneud ffilmiau ffantasi.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Hodges does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rhyddhawyd Jurassic Park ar y sgrin fawr ym mis Mehefin 1993 a newidiodd sinema am byth.Peter Hodges, Lecturer in Contextual and Critical Studies for Visual Effects and Motion Graphics, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2045922023-06-08T16:28:34Z2023-06-08T16:28:34ZJurassic Park at 30: how its CGI revolutionised the film industry<p><em>You can also read this article <a href="https://theconversation.com/jurassic-park-yn-30-ar-chwyldro-effeithiau-arbennig-ddigwyddodd-yn-sgil-y-ffilm-207439">in Welsh</a>.</em></p>
<p>This month marks the 30th anniversary of a film that changed cinema forever. 1993’s Jurassic Park used pioneering computer-generated imagery (CGI) to bring dinosaurs to life in Steven Spielberg’s adaption of the novel of the same name. </p>
<p>The film quickly became a must-see event and audiences were left amazed by the spectacle of seeing believable dinosaurs grace the big screen for the first time. Jurassic Park not only <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=uWiWCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=jurassic+park+cgi&ots=2GhA2wlixw&sig=lhUvmRpL2KYrbQWDfE1fRizz7FE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=jurassic%20park%20cgi&f=false">made giant leaps</a> in special-effects filmmaking, but it also paved the way for myriad subsequent productions that featured beasts of all shapes and sizes.</p>
<p>Jurassic Park originated in 1983 as a screenplay by Michael Crichton, whose previous foray into film as writer and director of Westworld (1973) featured an immersive amusement park where androids malfunctioned and caused havoc. But his dinosaur-themed story first found publication as the novel Jurassic Park, which was released in 1990 and became a bestseller. </p>
<p>That’s when it came to the attention of Steven Spielberg. By the early 1990s, Spielberg was no stranger to big-budget science-fiction filmmaking. The likes of Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) had demonstrated that he had a track record of making extremely successful effects-heavy but story-led films. That made Jurassic Park perfect for his next production.</p>
<p>Spielberg’s adaptation, written by Crichton and David Koepp, changed a number of aspects of the novel’s ending to provide a satisfactory conclusion to the film, yet leave enough loose ends for further exploration in the franchise.</p>
<p>Of course, Jurassic Park wasn’t the first time dinosaurs had been featured on the big screen. 1933’s King Kong is an early example of a film that pushed the boundaries of what was then possible by including sequences of the eponymous giant gorilla fighting with dinosaurs. </p>
<p>Creatures were brought to life for cinema goers by combining stop-motion animation with rear projection (where previously shot film is projected onto a backdrop and actors are recorded performing in front of it). Other feature films such as Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), The Lost World (1960) and The Land That Time Forgot (1974) had attempted alternative ways of bringing dinosaurs to the screen, including puppetry and even fitting live reptiles with prosthetics. </p>
<p>Of these methods, a combination of stop-motion animation for long shots and animatronic puppets for close ups were initially chosen by Spielberg for Jurassic Park.</p>
<h2>CGI and animation</h2>
<p>Stop-motion tests produced good results, especially in the development of go-motion, a technique which blurred models to provide a sense of movement similar to that of live action. But Spielberg and his team were still keen to go further with what was possible. Dennis Muren from the visual effects company, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), provided an alternative approach by using CGI modelling and animation.</p>
<p>Off the back of pioneering CGI work in The Abyss (1989) and Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), Muren and his team produced a test sequence of skeletal dinosaurs. Additional tests featuring a <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em> with added skin further cemented the realisation that this was the way to go for the film. This technique built the model of the dinosaur from bones, added muscle and then finally, the skin. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The T. rex escapes its paddock.</span></figcaption>
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<p>It seemed the assembled stop-motion team had been made extinct by this innovative technology. However, the model makers and animators were the experts on dinosaurs and their movement, and they retrained as computer animators to continue to use their skills on the production.</p>
<p>Jurassic Park features 15 minutes of on-screen dinosaurs, of which approximately nine minutes feature Stan Winston’s animatronics and six minutes of ILM’s CGI animation. The success of this combination is seen in the iconic <em>T. rex</em> attack scene. A number of animatronic shots feature close-ups of the <em>T.rex</em> before the full-height shots provide the creature’s threat and power. </p>
<p>How Spielberg orchestrates the scene, from the atmospheric, tension building of the rain storm, through the initial reveal and reactions, the prolonged attack and subsequent escape, takes the audience through a range of emotions. Although the CGI sections are relatively short, they have a huge impact on the overall storytelling, not to mention the believability that the event is actually happening in front of us. It’s a true representation of the power of cinema. </p>
<h2>Impact</h2>
<p>On release, Jurassic Park became an instant box office success, becoming the highest-grossing film ever at that time. It also presented the perfect opportunity to develop and showcase the latest advances in CGI. The thrill of seeing the stampede of Gallimimus, the horror of the <em>T.rex</em> attack and the suspense of the Velociraptor hunt captivated audiences across the globe. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">“They’re flocking this way” - Jurassic Park’s Gallimimus chase scene.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Jurassic Park inspired a number of similarly themed movies such as Disney’s Dinosaur (2000) and the award-winning BBC television series Walking with Dinosaurs (1999). But more than that, it helped bring about a revolution in the use of CGI in filmmaking. </p>
<p>From those six minutes of animated dinosaurs, CGI has become so integrated into the industry to the extent that nearly all film and television productions feature some form of CGI practice. This can simply mean digitally cleaning up aspects of the filmed image with removals and replacements, set extensions, adding CGI set models or animated vehicles and props, to filming with green screen and compositing images, or merging actors within full CGI environments. </p>
<p>The film remains a significant point in the history of cinema that successfully announced that CGI creatures had arrived, paving the way for the following thirty years of fantasy filmmaking.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204592/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Hodges does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Jurassic Park was released on the big screen in June 1993 and changed cinema for good.Peter Hodges, Lecturer in Contextual and Critical Studies for Visual Effects and Motion Graphics, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2065012023-05-30T14:02:40Z2023-05-30T14:02:40ZThese magnificent 107-million-year-old pterosaur bones are the oldest ever found in Australia<p>New research on old bones has shed light on pterosaur fossils from the early Cretaceous period of Australia, which took place roughly 107 million years ago.</p>
<p>The bones were discovered in Victoria in the late 1980s at a fossil site called <a href="https://museumsvictoria.com.au/article/the-700/">Dinosaur Cove</a>, a few hours’ drive west of Melbourne.</p>
<p>Our paper describing the bones is <a href="https://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2023.2201827">published today in Historical Biology</a>.</p>
<h2>The oldest pterosaur bones we have</h2>
<p>The Dinosaur Cove fossils are the geologically oldest pterosaur remains we have from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Cretaceous-Period/Major-subdivisions-of-the-Cretaceous-System">Lower Cretaceous</a> of Australia. </p>
<p>These bones belonged to two separate individuals, because there’s a relative size difference between the two.</p>
<p>One specimen is a partial sacrum (the fused vertebrae from between the pelvic bones), a relative rarity in the pterosaur fossil record. The other is a comparatively small fourth metacarpal (part of the wing finger) – it is the first evidence of a juvenile pterosaur found in Australia.</p>
