Dinosaurs-Warm-Blooded

Dinosaurs were likely warm-blooded, according to a new study done on living mammals. One of the only lines of evidence suggesting that dinosaurs may have been cold-blooded has been completely dismantled by the new research.
The work was done by researchers from the Institut Català de Paleontologia (ICP) and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB); and has just been published in the journal Nature.
The researchers analyzed the bones of around a hundred different ruminants, representing the full ecological diversity of that group, and studying the lines of arrested growth (LAG) in the bones. They found that the presence of these lines of arrested growth is not an indicator of an ectothermic (cold-blooded) physiology, as was previously thought, since warm-blooded mammals all have them. This completely refutes the main argument of the hypothesis that dinosaurs may have been cold-blooded reptiles.
The work was carried out by Meike Köhler, ICREA researcher and ICP palaeontologist; Ronny Aanes, researcher from the Norwegian Polar Institute; Nekane Marín, PhD student at the UAB and Xavier Jordana, lecturer of postgraduate studies at same university.

LAGs are dark rings visible in bone sections, they look a lot like the ones in tree trunks. They’re formed in the same way as in trees, as the result of seasonal increases and decreases in growth, caused by resource scarcity. Until now, LAGs in bones were “considered to be the clearest indicator of ectothermy since the seasonal arrest of growth was related to the animal’s inability to maintain a more or less constant body temperature (endothermy) during the season of scarce resources.”
“The study we have carried out is very powerful, both in terms of the amount of material and the diversity of species with which we worked, but we did not design it to find a response to the thermophysiology of dinosaurs. We sought to better understand the physiology of extant mammals and how the environment affects them — how their growth changes as a result of external temperatures, rain and the availability of food and water,” explains Meike Köhler.
But what the researchers observed in the bones of the ruminants they were studying completely dismantled the main argument for a cold-blooded physiology in dinosaurs. “Many hypotheses set out from the premise that large mammals — endothermic par excellence — do not have LAGs in their hard tissues since they do not need to arrest their growth responding to external temperature conditions. In fact, since LAGs have been observed in almost all species of dinosaur, many scientists considered that they were cold-blooded reptiles.”
This new research is “the first systematic study, based on an extensive sample of mammals representative of a large variety of ecosystems, which shows that LAGs do not indicate an ectothermic physiology but give us information about how the physiology (metabolism) of an animal changes according to seasonal endocrinal changes, both in cold- and warm-blooded animals. These changes represent a common heritage in all vertebrates and are a kind of internal clock that regulates the animals’ needs according to the seasonal availability of resources. Despite the fact that these physiological changes have a strong genetic component, they are also functional and their intensity depends on the ecological conditions in which the animals live. The main ecological factors are more rain and limited supply of food and water, rather than external temperature. This discovery opens up a major line of research into the conservation of biodiversity on our planet today.”
“It may seem surprising that until now there has not been a similar systematic study to prove or disprove whether it is only ectotherms that leave these marks in their bones during growth. In fact, there are so many things we do not know that science does not always advance in a linear way. The ideas somehow had long been wandering among the scientific community, but the work we have published organizes them and bases them on data,” says researcher Meike Köhler.
Some previous research had already questioned the very weakly-supported cold-blooded hypothesis, and there was already the idea among the international scientific community that LAGs didn’t necessarily indicate ectothermy. Examples of mammals that appeared to have LAGs in their bones had already emerged. This study very clearly finishes the debate though.
Most previous evidence shows dinosaurs as often having more in common with modern mammals than modern species of reptiles; growth-rate, posture/movement, feathers/insulation on smaller species, polar habitation/little sunlight during winter, high metabolic rate/requirements, erect limbs, adaptions to running, body temperature, and bone structures.
Though of course dinosaurs wouldn’t necessarily have metabolisms that closely resemble that of any living species, different species of dinosaurs could have displayed a widely varied mix of different ‘warm-blooded’ and ‘cold-blooded’ features.

