Anzu wyliei – United States, Late Cretaceous (66 million years ago), described 2014 From the Hell Creek formation of the Dakotas, Anzu has been described by the Smithsonian Institution and Carnegie Museum scientists who found it as the ‘chicken from hell’ and a cross between an emu and a lizard. Only the second feathered … [Read more…]
The fourth installation of the Jurassic Park movie series, Jurassic World, is being filmed in Hawaii and New Orleans right now, and is due to hit cinemas in June 2015. But the film has courted controversy for a number of reasons, not least for the suggestion that its representations of dinosaurs are inaccurate and … [Read more…]
Source: Information from M Benton (2014), Vertebrate Palaentology, 4th edn, Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell; and personal communication with Professor Mike Benton.
The earliest specimen of Archaeopteryx – the ‘first bird’ – was discovered in 1861 and was recognised as a missing link between reptiles and birds. Though they are incredibly important fossils, Archaeopteryx specimens have been very hard to come by. Since 1861 only 11 full body specimens (most missing their skulls), and one lone … [Read more…]
In the early stages of evolving flight, feathered dinosaurs tried an interesting experiment: they developed four wings. These small dinosaurs – such as Microraptor, Anchiornis and Xiaotingia – had long flight feathers on their hind limbs as well as their fore limbs, and they had long bony tails, similarly replete with large feathers. It appears … [Read more…]
I had a good chat to Nadine Maloney yesterday on ABC Alice Springs about Flying Dinosaurs. Listen to the clip here.
I stopped by for a chat last night about Flying Dinosaurs with Scott Bevan and Laetitia Lemke on ABC News 24.
This afternoon I had a good chat to Rebecca McLaren on ABC Queensland about Flying Dinosaurs and the dinosaur-bird link. A lot has changed in the world of dinosaurs since Jurassic Park was released in 1993. The original film would look – and sound – very different if it were made today. Would Tyrannosaurus rex … [Read more…]
Flying Dinosaurs went on sale across Australia this weekend! Today (June 1) is the official launch date and it’s now available online too. Find out how to buy it in Australia. If you’re overseas and can’t wait for a print copy to arrive, you can download it right now on Apple’s iBook store. I … [Read more…]
Thanks to all who made it to ‘Flying Dinosaurs: A night at the museum’ on Thursday evening! This glitzy Australian Geographic Society event to launch the book – held at Sydney’s historic Australian Museum – was an enormous success, with all 120 tickets sold out. Flying Dinosaurs author, John Pickrell, gave a 45-minute talk about some of … [Read more…]