<p>Although we couldn’t pinpoint exactly which species in the pterosaur family these bones came from, the partial sacrum belonged to an individual with a wingspan estimated to exceed two metres. By contrast, the juvenile pterosaur had a wingspan just over one metre. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Silhouettes of a woman compared with Australian Cretaceous pterosaurs" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528526/original/file-20230526-21-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528526/original/file-20230526-21-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528526/original/file-20230526-21-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528526/original/file-20230526-21-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=299&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528526/original/file-20230526-21-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528526/original/file-20230526-21-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528526/original/file-20230526-21-5fzgqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wingspan estimates of Australian pterosaurs, including <em>Ferrodraco lentoni</em>, an adult from the Upper Cretaceous of Queensland, compared with the newly described Victorian pterosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the early Cretaceous, approximately 110–107 million years ago, Victoria was virtually unrecognisable. The Bass Strait was a narrow valley occupied by fast-flowing rivers. Conifers and ginkgoes grew here instead of eucalypts and grasses, and dinosaurs reigned.</p>
<p>On the ground, the dominant herbivore animals were <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-diverse-group-of-plant-eating-dinosaurs-that-roamed-victoria-110-million-years-ago-166343">small-bodied, beaked ornithopods</a>, perpetually wary of the <a href="https://www.swinburne.edu.au/news/2019/10/huge-clawed-predatory-dinosaur-discovery-in-victoria/">rapacious megaraptoran theropods</a>.</p>
<p>For more than 30 years, it has been clear to scientists that flying reptiles called pterosaurs soared through the Victorian Cretaceous skies, above the heads of the dinosaurs. Until recently, however, they have remained a mystery.</p>
<h2>Treasure at Dinosaur Cove</h2>
<p>Large-scale excavations at <a href="https://depositsmag.com/2020/07/02/hell-and-high-water-the-digs-of-dinosaur-cove/">Dinosaur Cove</a> began in 1984, and for more than 40 years, a team of volunteers called <a href="http://dinosaurdreaming.monash.edu/">Dinosaur Dreaming</a> have excavated fossil sites along several other sites scattered across the Victorian coast.</p>
<p><a href="https://museumsvictoria.com.au/about-us/staff/dr-thomas-rich/">Tom Rich</a> and <a href="https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/patricia-rich">Pat Vickers-Rich</a>, co-authors of our newly published paper, led the excavations that yielded not just the newly described pterosaurs, but myriad other discoveries as well. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two palaeontologists holding pterosaur bones" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528532/original/file-20230526-27-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528532/original/file-20230526-27-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528532/original/file-20230526-27-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528532/original/file-20230526-27-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528532/original/file-20230526-27-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528532/original/file-20230526-27-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528532/original/file-20230526-27-8vpr49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Co-authors Pat Vickers-Rich and Tom Rich holding the pterosaur specimens we described.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tim Ziegler, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The work at this rich fossil site has resulted in thousands of dinosaur bones and other fossils. These include fossil fish (bony fish and lungfish), skeletal remains from ornithopods, megaraptoran theropods, aquatic plesiosaurs and prehistoric mammals. There was also <a href="https://ecoevocommunity.nature.com/posts/a-tiny-dinosaur-bone-with-a-big-story-to-tell-australia-s-first-elaphrosaur">Australia’s only elaphrosaurine theropod</a>: a lightly-built dinosaur with a small head, long neck, relatively short front limbs, long hind limbs and a long tail.</p>
<p>But among the rarest vertebrate fossils from Dinosaur Cove are those from pterosaurs.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-diverse-group-of-plant-eating-dinosaurs-that-roamed-victoria-110-million-years-ago-166343">Meet the diverse group of plant-eating dinosaurs that roamed Victoria 110 million years ago</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Australia’s pterosaur record</h2>
<p>The majority of Australia’s pterosaur fossils have been found in central-western Queensland. Indeed, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/288361a0">the first pterosaurs reported from the continent</a> were isolated remains from the Eromanga Basin, described in 1980.</p>
<p>Since then, more pterosaur material has come to light, with four Australian pterosaur species currently recognised: <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195667118302775"><em>Mythunga camara</em></a>, <a href="https://www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/cbd3DSy74yzYnnrTvfqw73M/?format=pdf&lang=en"><em>Aussiedraco molnari</em></a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-49789-4"><em>Ferrodraco lentoni</em></a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2021.1946068"><em>Thapunngaka shawi</em></a>.</p>
<p><em>Ferrodraco</em> is the most complete Australian pterosaur to date, and is represented by <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2021.2038182">an adult individual with a wingspan of approximately four metres</a>, which we named as a new species in 2019.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/4-metre-flying-reptile-unearthed-in-queensland-is-our-best-pterosaur-fossil-yet-124581">4-metre flying reptile unearthed in Queensland is our best pterosaur fossil yet</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Other pterosaur fossils from Australia include isolated remains from the Cretaceous of Western Australia, and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5419211/">opalised pterosaur teeth</a> from the mid-Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge in New South Wales.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Three pterosaur wing bones" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528531/original/file-20230526-17-nzdm20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528531/original/file-20230526-17-nzdm20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528531/original/file-20230526-17-nzdm20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528531/original/file-20230526-17-nzdm20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528531/original/file-20230526-17-nzdm20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528531/original/file-20230526-17-nzdm20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528531/original/file-20230526-17-nzdm20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Three pterosaur wing bones from three individuals. Left: right metacarpal from the Toolebuc Formation was discovered at Slashers Creek Station, east of Boulia, Queensland. Middle: Left metacarpal from <em>Ferrodraco lentoni</em> from the Winton Formation, discovered northeast of Winton, Queensland. Right: a left metacarpal from a juvenile pterosaur from Dinosaur Cove, Victoria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We don’t know which species the Victorian pterosaurs belong to. However, the comparatively small fourth metacarpal – a bone from the wing – is the first unequivocal evidence of a juvenile pterosaur from Australia. </p>
<h2>Pterosaurs at high latitudes</h2>
<p>Few pterosaur remains have been reported from fossil sites that were at high latitudes during the Age of Reptiles – the Mesozoic Era.</p>
<p>Antarctica, which was at high latitudes throughout, <a href="https://www.scielo.br/j/aabc/a/CcYBLYkgDhfJfvQDNdRxK4m/?lang=en">has produced three pterosaur fossils</a>. One of these awaits formal description, and another was <a href="https://theconversation.com/lesson-from-brazil-museums-are-not-forever-102692">recovered from the charred remains of the National Museum of Brazil</a>.</p>
<p>The only reports of high-latitude pterosaurs in the northern hemisphere are of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/let.12006?casa_token=zOdjm4--NfkAAAAA%3A8_IIW_UhaReQVG1aohnc24Sl5BFtEqdWlYm4jEN_b-OTM5Ghdd_umZyigE1Y8gaxkMwwKnie0eSML8pt">isolated footprints</a>.</p>
<p>During the Cretaceous, <a href="https://www.geologypage.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/CretaceousPeriod.jpg">Australia was farther south than it is today</a>. In fact, Victoria was within the polar circle during much of the Cretaceous. Southeast Australia was not frozen over at this time, but there were weeks or months of continuous darkness during the winter. Despite these <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dinosaurs-Darkness-Second-Search-Polar/dp/0253029406">harsh polar conditions</a>, life found a way to survive and thrive. </p>