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Dinosaurs Facts

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Dinosaur Evolution

Dinosaurs were a group of reptiles that first appeared during the middle of the Triassic period, perhaps about 230 million years ago. They gradually became the dominant vertebrate animals on land, displacing (for example) the surviving mammal-like reptiles, and included both carnivores (meat eaters) and herbivores (plant eaters). Dinosaurs then continued as the dominant land animals throughout the rest of the Mesozoic Era (the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods), only finally going extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, in what is known as the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction.
For many years it was thought that dinosaurs did not all share a common ancestor (“polyphyletic”), and that several groups of animals independently evolved similar adaptations due to similar environment pressures. Today however, many scientists do believe that all dinosaurs did evolve from a common ancestor. The first dinosaur is thought to have been a small bipedal predator that evolved from archosaurs about 230 million years ago – many paleontologists have suggested that Eoraptor (a dinosaur that seems to fit this description and whose fossils have been found in Argentina), or perhaps a close relative of Eoraptor may well have been the first dinosaur.
After dinosaurs appeared they continued to evolve, quickly dividing into two main groups – the ornithischia (“bird hipped” dinosaurs) and saurischia (“lizard hipped” dinosaurs). The former group included Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Iguanodon, the duck-billed dinosaurs, and the ceratopsians such as Protoceratops, Triceratops and Styracosaurus. The latter group included the prosauropod and sauropod dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus), Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus, and the theropods, including Spinosaurus, Troodon and Tyrannosaurus rex.
At the end of the Cretaceous period, all the dinosaurs (except for birds), as well as many other animals such as Pterosaurs, Plesiosaurs and Ammonites, died out. Most scientists believe that this was the result of some catastrophic event such as an astero/id impact or massive volcanic activity. In other words, it seems that the dinosaurs died out because of bad luck rather than bad genes. The dinosaurs’ bad luck was however the mammal’s opportunity – mammals which had previously been small mouse-size creatures were able to evolve to larger bodies sizes and into new ecological niches, and it was this event that eventually allowed humans to evolve.

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The Dinosaurs Song

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Michael the Dinosaur (1993)

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Top 10 Most Awesome Movies With Dinosaurs

10. Land of the Lost

“Land of the Lost” is the story of Dr. Rick Marshall scientist who defies the scientific community who do not take it seriously when he says that he found a way to travel back in time. But his device works and get back in time. Once in this parallel universe, Marshall has no weapons and neither he nor his assistant Molly and Will have not knowledge about the life in nature, knowledge that could afford to survive in this hostile environment populated by dinosaurs.
09. Godzilla

Called to investigate the seriousness of this situation, a scientist man (Matthew Broderick) concludes that it is a huge reptile irradiated product of explosions that took place in the deep Pacific. All U.S. military and police are mobilizing and joining forces to fight in the depths of prehistory dinosaur.
08. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

I do not think there is a person who has not seen or even heard of Ice Age. I am personally a hardcore fan of this movie. I just love and I recommend to all, regardless of age. In Ice Age 3, Sid is trying to adopt three dinosaur eggs and their mother is kidnapped by a real underground lost world full of dinosaur. Then his friend will try to save him.
07. The Lost World

This movie is the story of Professor Challenger who embarks on an expedition in the Amazon jungle to show that some dinosaurs survived. The professor manages to find these animals long believed extinct, but a highly evolved species of monkeys who think him a god. Upon returning to civilization he decides not to disclose these findings.
06. Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone

The little and cute dinosaur from the huge success miniseries, now playing in a new animated movie, on the island where humans and dinosaurs living together. KEX, an orphan of 12 years, runs a lifeboat, hoping to see the world, but it is wrecked and the waves bring him to the land of Dinotopia, and befriended with 26. Does not take long time and the two friends begin to have problems, because the evil Ogthar is released from the prison and grab the Rubin, whose dark power is likely to endanger all of Dinotopia.
05. Jurassic Park III

They want to see live the island populated by fierce dinosaurs, created by genetics. After their plane crashes, Alan finds that the Kirby husbands actually looking for their son who was lost on the island. Trapped on the island, Grant and his comrades discover some painful truths: some prehistoric animals have advanced skills to communicate with each other, and ferocious T Rex is a real competitor.
04. The Land Before Time

