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A new rumor suggests the first trailer for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will be released in November of this year, around Thanksgiving. Of all the classic Hollywood franchise revivals that have been produced over the past handful of years, Jurassic World proved to be one of the most successful, breaking box office records en route to a $1.6 billion worldwide haul in summer of 2015. Obviously, Universal was keen on developing a sequel, and that followup will reach theaters next June. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are returning in their starring roles from the original World, and they’ll be joined by the one and only Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm.

Director J.A. Bayona wrapped filming back in July, and is now making his way through post-production. As the highly-anticipated film inches closer to completion, fans are starting to wonder when Universal will start up their marketing campaign. At one point, it was speculated a teaser would debut at San Diego Comic-Con 2017, but that obviously did not come to be. Now, a new report is implying our first look at Fallen Kingdom will come in a couple of months – just in time for the holiday season.

Per Jurassic Outpost, it is believed the first Fallen Kingdom trailer will premiere around Thanksgiving. They caution that this is just a rumor for the time being, but mention Universal has informed their retail and licensing partners the Jurassic World 2 marketing campaign will “formally begin” that month. Some may recall the initial teaser for the first Jurassic World debuted in November 2014, so the studio is looking to replicate the advertising strategies they used to great effect the last time around.

From a business perspective, this timeframe makes a good deal of sense. Considering the reports are accurate, it’s very likely the teaser debuts during NBC’s broadcast of the New York Giants/Washington Redskins football game on Thanksgiving night. That would ensure the preview is shown to a massive audience, playing for millions of families gathered to celebrate the holiday. Universal would also then be able to attach a Fallen Kingdom preview to screenings of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which is poised to dominate the box office in December. Awareness was never going to be an issue for a new Jurassic Park film, but it doesn’t hurt to kick off promotional efforts on this grand a stage.

As for what might be shown in the footage, fans should only expect snippets of information that offer clues about the plot. There’s still plenty of time until the film comes out, so all Universal has to do is whet the appetites of fans eager for another wild adventure with dinosaurs. It wouldn’t be out of the question to see the return of everyone’s favorite chaos theorist in a fun moment towards the end, letting casual audiences know early on that life found a way to get Goldblum back in Jurassic Park. He’s a fan-favorite character, so Universal would be smart to play up his involvement.

A new species of ichthyosaur has been identified from a fossil that has been in the University of Nottingham’s engineering collection for over half a century.

The University’s specimen, announced today as Protoichthyosaurus applebyi, is a holotype – the valuable original specimen that describes a new species. It is the first known fossil of its kind anywhere in the world, which makes it even more scientifically significant.

Dr David Large, a geologist and Head of the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, who joined the University in 1995, had used the specimen for teaching and outreach work while visiting primary schools to encourage children to explore science and engineering. The fossil, which was a hit with children, had faded into obscurity and was forgotten about for years. However, it was rediscovered not long ago, sitting on a shelf in a storeroom. Recognising its rarity and uniqueness, Dr Large retrieved the fossil and his effort enabled palaeontologists and scientists to study the specimen in greater detail.

Dean Lomax, a palaeontologist and Visiting Scientist at The University of Manchester, contacted Dr Large in 2014 while searching for another ichthyosaur fossil and was unaware that the newly-found specimen even existed as it had not been scientifically examined before. Eventually it was determined that this specimen is of a species new to science. It has been hailed as a major step in uncovering Britain’s early fossil past and understanding ichthyosaur evolution.

Dean recently published his findings on the fossil in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology in collaborationwith Professor Judy Massare of State University of New York, USA, and Rashmi Mistry, a former student at the University of Reading.

He said, “This ichthyosaur is an essential part of Nottingham’s scientific collection and I’d like to thank David for bringing it to my attention. As part of our study we have identified over 20 specimens of Protoichthyosaurus, but only one example of P. applebyi, making this the only known specimen recorded so far. I’m confident that there will be more out there. This particular ichthyosaur dates back to the Early Jurassic period and lived around 200 million years ago. As part of the wider study, Protoichthyosaurus has improved our understanding of the evolutionary changes in the forefins of ichthyosaurs, which set it apart from other species. This small- to medium-sized species would have probably been less than 2m in length, swimming in large numbers in the seas around Britain when the dinosaurs roamed the land.”