<p>This prompts a few questions: were pterosaurs permanent residents in southeast Australia? Or did they migrate south during summer and head north for the winter?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-92499-z">From a young age, pterosaurs were adept fliers</a>, their bones already able to withstand the stresses of both launch and flight. However, subtle variations in the shape of the bones imply that hatchlings differed from their adult counterparts in terms of speed and manoeuvrability. </p>
<p>Until we discover pterosaur eggs or embryonic individuals at sites that were at high latitudes at the time, we won’t be able to confirm if pterosaurs were year-round residents or migratory.</p>
<p>Despite the rarity of pterosaurs in the fossil record, it is only a matter of time before we find more complete pterosaur material from Dinosaur Cove and other Cretaceous sites from coastal Victoria. Then, we can finally uncover the identity of these ancient, enigmatic winged reptiles.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206501/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adele Pentland receives funding from the Australian Government Research Training Program Stipend.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Poropat does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the dinosaur era, flying reptiles soared in the skies of what is now Australia – but we have barely any fossil records of them.Adele Pentland, PhD candidate, Curtin UniversityStephen Poropat, Research associate, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2054872023-05-15T20:05:50Z2023-05-15T20:05:50ZHow butterflies conquered the world: a new ‘family tree’ traces their 100-million-year journey across the globe<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526063/original/file-20230515-175760-rct90g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C0%2C3053%2C2024&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>How old are butterflies, and where did they evolve? And perhaps more importantly, how and when did they reach the isolated continent of Australia? </p>
<p>Answers to these simple questions have baffled scientists for decades. Until recently we had very little idea when butterflies evolved, and hypotheses concerning their place of origin were largely educated guesses.</p>
<p>In recent years, however, several studies have indicated butterflies most likely arose sometime during the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs dominated the Earth. Now, an international collaboration (of which I am a member) has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02041-9">placed the time of origin much more precisely</a>: 101.4 million years ago, give or take 1.2 million years.</p>
<p>These early butterflies were different from nocturnal moths, their ancestors. They flew during the day, rather than at night, and were attracted to brightly coloured flowers for their rich nectar.</p>
<h2>A 100-million-year history</h2>
<p>To reach this conclusion, researchers from dozens of countries needed to construct the world’s largest “family tree” of butterfly species. This tree of life was assembled with DNA from 2,244 species representing all butterfly families and 92% of genera. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526135/original/file-20230515-31-auampt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526135/original/file-20230515-31-auampt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526135/original/file-20230515-31-auampt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526135/original/file-20230515-31-auampt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526135/original/file-20230515-31-auampt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526135/original/file-20230515-31-auampt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526135/original/file-20230515-31-auampt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526135/original/file-20230515-31-auampt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ‘family tree’ of butterfly species was pieced together using DNA from 2,244 species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02041-9">Kawahara et al. / Nature Ecology & Evolution</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are roughly 19,000 butterfly species in the world, and piecing together the 100-million-year history of the group required assembling the world’s largest dataset of butterfly DNA sequences, geographical distributions and larval host plants.</p>
<p>Underlying the analysis were 11 rare butterfly fossils, without which the analysis would have been impossible. Butterflies are rarely preserved in the fossil record, and those that are preserved are frequently difficult to identify. </p>
<p>These fossils served as calibration points on the evolutionary tree. Once the tree was calibrated researchers could then estimate the timing of key events in butterfly evolution, starting with their origin. </p>
<h2>North American origins</h2>
<p>Not only did this latest study determine the age of butterflies, it also discovered where the butterflies first originated. By assembling a database of the distributions of all modern species and the plants on which they lay their eggs, the scientists were able to trace the movements of butterflies through time and space. </p>
<p>The study tells a dynamic story – one rife with rapid diversifications, faltering advances, and improbable dispersals. Some groups travelled over what seem impossibly vast distances, and others seem to have stayed in one place while continents, mountains and rivers moved around them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526056/original/file-20230514-184971-a35zgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of a black butterfly with yellow markings sitting on a green leaf." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526056/original/file-20230514-184971-a35zgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526056/original/file-20230514-184971-a35zgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526056/original/file-20230514-184971-a35zgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526056/original/file-20230514-184971-a35zgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526056/original/file-20230514-184971-a35zgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526056/original/file-20230514-184971-a35zgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526056/original/file-20230514-184971-a35zgz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Regent Skipper butterfly (<em>Euschemon rafflesia</em>), found only in the rainforests of Australia’s east coast, is the last remaining species of the Euschemoniinae subfamily.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MF Braby</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to this latest research, butterflies first appeared somewhere in Central and western North America. </p>
<p>At that time in the mid-Cretaceous, the continent of North America was part of eastern Laurasia, and it was bisected by an expansive seaway that split the continent in two. Present-day Mexico was joined in a long arc with what is now the United States, Canada and Russia. </p>
<p>North and South America had not yet joined via the isthmus of Panama, but butterflies seem to have had little difficulty crossing the water gap into the Southern Hemisphere. Once they reached South America, the early butterflies diversified to an astonishing degree. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526125/original/file-20230515-25-7g22tf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526125/original/file-20230515-25-7g22tf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526125/original/file-20230515-25-7g22tf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526125/original/file-20230515-25-7g22tf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526125/original/file-20230515-25-7g22tf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526125/original/file-20230515-25-7g22tf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526125/original/file-20230515-25-7g22tf.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From there, many groups not only moved back into North America, but they also dispersed to Australia via Antarctica. At the time, the three continents were still connected to form Southern Gondwana, a remnant of the supercontinent Gondwana. </p>
<h2>The path to Australia – and the rest of the world</h2>
<p>Two of the earliest butterfly lineages to reach Australia via Antarctica were the subfamilies Coeliadinae (awl skipper butterflies) (around 72 million years ago) and Euschemoniinae (around 65 million years ago). The Euschemoniinae are a group of butterflies found only in Australia, containing just a single remaining species – the spectacular regent skipper (<em>Euschemon rafflesia</em>) – restricted to the rainforests along the east coast. </p>