A movie about friendship, which existed in the earliest times. The story of a baby dinosaur called Littlefoot, whom her parents die in an earthquake. Orphan quest in the looking for legendary valley where there is plenty of food and where vegetarians can live peaceful, at shelter from tyrannosaurus rex. Along the way, Littlefoot befriends with four other dinosaurs of different species, and together learn to overcome obstacles and survive in a hostile world.
03. Dinosaur

The action takes place with 65 million years ago, the late of Cretaceous period and thus “Dinosaur” introduces the filmmakers in a country of photorealistic prehistoric wonders, following the dramatic action narrative, a journey of Iguanadon called Aladar. Apart from its own species and being raised in a paradise island by a clan of lemurs, Aladar’s life is completely changed when a devastating meteor rain forces him to join a group of dinosaur desperate migrants seeking a safe ground.
02. When Dinosaurs Roamed America

This movie is a spectacular and dynamic representation of life dinosaurs. The story takes you back in time to prehistoric North America to show the powerful and mysterious beasts that dominates all other creatures. From feathered dromeaosaurs to T-Rex, you will be overwhelmed by the power and beauty of these creatures long extinct.
01. Journey to the Center of the Earth

Together with his nephew Sean and their guide Hannah, Trevor goes on a thrilling expedition in Iceland in an attempt to give his brother, using the book annotated by him as a real map. During the trip, the three young people find a cave that leads them to tens of miles beneath the crust surface, until the hidden bowels of the Earth, where they are about to make a major scientific discovery, namely that there are new worlds , so far unexplored and unseen by any human eye.

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Dinosaurus for Kids

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Yahoo and Liquid Comics to publish motion comics

Yahoo said Wednesday it is expanding its original offerings, partnering with Liquid Comics to offer motion-comics.
The two companies said they’ll make the first two titles — created by film directors Barry Sonnenfeld and Guy Ritchie — available online later this summer through Yahoo! Screen.
Motion comics blend elements of comic book art and animation, offering some movement and action but on a limited scale. It’s gained ground and popularity in recent years as publishers big and small experiment with the medium, which can viewed online or on devices like tablets and iPads.
“This is compelling content from great storytellers, and we are excited to be adding Liquid Comics to our robust slate of premium content partners,” said Erin McPherson, vice president and head of video for Yahoo.
By partnering with Liquid Comics and focusing on animation, she said Yahoo is enhancing its premium original content.
Together with Tom Hanks’ new animated Web series, “Electric City,” ”motion comics are the start of a unique animated offering on Yahoo,“ McPherson said.
Sonnenfeld’s offering is ”Dinosaurs vs. Aliens.“ The director of the ”Men In Black“ films tells the story of aliens invading earth in prehistoric times only to face off against dinosaurs.
Ritchie, whose films include ”Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels“ and the recent ”Sherlock Holmes,“ will have his ”Gamekeeper“ transformed into a motion-comic written by Andy Diggle. It focuses on groundskeeper whose life is turned upside down by mercenaries.
Sharad Devarajan, CEO of Liquid Comics, said the titles, along with plans for more, will help expand the reach of graphic novels and comics.
”Yahoo’s impressive global reach will greatly enhance Liquid’s goal of pushing the boundaries of comic books through digital platforms and technology and enabling our creative partners to share their stories with audiences worldwide,“ he said.

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Pixar's 'The Good Dinosaur' to roar in 2014

Natural history hints that sometime around 65.5 million years ago, a 3- to 9-mile-wide asteroid passed through Earth's atmosphere and slammed into the Yucatán Peninsula. The resulting impact and energy released was enough to create a mass extinction event and may have been responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs. 

But what if that asteroid somehow passed by Earth and never gave the planet an uppercut? That's the intriguing idea behind Pixar's upcoming film, "The Good Dinosaur," which shows a world where the terrible lizards never died out. 

"It's time to do a movie where you get to know the dinosaur, what it's really like to be a dinosaur and to be with a dinosaur," Bob Peterson, director of the film, told the L.A. Times. 

