For creatures that went extinct 65 million years ago, there has been a surprising amount of dinosaur news in the last few years. In fact, it seems like pretty much everything I knew as a child about dinosaurs is wrong! First, Brontosaurus turned out not to be a unique species, or at least that’s not its correct name. It’s really Apatosaurus. That was hard to take. Then, it turns out that birds descended from dinosaurs. Recently, scientists have told us that many raptors, even the big kahuna, Tyrannosaurus, probably sported feathers. In some cases, they can even determine what colors the feathers were! *sigh* And now, there’s the latest news that Triceratops is not a bona fide species either!! The classic three-horned Triceratops was most likely an immature version of Torosaurus, an obviously much less cool dinosaur. Word is that scientists might relent and re-classify Torosaurus as Triceratops, because uh, clearly, we’ve just about had it with the shattering our dinosaur dreams over here. How did the iconic image of T. Rex and Triceratops duking it out in front of an erupting volcano turn into an overgrown chicken battling a dinosaur I’ve never heard of? Stupid science!
Here’s a few dinosaur-related reads:
How To Build A Dinosaur: Extinction Doesn’t Have To Be Forever by Jack Horner and James Gorman. Learn how scientists are on the verge of being able to recreate dinosaurs… using bird DNA!
Colin Tudge has written two books on related topics.:
The Bird covers everything about these creatures, including a lengthy and fascinating section about their evolution from dinosaurs.
The Link describes the discovery of an incredible fossil, Ida, who is our earliest primate ancestor, some 50 million years old (not dinosaur old, but close). This amazing fossil is so well-preserved that you can see the outlines of its fur and stomach contents!
Oh, and don’t forget Chuck Klosterman’s Eating the Dinosaur – nothing to do with science or reptiles, but it’s really funny.
~Dave V., Capitol Hill and Madrona-Sally Goldmark Branches
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