<p>To reach Australia, butterflies must have once lived in Antarctica in the Late Cretaceous and Early Paleogene periods when global temperatures were considerably warmer than today. They would have made their way across the continent to Australia before the two landmasses separated some 34 million years ago.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photo of a butterfly with black wings and iridescent blue-green markings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526057/original/file-20230514-181152-gwsojg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526057/original/file-20230514-181152-gwsojg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526057/original/file-20230514-181152-gwsojg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526057/original/file-20230514-181152-gwsojg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526057/original/file-20230514-181152-gwsojg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526057/original/file-20230514-181152-gwsojg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526057/original/file-20230514-181152-gwsojg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The greater peacock awl butterfly (<em>Allora major</em>) is descended from the first butterflies to reach Australia some 72 million years ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO Publishing</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other groups of butterflies entered Australia much later via the islands of South-East Asia. They had earlier reached Asia from North America across the Bering land bridge. </p>
<p>From there, they quickly covered ground, spreading and diversifying across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa. They even made their way to India, which was then an isolated island, separated by kilometres of open sea on all sides.</p>
<p>Once butterflies had become established in Central and North America approximately 101 million years ago, they quickly diversified alongside their plant hosts over the next 25 million years, with the last two families (Riodinidae and Lycaenidae) evolving around 76 million years ago. By the time dinosaurs were wiped out 66 million years ago, all six modern butterfly families had arrived on the scene.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205487/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael F. Braby has received past funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), Australian Fulbright Commission, and the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS)</span></em></p>The most detailed evolutionary tree of butterfly species ever created reveals the precise origins of the nectar-sipping gadabouts.Michael F. Braby, Associate Professor, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2034052023-04-11T23:36:24Z2023-04-11T23:36:24ZFirst near-complete sauropod dinosaur skull found in Australia hints at ancient links between continents<p>In May and June of 2018, Australia’s first near-complete skull of a sauropod – a group of long-tailed, long-necked, small-headed dinosaurs – was found on a sheep station northwest of Winton in Queensland.</p>
<p>I was part of the dig team from the <a href="https://www.australianageofdinosaurs.com/">Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum</a> that made the discovery, and subsequently had the privilege of leading the team that studied the skull. After years of work, our results are published today in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221618">Royal Society Open Science</a>.</p>
<p>The skull belonged to a creature we have dubbed “Ann”: a member of the species <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1342937X14001051"><em>Diamantinasaurus matildae</em></a> which shows surprising similarities to fossils found halfway across the world, lending weight to the theory that dinosaurs once roamed between Australia and South America via an Antarctic land connection.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520112/original/file-20230411-18-1a1qsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520112/original/file-20230411-18-1a1qsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520112/original/file-20230411-18-1a1qsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520112/original/file-20230411-18-1a1qsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520112/original/file-20230411-18-1a1qsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520112/original/file-20230411-18-1a1qsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520112/original/file-20230411-18-1a1qsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ‘Ann’ Site, dug in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Trish Sloan / Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A good skull is hard to find</h2>
<p>The sauropod dinosaurs have been a source of lifelong fascination for me, and finding a sauropod skull was one of my childhood dreams. Sadly, the fossil record is biased towards preserving sauropod limbs, vertebrae and ribs, and heavily against skulls. </p>
<p>This makes sense when you consider the processes that act on an organism’s body after it dies, which palaeontologists call <a href="https://opengeology.org/historicalgeology/tools-of-historical-geology/fossil-taphonomy/">taphonomy</a>. </p>
<p>Large, robust limb bones are resistant to decomposition, and if they are buried rapidly they might fossilise quite readily. Vertebrae and ribs comprise a significant proportion of a vertebrate skeleton, increasing their odds of preservation. </p>
<p>By contrast, sauropod skulls were relatively small, made up of many delicate bones that were only loosely held together by soft tissue, and seemingly easily detached from the end of the neck. They might also have been prime targets for carnivorous dinosaurs: the only previously described <a href="https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/192/2/610/6104802">sauropod braincase from Australia</a> preserves several bite marks from fierce theropods.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520114/original/file-20230411-28-cp2zm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520114/original/file-20230411-28-cp2zm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520114/original/file-20230411-28-cp2zm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520114/original/file-20230411-28-cp2zm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520114/original/file-20230411-28-cp2zm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520114/original/file-20230411-28-cp2zm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520114/original/file-20230411-28-cp2zm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The original skull bones of the sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Trish Sloan / Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The bones of the skull were found around two metres beneath the surface, scattered over an area of about nine square metres. Much of the right side of the face is missing, but most of the left is present. Sadly, many of the bones show signs of distortion (presumably a result of post mortem scavenging or trampling), which makes physical reassembly of the skull a delicate process. </p>
<h2>Modern technology recreates an ancient animal</h2>
<p>This being the case, we set out to reconstruct the skull digitally. We CT scanned the bones at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne. This enabled the internal features of each bone to be observed on a computer. </p>
<p>Inside one bone in the snout (which we also had scanned at the <a href="https://www.ansto.gov.au/facilities/australian-synchrotron">Australian Synchrotron</a>), we found replacement teeth. It has long been known that sauropods, like crocodiles today, continually <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0069235">replaced their teeth</a> throughout their lives. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520109/original/file-20230410-24-3zv2hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520109/original/file-20230410-24-3zv2hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520109/original/file-20230410-24-3zv2hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520109/original/file-20230410-24-3zv2hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520109/original/file-20230410-24-3zv2hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520109/original/file-20230410-24-3zv2hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520109/original/file-20230410-24-3zv2hv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">CT scanning a sauropod skull at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adele Pentland</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also scanned all of the bones with a surface scanner, enabling detailed 3D models of each bone to be made on a computer. The skull could then be reassembled in a virtual space with no risk of damage to the fossils themselves. </p>