While everything from the plot to the types of dinos we'll be seeing is being kept strictly under wraps, concept art shown last year indicates that humans will likely play a role. (So yeah, we'll all likely be envious of the guy with a T-Rex in his garage.)

For now, Pixar is focusing all of its attention on the group's new gorgeous film, "Brave," which opens on June 22. The story is about about a young girl in Scotland who "seeks her place in the world." According to the Wall Street Journal, one of the more emotional moments in the film takes place during the end credits. From the site:

"The film is dedicated to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who is lauded as a partner, mentor and friend in an early cut of the movie. During the credits of an unfinished version of the film, a will-o’-the-wisp flits on screen around Jobs’s name."

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$1m dinosaur stolen from desert

The US is seeking to return a Tyrannosaurus bataar to Mongolia after officials there said the dinosaur bones were smuggled into the U.S. Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara says the nearly complete skeleton was allegedly stolen from Mongolia and brought to the US with false claims that it originated in Great Britain and was worth $US15,000.

It was then sold at auction for more than $US1 million. The auction proceeded even though the president of Mongolia obtained a restraining order in a Texas court before it took place. Under Mongolian law, dinosaur fossils are considered property of the Mongolian government and “one-of-a-kind rare items” that are prohibited from being moved abroad. The skeleton was taken from the Gobi desert.

“The skeletal remains of this dinosaur are of tremendous cultural and historic significance to the people of Mongolia,” Bharara said in a statement. “When the skeleton was allegedly looted, a piece of the country's natural history was stolen with it, and we look forward to returning it to its rightful place.” Bharara alleges the customs documents for the dinosaur misstated the bones' country of origin as Great Britain instead of Mongolia.

The government's paleontologists concluded the skeleton must have come from Mongolia because the dinosaur was native to that region and its bones have only been discovered there. The Tyrannosaurus bataar, which lived about 70 million years ago, was first discovered by paleontologists in 1946, Bharara's office said. Since 1924, Mongolia enacted laws making any dinosaurs discovered there to be government property.

The complaint also alleges the bones were priced too low in the customs documents, with the value listed at $15,000 instead of the $950,000 to $1.5 million listed in the Natural History Auction catalogue. The bones sold at auction on May 20 for $US1,052,500. The auction catalogue describes the dinosaur as “an incredible complete skeleton, painstakingly excavated and prepared” and is “a stupendous, museum-quality specimen of one of the most emblematic dinosaurs ever to have stalked this earth.”

By contrast, the customs documents described the imports as “two large rough fossil reptile heads, six boxes of broken fossil bones, three rough fossil reptiles, one fossil lizard, three rough fossil reptiles and one fossil reptile skull.” The final sale at the auction is contingent on the outcome of the case, Bharara's office said. Jim Halperin, co-chairman of Heritage Auction, said in statement: “We can't comment on the lawsuit because we haven't seen it yet.”

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Author and dinosaur expert-all at seven

Pritvik Sinhadc picks up his book and begins talking confidently about his specialist subject: dinosaurs.
He describes the periods of the prehistoric world, explains the differences between a Suchomimus and a Spinosaurus, and sets out his plan to write two more books about dinosaurs. All very impressive for a seven-year-old.
Pritvik has astounded his parents, peers and teachers with his incredible knowledge about palaeontology. His debut as a published author with his book When Dinosaurs Roamed The Earth takes his academic achievements to a new level.
“My book is about the different periods and the dinosaurs that lived in them. The periods in my book are Triassic, early-Jurassic, Jurassic, early-Cretaceous and Cretaceous, so five different periods,” said the Year 3 student at Dubai British School.
Despite the complexity of palaeontology, Pritvik grasped the subject at an early age. He was less than one-year-old when he first started quizzing his parents on matters of the universe.
“I was nine months old when I first got interested in dinosaurs. I was interested in dinosaurs because they are very fascinating and they are one of the oldest things on the whole planet,” said Pritvik. Pritvik’s mother Indira was shocked at her son’s early passion for the prehistoric. She’s also unsure as to how Pritvik picked up the interest.

