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Nodosaurus textilis, courtesy of WikiCommons

Even though museums all over the world are filled with dinosaur skeletons, it is very rare for paleontologists to find a complete, articulated specimen. Scraps and fragments of dinosaur bone are far more common, and often only the hardest parts of the skeleton become fosslized. In the case of the armored dinosaurs, the ankylosaurus, the plates, spikes, and bony knobs called tubercles are much more common than complete skeletons. A new study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology confirms that it is possible to use some of these tell-tale fossils to identify these dinosaurs.

While fossil hunting in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico in 1919, the paleontologist Charles Gilmore discovered a few bony scutes, fossils similar to the armor of other ankylosaurs. When the specimens were re-examined over 80 years later, they were thought to represent a new genus and species, Glyptodontopelta mimus, but could a new kind of dinosaur be established on the basis of just a few bits of armor? In the new study, paleontologist Michael Burns compared the Glyptodontopelta material to new armor fossils found from the same area to determine if they could be used to tell the difference between different ankylosaurs.

Burns’ analysis showed that both Gilmore’s fossils and the new ones did, in fact, belong to Glyptodontopelta, and that this dinosaur was a nodosaurid. (Nodosaurids were a kind of armored dinosaur that, unlike many ankylosaurids, lacked a bony tail club.) More importantly, however, by looking at the details of the texture of the armor (the pits, pores, and furrows that mark each specimen), Burns was able to reliably differentiate between genera and, in some cases, species. Since the armor of ankylosaurs is common in many Cretaceous deposits, the comparison of the armor fossils has the potential to detect the presence of new genera or even species of armored dinosaurs that are otherwise unknown.

Still, as Burns points out in the paper, paleontologists do not yet have a good idea how the armor grew on any one individual over time, and it may be possible to mistake the armor of a young individual (or variations in the armor of among individuals) for a new kind of dinosaur. This was not the case with Glyptodontopelta, however, as various remains matched each other to the exclusion of other types of ankylosaur known from more complete skeletons. Great care must be taken in such comparisons, but at least in this case, the existence of a new genus of nodosaurid was confirmed.

A long time ago, someone gave me some dinosaur soap. It was shaped like an egg, and the packaging promised that there was a dinosaur inside. I scrubbed vigorously in the tub, but the prize remained encased in soap. Slowly, though, it began to emerge, scraping my skin if I didn’t remember where the pointy bits starting to emerge from the soap were. By the time my toy was freed from the soap, I felt like I had been attacked by a dinosaur.

A somewhat safer alternative is the Dino-sphere not to be confused with the children’s museum exhibit), a “bath bomb” that contains a prehistoric prize. Don’t worry, it’s not something that will explode and crack your bathroom porcelain. Instead, it’s a ball that is supposed to fizz when it hits water, releasing a pleasing scent and eventually freeing a dinosaur toy. Just remember to take the toy with you when you exit the bath, lest your feet get an unpleasant and pointy surprise the next time you want to get clean!

Apropos of taking bubble baths, here’s a less scary bath toy:

If you happen to be in the vicinity of the Mall of Asia in Manila before January 11 you might want to stop in to check out the Dinos Alive! Tour. Promising over 12,000 square meters of “Dino Action!” the exhibit features lots of animatronics, movies, and dinosaur themed games. Walking With Dinosaurs Live! it’s not, but it seems to have more dinosaurs than you can shake a spiked tail-club at.

Image courtesy of Flickr/Wikimedia Commons

Announcements of new fossil discoveries are always exciting, and remains found from a site in eastern Shandong Province in China are no exception. Among the recovered fossils is part of the six-feet-wide skull of a horned dinosaur like Styracosaurus as well as bones of other dinosaur types seen from the Cretaceous of Asia and North America.

The problem with international discoveries, however, is that reporting agencies are not always adept at translating what scientists have to say. A report of the finds released by the news service AFP, and widely reproduced at sites like Yahoo!, said:

Included in the find was the largest “platypus”—or “duck-billed dinosaur” in Chinese—ever discovered measuring nine metres high with a wingspan wider than 16 metres, the report said.

As amusing as the image of a platypus with a 52 foot wingspan is, something has definitely been lost in translation here. A platypus is an egg-laying mammal (a monotreme), and “duck-billed dinosaurs” were hadrosaurs like Edmontosaurus. Hadrosaurus did not have wings, but pterosaurs (which were not dinosaurs) did. Even so, the largest estimated wingspan for a pterosaur belongs to Quetzalcoatlus at a maximum of about 33 feet. If there was a creature with a 52-foot wingspan, it certainly is a significant find, but I can say with certainty that it was not a platypus or a hadrosaur.

Translation difficulties aside, it sounds like the site is a treasure trove of significant new fossils. They probably will not appear in the scientific literature for a few years yet, but I am looking forward to learning the truth about these new fossils.

Image courtesy of Flickr/Wikimedia Commons

A T. rex and Triceratops at Dinosphere

When I was about five years old, my parents took me to a traveling robotic dinosaur exhibit at a local museum. I could hardly wait, but when I finally came face-to-face with the roaring beasts, I was terrified. I loved dinosaurs, but the gnashing teeth and waving horns were just too much for me; I found refuge around a corner to watch them in safety.

The staff at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis recognizes that as much as children love them, dinosaurs can also be very scary. Not every child will feel comfortable coming face-to-face with a Tyrannosaurus as they exit the dark tunnel leading into their dinosaur exhibit, the Dinosphere, and so they have a little cave where more timid visitors can hang back and play with soft dinosaur eggs.

Those ready to brave the carefully reproduced prehistoric forest will find a museum that not only displays some of the most dynamic dinosaur mounts yet exhibited, but encourages hands-on learning. Children are invited to consider whether Gorgosaurus killed a Maiasaura or was a scavenger, get their hands dirty in a simulated fossil dig, and interact with professional fossil preparators. It sounds like a young dino-phile’s dream, and I wish I was young again to have an excuse to learn and play in such an innovative exhibit!