<p>The teeth in the new sauropod skull were very similar to those found at other sites in the Winton area. Comparisons with Australia’s only other fragmentary sauropod skull (also from Winton) revealed additional similarities. </p>
<h2>Meet <em>Diamantinasaurus matildae</em></h2>
<p>Our skull belongs to the species <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamantinasaurus"><em>Diamantinasaurus matildae</em></a>. <em>Diamantinasaurus</em> would have been about as long as a tennis court, as tall as basketball ring at the shoulder, and weighed ~25 tonnes – <a href="https://content.isuzu.com.au/industry-insights/the-thin-red-line-what-makes-a-fire-truck-extraordinary/">about as much as two fire engines</a>.</p>
<p><em>Diamantinasaurus</em> occupies a low branch on the family tree of a group of sauropods called titanosaurs. Other members of the titanosaur group (from higher branches on their family tree) include the largest land animals that ever lived, such as <em>Patagotitan</em> and <em>Argentinosaurus</em>, which exceeded 30 metres in length. Titanosaurs were the only sauropods to live right until the end of the Cretaceous Period (66 million years ago), when the age of dinosaurs came to a close.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-march-of-the-titanosaurs-the-snake-creek-tracksite-unveiled-161039">The march of the titanosaurs: the Snake Creek Tracksite unveiled</a>
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<p><em>Diamantinasaurus</em> has a rounded snout, typical of medium- to high-level browsing sauropods. Its teeth are robustly constructed, but those from other sites show little sign of wear by soil or grit, reinforcing the idea <em>Diamantinasaurus</em> preferred to feed some distance above ground level. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520111/original/file-20230410-20-x7c3sg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520111/original/file-20230410-20-x7c3sg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520111/original/file-20230410-20-x7c3sg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520111/original/file-20230410-20-x7c3sg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520111/original/file-20230410-20-x7c3sg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520111/original/file-20230410-20-x7c3sg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520111/original/file-20230410-20-x7c3sg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/520111/original/file-20230410-20-x7c3sg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The reconstructed skull of Diamantinasaurus matildae, viewed from the left side.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen Poropat / Samantha Rigby</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Only two replacement teeth are present in each tooth socket, implying that <em>Diamantinasaurus</em> replaced its teeth relatively slowly. And finally, the teeth are restricted to the front of the snout, meaning that <em>Diamantinasaurus</em>, like all other sauropods, did not chew its food.</p>
<h2>Family resemblances</h2>
<p>We compared our sauropod skull with others from around the world. The most similar skull was that of <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0151661"><em>Sarmientosaurus musacchioi</em></a>, which lived in southern South America. <em>Diamantinasaurus</em> and <em>Sarmientosaurus</em> lived at around the same time (about 95 million years ago), and at around the same latitude (50°S). </p>
<p>We had previously hypothesised that these two sauropods <a href="https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/192/2/610/6104802">were close relatives</a>, albeit on the basis of limited evidence. The new skull shores up that idea in a big way: bone for bone, the skulls of <em>Diamantinasaurus</em> and <em>Sarmientosaurus</em> are extremely similar.
This might seem strange, given the great physical distance between South America and Australia today. However, back then each of those continents retained a lingering land connection with Antarctica. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-key-feature-contributed-to-sauropods-getting-so-enormous-new-dino-foot-study-reveals-188462">A key feature contributed to sauropods getting so enormous, new dino foot study reveals</a>
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<p>Sauropods seemingly preferred <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098222101647X">warmer climates at low to medium latitudes</a>. However, 95 million years ago the climate was extremely warm, even by the warm standards of the Cretaceous. With polar latitudes more amenable for sauropods, these scaly behemoths – and other landlubbing animals – could <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep34467">trundle through lush forests at the bottom of the world</a> between South America and Antarctica. </p>
<p>It is a privilege to be able to finally put a face to the name <em>Diamantinasaurus matildae</em>. Future discoveries will hopefully help cement its status as one of the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2021.2047991">most completely understood titanosaurs</a> worldwide.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203405/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Poropat does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Meet Ann: a toothy 95 million-year-old Diamantinasaurus from outback Queensland.Stephen Poropat, Research associate, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2027612023-03-31T09:37:19Z2023-03-31T09:37:19ZTyrannosaurus rex: our new research shows it covered its enormous teeth with lips<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518435/original/file-20230330-28-gk7yku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C41%2C6989%2C4872&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Witton</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Picture a <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em>, that ferocious yet one of the most beloved dinosaurs. Most people will probably imagine a scaly giant with enormous fangs, visible even when its mouth is closed. </p>
<p>This is the image of toothy predatory dinosaurs that popular culture has perpetuated for over 30 years.</p>
<p>But our new study, <a href="http://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abo7877">published in Science</a>, suggests that even the giant teeth of <em>Tyrannosaurus</em> would have been sheathed in scaly lips.</p>
<p>Palaeontologists and artists have held different opinions on how dinosaur faces looked since we began <a href="https://theconversation.com/crystal-palace-dinosaurs-how-we-rediscovered-five-missing-sculptures-from-the-famous-park-182573">recreating their form in the 1830s</a>. From the 1980s onwards, artists and scientists have <a href="https://www.nhbs.com/paleoart-visions-of-the-prehistoric-past-1830-1980-book">mostly shown theropod dinosaurs</a> (the lineage that includes <em>Tyrannosaurus</em>, <em>Velociraptor</em> and birds) with lipless mouths and exposed teeth. </p>
<p>This look became deeply rooted in popular culture thanks to the 1993 film Jurassic Park and its iconic depiction of <em>T. rex</em>. Jurassic Park’s creators deliberately exaggerated the size and visibility of their tyrant’s teeth, despite being an otherwise accurate recreation of <em>Tyrannosaurus</em> for the time. No specific study or fossil discovery inspired this look. The widespread adoption of the lipless dinosaur reflected a preference for a new, ferocious-looking aesthetic rather than a scientific re-think.</p>
<p>This is not to say that lipless theropods are scientifically baseless. Living cousins of dinosaurs, <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/obl4he/vertebratediversity/crocodilians.html">the crocodylians</a> (crocodiles and alligators), and the only surviving dinosaur group, birds, both have hard, immobile tissue around their jaws rather than the scaly lips of lizards. So it was reasonable to infer that extinct animals related to crocodylians and birds (including all predatory dinosaurs) had lipless faces. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Series of Tyrannosaurus portraits: a skull, a green lipless face, a brown lipped face, and a grey-green face with open mouth partially gum-covered teeth." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518034/original/file-20230328-5475-muzfsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518034/original/file-20230328-5475-muzfsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1039&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518034/original/file-20230328-5475-muzfsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1039&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518034/original/file-20230328-5475-muzfsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1039&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518034/original/file-20230328-5475-muzfsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1306&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518034/original/file-20230328-5475-muzfsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1306&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518034/original/file-20230328-5475-muzfsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1306&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The varying faces of <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em>. The bottom picture is the most accurate, according to new research.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark P. Witton</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our new study, 11 years in the making, brings new data to this conversation. My team analysed theropod fossils and compared them with living reptiles. We found that predatory dinosaurs probably had lips like those you’d find on a lizard.</p>