“None of us in the family are into any kind of prehistoric creature or animal! It’s completely down to Pritvik,” she said.
“He’s been into this, actually, since he was very, very small – from about nine months. He was a very good speaker and developed it very fast. He questioned things which were very out-of-the-box like gravitational pull, how the earth is pulling everything without a string.”
Pritvik’s teachers were also taken aback by the young boy’s fascination and knowledge of the prehistoric world. But after talking with Pritvik and discussing his interests, the school was able to nurture his talent.
Indira said: “In fact, the teachers in the school were also as perplexed as I was. Fortunately they took the trouble of assessing him, finding out what his interests were, and they realised that he is gifted.”
Not only did the teachers assess Pritvik, they also found the perfect outlet for his enthusiasm. With a resident dinosaur expert on site, it made perfect sense to let Pritvik teach his fellow students. Hannah Turner, a teacher at the Dubai British School, said: “I have never encountered such enthusiasm for such a complex area of study from a child so young. Pritvik’s interest and understanding of pre-historic creatures is quite staggering... I feel very fortunate to have had the school palaeontologist in class who can pronounce dinosaurs’ names correctly, comment on their eating and behavioural patterns, body systems and periods of existence without the aid of the internet or information book.”
It was Pritvik’s foray into teaching that ultimately inspired him to write the book.
“I also teach Year 5 and 6 students about dinosaurs and they can’t really understand what I say so I thought I can put it in the format of a book so they can understand it better.”
Pritvik’s colourful book with dramatic illustrations of dinosaurs explains in clear, concise language the different creatures of the prehistoric world. Already written, his second book will be about Suchomimus and other fish-eating dinosaurs, while he is also planning another book about animal mutations.
Despite only being seven years old, it’s clear to see that Pritvik has a bright future ahead in palaeontology.

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Amazing Facts about Dinosaurs

Smallest Dinosaur
Smallest dinosaur was height of about m (3 ft) long9equal to a size of chicken) and probably weighed about 2.5 kg (about 6.5 lb), it lived in pre historic era called Jurrasic period; Dinosaur named Mussaurus was world‘s smallest dinosaur.
Dinosaurs were Warm blooded
Dinosaurs belong to class Reptilia (reptiles) of animals, normally reptiles are cold blooded but according to latest research many scientists believe that dinosaurs were warm blooded.
Fastest Dinosaur
Dinosaur named Galliminus was fastest dinosaur ever lived,it is estimated that Galliminus was able to run faster than any Olympic sprinter,its highest speed was 35 miles per hour.
Dinosaurs used to walk on Toes
According to latest research about dinosaurs it is revealed that most of dinosaurs used to walk on their toes, which is a very interesting fact.
Average age of dinosaurs
Dinosaurs probably lived to be between 75 to 300 years of age. Scientists figured this out from looking at the structure of their bones.

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Dinosaurs- Apatosaurus

Apatosaurus means “deceptive lizard.” It’s really the perfect name for the bulky Jurassic sauropod. “Brontosaurus“—a dinosaurian fan favorite whose memory lives on even after being relegated to the taxonomic dustbin—turned out to be a species of Apatosaurus, and for decades, paleontologists assigned the wrong head to Apatosaurus because of a confused view of who the dinosaur was most closely related to. Apatosaurus continues to play tricks. The sauropod tracks placed behind the American Museum of Natural History’s Apatosaurus skeleton were actually made by much different sauropods that lived millions of years later.
The cartoon series “I’m a Dinosaur” presents a different interpretation of the sauropod’s name. A grey, blunt-headed Apatosaurus—who sounds like the Jurassic precursor to Mortimer Snerd—tells the tale, while delivering a few basic facts along the way.
Apatosaurus isn’t the only dinosaur to present a short cartoon autobiography. The same series also features a regal Tyrannosaurus, a Baryonyx suffering ennui, and an anxious Beipiaosaurus who dreams of flying. The educational content is pretty thin—generally how big the dinosaurs were, where they lived and what they ate—but this is cartoon kid’s stuff, after all.
Then again, if Apatosaurus is such a deceptive dinosaur, why should we believe anything he says?

