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…]
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…]
Archaeopteryx, the ‘first bird’, has fascinated people since the first mostly complete specimen was dug out of a quarry in Bavaria in 1861. Along with a number of other dinosaurs and early birds, researchers have now been able to look at the microstructural features of fossilised feathers of the animal, and determine that its … [Read more…]
Happy birthday to Mary Anning (21 May 1799 – 9 March 1847) – one of the most important women to influence the history of science. I’m excited to see that Mary Anning – pioneering British female fossil hunter and palaeontologist – is rocking the Google doodle today, on what would have been her 215th birthday. Anning made … [Read more…]
Flying Dinosaurs: A night at the museum Join us at the Australian Museum for an evening of fascinating new dinosaur revelations! When: Thursday 29 May 2014 Where: Australian Museum, Sydney, enter via William St entrance Time: 6:15pm (for 6:30pm start) – 8:30pm Cost: $20 BOOK TICKETS We have learnt more about dinosaurs in the two … [Read more…]
Epidexipteryx hui China, Mid- to Late Jurassic (152–168 million years ago), described 2008 This odd pigeon-sized dinosaur found in China’s Inner Mongolia Province had a downy covering of fuzz for insulation and four long, ribbon-like feathers that emerged from its tail and were probably used for display. Weirder still were Epidexipteryx’s incredibly long fingers – … [Read more…]
Gigantoraptor erlianensis Mongolia, Late Cretaceous (80–95 million years ago), described 2007 This species was discovered accidentally by Xu Xing while he was shooting a TV show in Inner Mongolia in 2005. Filming had to stop because he was so excited. The largest member of the parrot-beaked oviraptorosaur group – at 8 metres long and 4 … [Read more…]
Microraptor gui China, Early Cretaceous (110–120 million years ago), described 2003 Hundreds of specimens of several similar species of this four-winged flier have been found in Liaoning. Studies revealed these animals had feathers that were blue-black with an iridescent sheen, similar to a crow, and serrations in their teeth suggest that fish were part of … [Read more…]
Sinornithosaurus millenii China, Early Cretaceous (120–125 million years ago), described 1999 Around 1 metre long when fully grown, Sinornithosaurus was a small predatory dromaeosaur related to Deinonychus and Velociraptor. The first specimen was discovered by a team including Xu Xing in 1999 and became the fifth feathered species of dinosaur found in western Liaoning. The … [Read more…]
Columbia University Press have purchased the rights to publish Flying Dinosaurs: How fearsome reptiles became birds in the US and Canada! This is exciting as the book will reach a bigger audience across North America than if the Australian version had been distributed there alone. The book will be published at the same time as … [Read more…]