<p>One part of our research looked at tooth damage. Exposed teeth show greater wear than those behind lips – for example, crocodylians have <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2014/may/museum-opens-wide-giant-crocodile-tooth.html">significant abrasion on their outer teeth</a>. But when we examined theropod teeth using microscopes and compared them with crocodylian teeth, we found theropod teeth were considerably less damaged. </p>
<p>This is not the only difference between theropods and crocodylians. All reptiles have small holes <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/reptile/Skull-and-dentition">in their jaw bones</a> that house blood vessels and nerves for their oral skin and gums, usually just millimetres wide. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518436/original/file-20230330-23-ymidnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A T-Rex with closed lips" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518436/original/file-20230330-23-ymidnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518436/original/file-20230330-23-ymidnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518436/original/file-20230330-23-ymidnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518436/original/file-20230330-23-ymidnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518436/original/file-20230330-23-ymidnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518436/original/file-20230330-23-ymidnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518436/original/file-20230330-23-ymidnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Don’t be fooled by those lips.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Witton</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lipped reptiles, lizards and <a href="https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/tuatara">tuataras</a> (the last survivors of a group of lizard-like reptiles from the age of dinosaurs), have relatively few of these holes and they are mostly positioned close to their teeth. <a href="https://core.ac.uk/reader/81671420">Crocodylian skulls</a>, however, are covered in hundreds of tiny openings that are related to their sensitive, tight facial skin.</p>
<p>We found theropod jaw bones are more like lizards’ and have a low number of openings close to their jaw margins. This is also true of crocodylians’ ancient, extinct relatives. This implies that the unusual facial anatomy of living crocodylians evolved within their own lineage, not as a shared feature with the dinosaur/bird line.</p>
<p>We also looked at tooth size, because some predatory dinosaurs had much bigger teeth than any living reptiles, and this might have prevented them from being enveloped inside lips. We calculated a ratio of tooth height and skull length for theropods. Then we compared this with the same value for monitor lizards, the lipped group that includes the only living animal comparable to large theropods in its feeding habits, the komodo dragon. </p>
<p>Our comparisons revealed that no predatory dinosaurs – even the big-toothed <em>T. rex</em> – had teeth larger than living lizards. Indeed, species like the crocodile monitor have proportionally larger teeth than any theropod, so there’s no reason to think dinosaur teeth were too big to be covered by lips.</p>
<p>Finally, we modelled the mechanics of how lipless theropod jaws would close, and found it impossible for some theropods to seal their mouths without lips. The best we could manage was a gappy smile. Forcing jaws into a full seal either crushed jaw-supporting bones or dislocated the jaw joint. With permanently open mouths, these theropods would have faced issues with their oral health and risked dehydration. </p>
<p>Collectively, these studies point to the same conclusion: that theropod mouth anatomy and functionality seems more like that of lizards than crocodiles. This suggests that lizard-like lips covered their teeth.</p>
<p>If we’re right, and lizards are our best model for theropod mouths, dinosaur lips were probably not muscular, <a href="https://theses.gla.ac.uk/77121/">like mammal lips</a> are. So, dinosaurs probably couldn’t snarl like they sometimes do in the movies. </p>
<p>In further contrast with Hollywood’s dinosaurs, we also need to give theropods bigger gums. Unlike crocodiles or even mammals, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3458625/">lizard-line reptiles</a> tend to have large gums that cover some or all of their tooth crowns, even when their teeth are adapted for ripping flesh. This has the effect of making their teeth look smaller or even invisible in their open mouths.</p>
<p>Combined with scaly lips, our findings suggest that predatory dinosaurs may have had softer-looking faces and mouths than we’re used to. But don’t let this fool you. Behind those lips and gums were the same formidable, flesh-rending teeth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202761/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark P. Witton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Although we’re used to seeing lipless dinosaur carnivores, our new data suggests they had lizard-like lips and probably couldn’t snarl.Mark P. Witton, Research Fellow in Palaeontology, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2018052023-03-17T13:15:30Z2023-03-17T13:15:30ZBones like Aero chocolate: the evolution adaptation that helped dinosaurs to fly<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515189/original/file-20230314-2324-mvidfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5488%2C2874&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dinosaurs once dominated Earth's landscapes</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dinosaurs-park-by-lake-1094368226">AmeliAU/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s sometimes difficult to imagine how the planet we call home, with its megalopolis cities and serene farmlands, was once dominated by dinosaurs as big as buses and five-storey buildings. But <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-25067-8">recent research has helped deepen our understanding</a> of why dinosaurs prevailed: the answer may lie in their special bones, structured like Aero chocolate. </p>
<p>Brazilian palaeontologist Tito Aureliano found that hollow bones filled with little air sacs were so important to dinosaur survival, they evolved independently several times in different lineages. </p>
<p>According to the study, aerated bones evolved in three separate lineages: <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/pterosaurs">pterosaurs</a>, technically flying reptiles, and two dinosaur lineages <a href="https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/saurischia/theropoda.html">theropods</a> (ranging from the crow-sized Microraptor to the huge <em>Tyrannosaurus rex</em>) and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/dinosaur/Sauropodomorpha">sauropodomorphs</a> (long-necked herbivores including Brachiosaurus). The researchers focused on the <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/the-triassic-period-the-rise-of-the-dinosaurs.html">late Triassic period</a>, roughly 233 million years ago, in south Brazil. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515192/original/file-20230314-26-r9ixvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A macro close-up shot of an opened bar of Aero chocolate, with the corner broken off, exposing the unique bubble texture from which it gets it name." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515192/original/file-20230314-26-r9ixvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515192/original/file-20230314-26-r9ixvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515192/original/file-20230314-26-r9ixvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515192/original/file-20230314-26-r9ixvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515192/original/file-20230314-26-r9ixvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515192/original/file-20230314-26-r9ixvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515192/original/file-20230314-26-r9ixvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hollow dinosaur bones, structured a bit like this chocolate, proved to be a major advantage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chatteris-cambridgeshire-uk-june-26-2016-1645850281">Kev Gregory/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Every time an animal reproduces, <a href="https://biologydirect.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/1745-6150-8-24.pdf?site=biologydirect.biomedcentral.com">evolution throws up random variants</a> in genetic code. Some of these variants are passed on to offspring and develop over time. </p>
