Articles for tag: Dinosaur Evolution, Dinosaur Science, Evolution of Birds, Feathered Dinosaurs

a close up of a brown substance on a white surface

China’s Liaoning Province: Where Feathered Dinosaurs First Came to Light

Suhail Ahmed

Snow-dusted fields, flat slabs of gray rock, and a whisper of ash – Liaoning didn’t look like the place that would rewrite the origin story of birds. Yet in the late twentieth century, farmers splitting shale for hearthstones began revealing delicate halos around small dinosaur skeletons: impressions of filaments and feathers that seemed too good ...

New Evidence Links Volcanic Winters to the Dawn of Dinosaur Dominance

Jan Otte

New research reveals that rapid, sulfur-heavy volcanic eruptions plunged Earth into deadly cold snaps, wiping out competitors and giving insulated dinosaurs an unexpected edge. For decades, scientists believed that rising carbon dioxide levels from ancient supervolcanoes slowly cooked the planet, triggering the end-Triassic extinction 201 million years ago. But a groundbreaking study published in Proceedings ...

Theropod track

It’s All in the Wrist: Dinosaur Bone Discovery Reshapes Flight Evolution

April Joy Jovita

A newly identified wrist bone in two non-avian dinosaurs has challenged long-held assumptions about the evolution of flight. Researchers have discovered that theropods, bird-like meat-eating dinosaurs, possessed a carpal bone called the pisiform, once thought to be unique to birds. This finding suggests that the anatomical foundations for flight were already in place millions of ...