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10 Amazing facts about Dinosaurs

1. Dinosaurs first appeared during the Triassic period (248 to 213 million years ago), and were the dominant land animals through the entire Jurassic period, and to the end of the Cretaceous period (65 million years ago).
2. We know about dinosaurs because fossils have been found. The fossils, which are generally found in sedimentary rocks, including fossilized body parts (bones, teeth, skin, claws, etc.), as well as trace fossils ("ichnofossils") which show how the animals lived, which include footprints, burrows, nests, toothmarks, dung, etc.
3. The earth's continents slowly move through a process known as "plate tectonics". When dinosaurs first appeared during the Triassic period, all the earth's continents were joined together in one super-continent known as "Pangea".
4. All the familiar types of dinosaurs, died off at the end of the Cretaceous period. There are many different theories why this may have happened, but today the most popular theory is that an asteriod hit the earth, blocking out the sunlight so that there was not enough food available. Evidence for this theory is a layer of iridium, which is believed to have come from the asteroid, has been found around the world, and a possible impact site found in southern Mexico.
5. The smallest known dinosaur is Compsognathus, which lived in Europe during the late Jurassic, and was about the size of a chicken. Compsognathus is believed to have eaten insects, lizards and other small animals.
6. There are quite a few candidates for the largest dinosaur, as there are several types of dinosaur that were over 100 feet (30 metres) long. The largest was certainly some kind of sauropod (a four-legged plant-eating dinosaur with a long neck) that lived during the late Jurassic or early Cretaceous period.
7. The word "dinosaur" was coined by Sir Richard Owen, who also founded the Natural "History Museum" in London, England. "Dinosaur" means terrible lizard, and is based on the Greek words "deinos" (terrible) and "sauros" (lizard).
8. People have been finding dinosaur fossils for hundreds of years, but didn't know what they were until quite recently. The first time that a dinosaur was scientifically described was in 1824, by William Buckland.
9. At the same time that dinosaurs dominated the land, there were many aquatic reptiles that dominated the seas, although these were not dinosaurs. These aquatic reptiles included plesiosaurs, nothosaurs, mosasaurs and ichythosaurs.
10. Although birds seem to have evolved from dinosaurs, no non-avian flying dinosaurs are known. However, at the time of dinosaurs there were many flying reptiles, known as pterosaurs.

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How many types of dinosaurs are known?

Around 700 species have been named. However, a recent scientific review suggests that only about half of these are based on fairly entire specimens that can be shown to be unique and separate species. These species are placed in about 300 valid dinosaur genera (Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, etc.), though about 540 have been named. Recent estimates recommend that about 700 to 900 more dinosaur genera may remain to be discovered.
Most dinosaur genera currently contain only one species (for example, Deinonychus) but some have more (for example, Iguanodon). Even if all of the approximately 700 published species are valid, their number is still less than one-tenth the number of presently known living bird species, less than one-fifth the number of presently known mammal species, and less than one-third the number of currently known spider species.

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Dinosaurs May Have Been More Svelte Than Thought

Dinosaurs may have been lighter than previously thought, according to scientists who used a new technique to assess the weight and size of one of the ancient creatures.
The biologists at the University of Manchester, in England, used lasers to measure the amount of skin required to cover the skeletons of 14 large modern-day mammals such as elephants, giraffes and polar bears. They found a consistent ratio of skin volume to body mass (weight).
They used a similar technique on a skeleton of a giant plant-eating Brachiosaur in a Berlin museum -- calculating skin volume and using that to predict weight. Previous estimates of this particular specimen's weight have varied, with some as high as 88 tons. But this new technique suggests the animal weighed "just" 25 tons (50,000 pounds).
The findings, appearing June 5 in the journal Biology Letters, support the belief that dinosaurs were much lighter than traditionally thought, said study lead author Bill Sellers.
He and his colleagues also said this new technique can be used to assess the weight of all types of dinosaurs.
"Our method provides a much more accurate measure and shows dinosaurs, while still huge, are not as big as previously thought," Sellers said in a university news release.