<p>Charles Darwin believed evolution created “<a href="https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/darwin/endless-forms-most-beautiful/from-so-simple-a-beginning">endless forms most beautiful</a>”. But some adaptations emerge spontaneously time and time again, a bit like getting the same hand of cards on multiple occasions. When <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/convergent-evolution">the same hand keeps cropping up</a>, it’s a sign that evolution has hit upon an important and effective solution.</p>
<p>The variant the Brazilian team studied was aerated vertebrae bones, which would have enhanced the dinosaurs’ strength and reduced their body weight. </p>
<h2>Light but mighty</h2>
<p>Your regular deliveries from Amazon or other online retailers come packed in corrugated cardboard, which has the same advantages as aerated bones. It is light, yet tough. </p>
<p><a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/354552924.pdf">Corrugated cardboard</a> or as it was first known, pleated paper, was a man-made design experiment that was hugely successful and is now part of our everyday lives. It was patented in England in 1856 and was initially designed to support top hats which were popular in Victorian England and the US at the time. </p>
<p>Three years later, Darwin published his <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Darwin/On-the-Origin-of-Species">On the Origin of Species</a> which outlined how evolutionary traits that create advantages are more likely to be passed on to future generations than variants which don’t.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Close up of stacked brown recycled carton" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515191/original/file-20230314-26-r6hck4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515191/original/file-20230314-26-r6hck4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515191/original/file-20230314-26-r6hck4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515191/original/file-20230314-26-r6hck4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515191/original/file-20230314-26-r6hck4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515191/original/file-20230314-26-r6hck4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515191/original/file-20230314-26-r6hck4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cardboard is strong and light.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-stacked-brown-recycled-carton-53962123">Shawn Hempel/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/30/getting-under-a-fossils-skin-how-ct-scans-have-changed-palaeontology-dinosaur-lizard">CT scan technology</a> allowed Aureliano and his colleagues to peer inside the rock-hard fossils they studied. Without the modern technology, it would have been impossible to look inside the fossils and detect the air sacs in the spinal columns. </p>
<p>The study found no common ancestor had this trait. All three groups must have developed air sacs independently, and each time in slightly different ways. </p>
<p>The air sacs probably enhanced oxygen levels in the dinosaurs’ blood. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Triassic-Period">Triassic period</a> had a scorching hot and dry climate. So more oxygen circulating in the blood would cool dinosaur bodies more efficiently. It would also allow them to mover faster. </p>
<p>The air sacs would have buttressed and reinforced the internal structure of the dinosaurs’ bones while creating a greater surface area of attachments for large, powerful muscles. This would have enabled the bones to grow to a far larger size without weighing the animal down. </p>
<p><a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2010.0117">In living birds</a> aerated bones reduce overall mass and volume, while enhancing bone strength and stiffness – essential features for flight.</p>
<p>Palaeontology not only tells the story of what might have been for Earth, had it not been for that infamous asteroid, but also helps us learn about the evolution of still living creatures.</p>
<h2>Prehistoric connections</h2>
<p>Echoes of this dinosaur legacy lie in many animals alive today. It is not only long-dead animals which found this type of adaptation useful. Many <a href="https://www.varsity.co.uk/science/23161">bird species</a> living today rely on hollow bones to fly. Others animals use the air sacs to buttress and strengthen their large bones and skulls, without weighing them down. </p>
<p>An excellent example of this is the elephant skull. Inside <a href="https://oro.open.ac.uk/71257/1/dis20a-sub2587-i8.pdf">elephant skulls</a> are large air sacs which allow the animal to move its massive head and heavy tusks without straining the neck muscles. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515224/original/file-20230314-3238-u8rn6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515224/original/file-20230314-3238-u8rn6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515224/original/file-20230314-3238-u8rn6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515224/original/file-20230314-3238-u8rn6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515224/original/file-20230314-3238-u8rn6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=304&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515224/original/file-20230314-3238-u8rn6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515224/original/file-20230314-3238-u8rn6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515224/original/file-20230314-3238-u8rn6n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anatomy of a flat bone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:621_Anatomy_of_a_Flat_Bone.jpg">OpenStax College</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The human brain is also protected by two layers of hard, compact, bone (inner and outer tables) which sandwich a layer of softer, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25514483/">spongey and aerated bone</a> in between, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/veterinary-science-and-veterinary-medicine/diploe#:%7E:text=diplo%C3%AB%20%5Bdip%E2%80%B2lo%2De,Dictionary%20(Fifth%20Edition)%2C%202021">known as the diploe</a>. This allows our skulls to be light, but strong and able to absorb shocks to cranium.</p>
<p>These are examples of convergent evolution in which animals are faced repeatedly with the same problem, evolving similar – but not always identical – solutions each time. Animals today are playing by the same evolutionary playbook as the dinosaurs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201805/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Christine Reynolds does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hollow bones were essential for dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex.Sally Christine Reynolds, Principal Academic in Hominin Palaeoecology, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973382023-02-27T13:23:43Z2023-02-27T13:23:43ZIs the Loch Ness monster real?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505952/original/file-20230123-10548-gxlc1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C10%2C6862%2C5131&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This is the famous – and fake – photograph of the Loch Ness monster, taken near Inverness, Scotland, on April 19, 1934. The photograph was later revealed to be a hoax. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-the-loch-ness-monster-near-inverness-scotland-april-news-photo/3422579?phrase=Loch%20Ness%20Monster&adppopup=true">Keystone/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">curiouskidsus@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Is the Loch Ness monster real? – Landon, age 10</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>An amazing and wonderful thing about people is our imagination. Indeed, it’s one of the qualities that makes us human.</p>
