We cover topics in paleontology to answer common questions about the field to educate and inspire readers of all ages.
We’ve all seen the meme suggesting that since plastics are made from oil, toy dinosaurs are made from real dinosaurs. Pretty ironic, right? The belief that the materials used to make dinosaurs came from the…
In the movie Jurassic Park, the guests take a detour and discover a sick Triceratops. This scene leads to the iconic “that’s one big pile of shit” comment, as our tourists search the area for…
T. rex receives the most attention for being a massive dinosaur with short arms. It’s not the only dinosaur like this. While some dinosaurs such as Deinocheirus were known for their extremely long arms, some…
As any dinosaur nerd can tell you, the non-avian dinosaurs all died at the end of the Cretaceous when an asteroid struck the Earth around 66 million years ago. There are countless media references to…
Some of the most well-known groups of prehistoric animals from the Mesozoic Era are the so-called aquatic dinosaurs, and for good reason: they’re large, fearsome, apex predators. So how did aquatic dinosaurs die out? Some…
Most people have seen depictions of Tyrannosaurus a thousand times: they’re fearsome, likely hungry given their invariably open mouths, and covered in lizard-like scales. Some artists, however, take a different approach. These deviants show the…
When reading about dinosaurs or visiting a museum you may have wondered: how do scientists determine the age of fossils? Are they really millions of years old? How do scientists know that, for example, Tyrannosaurus…
One of the most famous Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons, “Stan” the T. rex, may also be the most well-traveled T. rex. At the moment, he currently resides in Texas, New Mexico, Washington, D.C., Kansas, Wyoming, Indiana,…
Most readers will likely be familiar with the three types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Many readers may not realize, however, that fossils only come from sedimentary rocks. Why are fossils found in sedimentary…
Evolution is one of the most important theories in modern science. It provides a framework for understanding where modern species came from, including our own. Evolution teaches scientists how to understand trends in biodiversity, genetics,…
As a child, I often annoyed everyone around me talking about dinosaurs nonstop. Honestly, I still do this. Though one thing always annoyed me too. Why did everyone think that I wanted to be an…
Do dinosaurs have common names? Dinosaur names are notoriously difficult to say. We all know the most popular ones because they’re prevalent in pop culture. Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus are no more difficult to say…