Smallest Dinosaurs-Microraptor

Name: Microraptor (Greek for "small thief"); pronounced MY-crow-rap-tore
Habitat: Woodlands of Asia
Historical Period: Early Cretaceous (130-125 million years ago)
Size and Weight: About 2 feet long and 3-4 pounds
Diet: Probably insects
Distinguishing Characteristics: Tiny size; primitive feathers; wings on arms and legs
About Microraptor: Probably because it was so small, Microraptor fossilized unusually well--paleontologists in China have unearthed about two dozen more-or-less complete specimens of this tiny, feathered raptor of the early Cretaceous period, complete with traces of internal organs and primitive feathers.
The most spectacular fact about Microraptor is that it had not one, but two, sets of primitive wings--one on its forearms (similar to other birdlike dinosaurs, like Archaeopteryx), and one on its hind legs. This formidable feathered arsenal notwithstanding, scientists believe Microraptor was, at best, an occasional glider, much like a flying squirrel--and probably spent most of its life high up in the branches of trees. (A recent study has shown that the feathers of Microraptor were black and glossy, and likely evolved more as a way to attract mates than to fly the short distances between trees.)
This leads to the important question: was Microraptor a crucial "missing link" in the gradual evolution of dinosaurs into birds, or did it represent a four-winged experiment that (literally) never quite got off the ground? The answer may await future fossil discoveries, but the lack of any four-winged birds living today should give you an important clue.

West Fargo police investigating dinosaur bone theft

West Fargo Police are investigating a garage theft from Monday afternoon. Inside that garage were dinosaur fossils.
Police say a dinosaur jaw was taken from these garages. The owners of the former Dinosaurs and More Store in West Fargo have kept many of their display items in storage.
Police believe the burglar broke a lock and entered through a side door. The stolen dinosaur jaw bone is estimated at $20,000. If caught, the burglar would be facing felony charges.
Mike Reitan – Assistant West Fargo Police Chief: “The owner of the dinosaur bone is making contact with others in the field because it is rather unique. He's also going to monitor ebay and the other online sites.”
There were other smaller items reported stolen as well.

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Dinoasurs Facts

The First Dinosaur to be Named:
The first dinosaur to be named was Megalosaurus. It was named in 1824 by Reverend William Buckland. Megalosaurus means ‘great lizard’ and it was about 9 metres long, and 3 metres tall.
The First Dinosaur to be Discovered in America:
The first discovery of dinosaur remains in North America was made in 1854 by Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden during his exploration of the upper Missouri River. He discovered a small collection of teeth which were later described by Joseph Leidy in 1856 as belonging to Trachodon, Troodon, and Deinodon.
The Longest Dinosaur:
The longest dinosaur was Seismosaurus, which measured over 40 metres, as long as five double-decker buses. It was related to diplodocus, which for a long time held the honour.
The Heaviest Dinosaur:
The heaviest dinosaur was Brachiosaurus at 80 tonnes. It was the equivalent to 17 African Elephants. Brachiosaurus was 16m tall and 26m long and is the largest dinosaur skeleton to be mounted in a museum.
The Smallest Dinosaur Egg - How To Tell a Dinosaur Egg from a Rock?
Dinosaur eggs come in all shapes and sizes. They tend to be ovoid or spherical in shape and up to 30cm in length - about the size of a rugby ball. The smallest dinosaur egg so far found is only 3cm long. Once the egg has been fossilised it will become hard like rock, but it will retain a structure of its own.
The Smallest Dinosaur:
The smallest fully-grown fossil dinosaur is the little bird-hipped plant-eater like lesothosaurus, which was only the size of a chicken. Smaller fossilised examples have been found, but these are of baby dinosaurs.
The Most Brainy Dinosaur:
One of the most intelligent dinosaurs was Troodon. It was a hunting dinosaur, about 2 metres long, and had a brain size similar to that of a mammal or bird of today, stereoscopic vision, and grasping hands
The Dumbest Dinosaur:
Stegosaurus had a brain the size of a walnut - only 3 centimetres long and weighing 75 grams. However, comparing brain size to body size sauropodomorphs, like Plateosaurus, were probably one of the dumbest dinosaurs.
The Tallest Dinosaur:
The tallest dinosaurs were the Brachiosaurid group of sauropods. Their front legs were longer than the rear legs giving them a giraffe-like stance. This combined with their extremely long necks, which were held vertically, meant they could browse off the tallest trees. Brachiosaurus - the most well known of the group - was 13 metres tall. Sauroposeidon was massive and probably grew to 18.5 metres tall making it the tallest dinosaur.
The Fastest Running Dinosaur:
The speediest dinosaurs were the ostrich mimic ornithomimids, such as Dromiceiomimus, which could probably run at speeds of up to 60 kilometres per hour.
The Oldest Dinosaur:
The oldest dinosaurs known are 230 million years old, and have been found in Madagasgar. As yet they have not been formally named. Before this Eoraptor, meaning "dawn thief" had held the title at 228 million years.
The Fiercest Dinosaur:
Tyrannosaurus rex looked the most ferocious of all the dinosaurs, but in terms of overall cunning, determination and its array of vicious weapons it was Utahraptor that was probably the fiercest of all. Utahraptor measured about 7 metres, and was a very powerful, agile and intelligent predator.