Professor Andy Long, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Faculty of Engineering said, “I am delighted with today’s announcement that a new species of ichthyosaur has been discovered in the University’s collections. This is not the kind of thing that engineering faculties report every day and it’s the first time that our Faculty can claim to have discovered a new species. David’s passion for geology helped him to recognise the fossil’s importance. The Faculty has carefully restored the fossil and categorised it with information on what it is, where it came from and how it lived.

“We get visiting researchers from all over the world to share their expertise with our staff and students, including Dean and Judy who came to examine, photograph and document the specimen in greater detail. All these studies form the basis of a constantly growing research effort here at Nottingham.”

Dr Large added, “When I first saw the fossil, I knew it was special and I am delighted that Dean has confirmed just how special it is. A new species of ichthyosaur is exciting and this particular one is a unique example of its kind. The fossil was a great way to introduce a young audience to science and it got many children asking the right questions about palaeontology. I’m delighted that we saved the fossil and it’s been great to have the faculty’s support in bringing this specimen to a wider audience. We’re now using the latest technology to find out more about this unique animal.”

The University’s fossil is named after Dr Robert Appleby, the palaeontologist who first announced the discovery of the genus Protoichthyosaurus in 1979.

This ichthyosaur is now on display as part of the one-time only world exclusive Dinosaurs of China exhibition at Lakeside Arts. The exhibition emerged from the research carried out by Dr Wang Qi, an Assistant Professor in Architecture who specializes in exhibition and museum design.

There are plans for the fossil to undergo CT scanning to create detailed images which can be studied further in addition to casting and 3D printing to fill in the missing parts.

Source: www.westbridgfordwire.com

Two of the earth’s five mass extinction events – times when more than half of the world’s species died – resulted in the survival of a low number of so-called “weedy” species that spread their sameness across the world as the Earth recovered from these dramatic upheavals. The findings could shed light on modern high extinction rates and how biological communities may change in the future.

David J. Button, an NC State and North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences postdoctoral research scholar, and colleagues examined fossil records of almost 900 vertebrate species dating back between 260 and 175 million years ago – from the late Permian through the Triassic and early Jurassic periods. Two mass extinction events occurred during this time. Button says that similar patterns arising after two mass extinctions implies that other extinction events may have the same results – including current biodiversity loss.

“Mass extinctions not only reduced animal diversity, but also affected the distribution of animals and ecosystems, or biogeography,” Button said. “As species are removed by extinction, their ecological niches are left vacant. Following the extinction event, these niches are occupied by surviving and newly evolving ‘weedy’ species. These few generalists spread out and dominated for a time, leading to a low-diversity global ‘disaster fauna.’”

One of these generalists was the Lystrosaurus, a plant-eating early mammal relative that ranged from dog- to pig-sized. It had tusks to help it dig up plant matter.

The late- Permian event – occurring around 252 million years ago – allowed new groups to evolve, including the earliest dinosaurs, crocodiles and relatives of mammals and lizards, Button said. The late-Triassic event, which occurred around 201 million years ago, wiped out many major groups, setting the stage for dinosaurs to take over.

“The late-Permian event caused about 90 percent of sea life and 70 percent of land-living vertebrates to become extinct, probably as a result of climate change from hyperactive volcanism – when volcanoes spewed basalt lava and released gases into the atmosphere causing large increases in carbon dioxide and severe warming resulting in desertification,” Button said. “The late-Triassic event is also associated with volcanism.”

“Mass extinctions were global disasters that fundamentally reshaped ecosystems,” said Richard Butler, professor of palaeobiology at the University of Birmingham and a co-author of the study. “Our new analyses provide crucial data that show just how profoundly these cataclysmic events changed and influenced animal distribution.”

“The fossil record has the potential to test evolutionary hypotheses in long time spans, which is not possible if evolutionary research is limited to living plant and animals,” said Martín Ezcurra, a researcher at the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales who co-authored the paper.