<p>Every invention that led to our advanced civilization – cars, planes, TV, computers and millions of other things – came from someone’s imagination.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505965/original/file-20230123-5198-yykqto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The photograph shows a blue sky, white clouds, highlands and the murky waters of Loch Ness." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505965/original/file-20230123-5198-yykqto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505965/original/file-20230123-5198-yykqto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505965/original/file-20230123-5198-yykqto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505965/original/file-20230123-5198-yykqto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505965/original/file-20230123-5198-yykqto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505965/original/file-20230123-5198-yykqto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505965/original/file-20230123-5198-yykqto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This is Loch Ness, a body of fresh water in Scotland; no monster in sight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/loch-ness-with-dramatic-sky-and-secret-frog-royalty-free-image/680669548?phrase=Loch%20Ness%20Monster&adppopup=true">Ivan/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, the human mind imagines all sorts of things that are not real: gremlins, leprechauns, fairies, trolls, <a href="https://theconversation.com/mermaids-arent-real-but-theyve-fascinated-people-around-the-world-for-ages-150518">mermaids</a>, zombies and vampires. This also includes imaginary animals, like dragons, unicorns, werewolves, sea serpents and centaurs. </p>
<p>Through stories passed down from generation to generation for hundreds or even thousands of years, these <a href="https://theconversation.com/dinosaur-bones-became-griffins-volcanic-eruptions-were-gods-fighting-geomythology-looks-to-ancient-stories-for-hints-of-scientific-truth-162071">mythological creatures have become legends</a>. In modern times, movies, television and books have spread these stories to millions or even billions of people.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/anthropology/faculty/profile.html?id=mlittle">As an anthropology professor</a>, I have spent my life studying human behavior, biology and cultures. And I have studied the evolution of animals and humans. I work in reality, not fantasy. </p>
<p>Yet I understand why these creatures fascinate us; they are intriguing, magical and sometimes frightening. Yet they all have one thing in common. They appeal to the imagination. People wish for them to exist. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505975/original/file-20230123-17-oypzha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Under a sky of blue and gold, the Loch Ness monster surfaces the dark blue water to show its small head and elongated neck." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505975/original/file-20230123-17-oypzha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505975/original/file-20230123-17-oypzha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505975/original/file-20230123-17-oypzha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505975/original/file-20230123-17-oypzha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505975/original/file-20230123-17-oypzha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505975/original/file-20230123-17-oypzha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505975/original/file-20230123-17-oypzha.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An artist’s concept of the Loch Ness monster at sunset.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/loch-ness-monster-in-the-lake-at-sunset-royalty-free-image/817420168?phrase=loch%20ness%20monster%20illustration&adppopup=true">Khadi Ganiev/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The Loch Ness legend</h2>
<p>One legend is from northern Scotland in the United Kingdom, where a cold, murky and mysterious freshwater lake called Loch Ness is located. “Loch” is pronounced as “lock.” The word means “lake” in the Scottish language. </p>
<p>Loch Ness is quite large – roughly 23 miles long (37 kilometers), a mile wide (1,600 meters) and very deep (788 feet, or 240 meters, at its deepest). Legends about the lake <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lochness/legend.html">date back nearly 1,500 years</a>, when an Irish monk, St. Columba, encountered a beast in the river that flows into Loch Ness. Supposedly, he drove the creature away when he made the sign of the Christian cross.</p>
<p>In modern times, more than 1,000 people claim they’ve seen “Nessie,” the name locals gave to the creature decades ago. Descriptions vary. Some say the creature resembles a salamander; others say a whale, or a seal. </p>
<p>Typically, visibility during these sightings was not good. In most of these cases, the witnesses were familiar with the Loch Ness legend. </p>
<p>So far, no one has ever found any physical evidence of an unusual or prehistoric creature living in the loch. Good physical evidence might be capturing the creature, or a clear photograph, or an encounter where a biologist has an opportunity to examine the creature. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505973/original/file-20230123-7861-vzbh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An illustration of a long-necked marine dinosaur, chasing prey in the turquoise water." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505973/original/file-20230123-7861-vzbh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505973/original/file-20230123-7861-vzbh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505973/original/file-20230123-7861-vzbh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505973/original/file-20230123-7861-vzbh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505973/original/file-20230123-7861-vzbh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505973/original/file-20230123-7861-vzbh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505973/original/file-20230123-7861-vzbh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An artistic illustration of a plesiosaur, an ancient marine reptile that resembled the fake 1934 photograph of the Loch Ness monster. But the plesiosaur went extinct more than 65 million years ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/plesiosaur-marine-reptile-hunting-royalty-free-illustration/932732444?phrase=plesiosaur&adppopup=true">Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Nessie is not a plesiosaur</h2>
<p>Over the years, some people have conjured up fake evidence – such as footprints, photographs or phony floating objects – to trick others and “prove” the existence of the monster. </p>
<p>The best known of these is a 1934 photograph of what appears to be a creature with a long neck and small head. </p>
<p>The image in the photo looks like a plesiosaur, a long-necked and long-extinct marine dinosaur that resembles descriptions of Nessie. </p>
<p>The phony photograph was really a crude molded figure of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/4/21/8459353/loch-ness-monster">a plesiosaur floating on top of a toy submarine</a>. </p>
<p>Yet many people believed – and still believe – the photo is real. </p>
<h2>Why Nessie isn’t real</h2>
<p>Here are four reasons the Loch Ness monster, like a walking mummy or howling werewolf, is an imaginary creature.
First, a large air-breathing animal would have to surface frequently. That means many more people would have seen it. </p>
<p>Second, many people have searched for Nessie, with scuba divers and sonar, all without success. A 2019 study of DNA samples collected from the lake <a href="https://www.cnet.com/science/scientist-reveals-loch-ness-monster-hunt-results/">did not suggest the presence of a dinosaur or large reptile</a>. </p>
<p>Third, the Loch Ness body of water has existed for only 10,000 years, since the end of the last glacial period on Earth. But the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. So a prehistoric dinosaur could not have ever lived in the lake. </p>
<p>Finally, and perhaps most critical: For the Loch Ness monster to exist and persist through time, a population of these animals must reproduce themselves. Single animals live only for their lifetimes, and not for hundreds of years, as the legend suggests. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6MiiwSuhk8k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Scientists investigate the Loch Ness mystery.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Science finds answers</h2>
<p>Scientists can usually show that something exists, whether it be a plant or a planet. It’s often very difficult to demonstrate that something – like a monster in a lake – does not exist.</p>
<p>And it’s understandable that many people are intrigued with the Loch Ness monster. Fantastical beliefs and mythmaking seem to be a part of the way human beings like to think. </p>
<p>But by using logic, experimentation and research, scientists can explore the mysteries of the world and find answers. </p>
<p>And there’s more than enough scientific evidence to show that the Loch Ness monster lives only as a creature of our imagination.</p>
<hr>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael A. Little does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The idea of a creature like the Loch Ness monster fascinates people. But does the scientific evidence say it’s a prehistoric beast or total fake?Michael A. Little, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.