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Miragaia longicollum

Only named in 2009, there is little known of Miragaia's type species, longicollum. Miragaia strikes itself out from other stegosaurs, indeed thyreopeans, because of its long neck. The neck had 17 vertrbrae, more than any other dinosaur including the sauropods.
Miragaia was discovered & named by Octavio Mateus, found in a Lourhina dig-site that dated back to the Late Jurassic. Mateus has been researching the purpose of Miragaia's long neck, & speculates that it evolved from sexual selection; a dinosaur with a long neck is more vulnerable to a fatal wounding delivered via the neck than a dinosaur with a short neck. The long neck shows a potential mate that the dinosaur, despite being disadvantaged, is still able to survive. This is evident in other dinosaur clades, most prominent in Maniraptorans, whose probably bright plumage made them easier to spot. Sexual selection also gets rid of the need to fight to demonstrate survivalability.

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Water creatures

Elasmosaurus had a 6 meters neck. Elasmosaurus ate fish. It shot its long neck out to catch fish. Elasmosaurus lived in the late Cretaceous. Elasmosaurus was 49 feet long. Elasmosaurus had wing like flippers. They had 70 vertebrae. Kronosaurus had a skull twice the size of T-Rex. The largest Kronosaurus skull ever found was 10 feet long. They lived in the Jurassic 165-150 million years ago. They were 25 meters long and had 4 flippers that were 3 meters. Kronosaurus had 2 nostrils on each side of its snout so it could smell different directions and find more food. Ophthalmosaurus jumps out of to shake of sea lice. Ophthalmosaurus has to have there baby tail first because they are reptiles. Ophthalmosaurus has eyes the size of golf balls.

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Science casts a fresh eye on dinosaur history

Much of what we thought we knew about dinosaurs is altering as fresh science creates new pictures of these antique creatures and how they lived.

New discoveries of smaller dinosaurs from China have exposed many were enclosed in feathers. Paleontologists now consider many dinosaurs were warm-blooded and some even lived in areas that saw snow.

"What you used to think about dinosaurs, maybe you should imagine about them in a different way," says Richard Hebda, paleontologist with the Royal B.C. Museum, where the travelling show Dinosaurs, antique Fossils, New Discoveries opens Thursday.

"It tries to offer a look at how these organisms lived and behaved and there is a bit on what type of world they lived in."

The show, assembled by the famous American Museum of Natural History in New York City, runs until Sept. 16 in Victoria.

Scientists now consider dinosaurs were much more active than the ponderous, giant lizards once imagined. Instead of spending most of their time in water to support their giant size, they likely ran, jumped and even migrated over dry land.

Long-necked dinosaurs were before pictured living and feeding from treetops with their necks extensive straight upwards, like giraffes.

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