Identifying patterns across mass extinction events in the fossil record can help researchers make predictions about the consequences of current biodiversity loss, Button said.

“Further understanding of these ancient crises will help to inform conservation efforts to prevent modern animals from suffering a similar fate,” he added.

Source: www.astrobio.net

More than 700 fish-eating dinosaur footprints have been found in Portugal by a spanish paleontological team.

The dinosaurs were believed to be part of the Megalosauridae group, from the Middle Jurassic Period, and were thought to take advantage of low tides to hunt fish trapped in tidal pools, EFE news reported.

Novella Razzolini, the leading investigator on the Catalan Institute of Paleontology’s team, said the footprints were a “marvelous finding”.

She said the Middle Jurassic, which stretches back from 174 million to 163 million years ago, is known as the “dark age” of dinosaurs, as fossil records have shined little light on many of the creatures that lived during the period.

In Europe, most fossil remains from this group have been found in France, England and Scotland, while Portugal is known for the high amount of fossilised footprints.

According to the paleontologist, the footprints found are the largest in the Iberian peninsula and could belong to a small number of individuals that consistently fished in the area.

This is the first time investigators found clear evidence of migrations and movements by Megalosauridae with the sole purpose of acquiring food.

Dr. Michael Ryan of The Cleveland Museum of Natural History was part of an international group of researchers that announced the discovery of a new ostrich-mimic dinosaur, Rativates evadens, from the lower Dinosaur Park Formation near Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. The new species lived about 76 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period. Research describing the new species is now published online in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Based on a partial skeleton collected by the Royal Ontario Museum in 1934 from badlands adjacent to what is now Dinosaur Provincial Park, Rativates (RAT-iv-ATE-eez) would have resembled a modern ostrich, but with long, fingered arms instead of wings, and a long tail. It would have been approximately 3.3 meters (11 feet) long, about 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall and weighed about 90 kilograms (200 pounds).

“Rativates was previously identified as another specimen of the more common ostrich-mimic dinosaur Struthiomimus altus, but lacks the key diagnostic characters of that species,” said lead author Bradley McFeeters, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. “We can tell that it is a new species based on features of its skull, tail, pelvis and feet, including the shape of the long bones of the feet.”

Rativates (Latin ratis + vates) means “ratite (large flightless bird) foreteller” and alludes to the paradox of an ostrich-mimic dinosaur existing before ostriches. The name evadens means to evade, in reference to this swift-footed dinosaur’s ability to evade predators in the Late Cretaceous, as well as its recognition as a new species 80 years following the discovery of the original fossil.

“The referral of fossils to the named species of ostrich-mimic dinosaurs like Struthiomimus is complicated because many specimens are incomplete. The recognition of Rativates helps clear up these problems, and at the same time strengthens a connection between Canadian ornithomimids and their Asian cousins,” said co-author Dr. Michael Ryan, curator of vertebrate paleontology at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, who was co-supervisor to the lead author.

Although it is a member of the carnivorous dinosaurs (Theropoda), ornithomimids such as Rativates lacked teeth and, similar to birds, had beaked mouths. They are believed to have been omnivorous, meaning they ate plants, insects and other small animals. Their long, powerful legs would have made them fast runners (like the Gallimimus in the original Jurassic Park movie), whether they were hunting prey or escaping from larger predators, like Gorgosaurus.

Although no skin impressions were found with the fossil, the closely related ornithomimid, Ornithomimus, also from Alberta, is known to have had a downy covering over most of its body. It may have had true feathers as well.

“We histologically thin-sectioned the femur of Rativates to analyze its growth and determined it was at least eight years old and nearly adult-sized at the time of death. This is only 80 percent as long, and half as massive as, the adult size of the closely related species Struthiomimus altus, that is estimated to have weighed approximately 175 kilograms (~385 pounds)”, said co-author Thomas Cullen, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto.

“This suggests that there are at least two differently-sized, but closely-related dinosaur species that lived together on the ancient landscape, similar to what we see today in the closely related predators like foxes, coyotes and wolves,” said McFeeters’ former co-supervisor and co-author Claudia Schröder-Adams, of the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University.

“Rativates is another exciting example of a new species of dinosaur being discovered among museum collections,” said Ryan. “These valuable collections allow modern researchers to build on the work of earlier scientists to advance what we know about the ancient Earth and provide new insights into evolution.”

Images and video available at www.cmnh.org/rativates

Article: McFeeters, B., M. J. Ryan, C. Schröder-Adams, and T. M. Cullen. 2016. A new ornithomimid theropod from the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2016.1221415.

Source: www.finance.yahoo.com

A recent theory by paleontologists at Montana State University suggests that the nesting habits of some Mesozoic Era dinosaurs further bolsters the theory that all birds — from the majestic bald eagles of Yellowstone National Park to robins nesting in backyards across Montana — evolved from dinosaurs that lived millions of years ago.

“Reproduction in modern birds is distinct among living vertebrates and many aspects of this (modern bird) reproduction mode trace their origin to (Mesozoic Era) theropod dinosaurs such as Oviraptors and Troodontids, but not really beyond them to more distantly related dinosaurs,” said David Varricchio, associate professor of paleontology in MSU’s Department of Earth Sciences in the College of Letters and Science.

Varricchio said reproduction in the most common group of Mesozoic birds is very similar to that of these dinosaurs, and so still differs from modern birds. Consequently, modern birds stand apart from Mesozoic birds, and their more efficient incubation of eggs perhaps contributed to their surviving the end-Cretaceous extinction event, which led to the mass extinction of about 75 percent of plant and animal species on Earth.

In a paper published in August in the international journal The Auk: Ornithological Advances, Varricchio and MSU Assistant Research Professor Frankie Jackson examined the evolution of bird reproduction through a series of distinct stages, from pre-avian dinosaurs to the birds of today.

“We found Troodon formosus to have many avian attributes, but still differ from modern birds,” Varricchio said of the Montana dinosaur with serrated teeth that weighed around 100 pounds.

Troodons share many reproductive traits with modern birds, such as having a hard-shelled egg. However, according to Varricchio, troodons differ reproductively from modern birds in several ways, too. One of these ways is that they partially buried their eggs in the sand or earth, rather than nesting wholly on top of the surface. The most abundant birds of the Mesozoic, called Enantiornithines, still buried their elongated eggs, at least in part, as did the troodons, Varricchio said. Modern birds were the first to lay the familiarly shaped eggs we know today and incubate them without any burial within sediment, which scientists believe improved the efficiency of brooding and may have been important to their ultimate success as a species.

“This tells us something about how those particular dinosaurs reproduced,” Varricchio said. “We can’t ask why they evolved that way without knowing when those traits evolved and under which conditions they evolved. We need the historic context.”

In an unorthodox move, Varricchio and Jackson chose to publish their work in The Auk, an international journal pertaining to birds, rather than in a paleontological publication, in an attempt to work toward a consensus that has divided scientists in the respective disciplines.

“Ninety-nine percent of paleontologists believe that all modern birds are dinosaurs, but, there’s still some resistance from ornithologists on that point,” Varricchio said. “People have argued about the bird-dinosaur connection since the 1800s. But, since then, there has been overwhelming skeletal evidence [to support the connection]. Then in 1996, we learned that some dinosaurs had feathers. Well, their reproduction follows that pattern, as well.”

According to Varricchio, ornithologists point to a limited sample size of specimens to cause them to rethink fully the fundamentals of their field of study.

“There’s a pretty good record of how reproduction evolved from dinosaurs to modern birds,” he said. “It’s more of them seeing holes in the data sets or a lack of specimens, which is a pretty good argument. We might have one or two specimens rather than hundreds—and that’s a fair argument.”

Source: University of Montana

On the basis of a fossilized partial skull excavated in 1940 near Big Spring, Texas and then remained in drawer in a University of Texas paleontology collection, scientists have discussed about a bizarre dinosaur named Triopticus primus.

Around 228 million years back, this dinosaur used to live in a warm, lush region of West Texas. Factor that separates this dinosaur from others is its bony domed head, composed of thickened bone. As per scientists, other animal having such comparable craniums were dinosaurs known as pachycephalosaurs that were present around 90 million years back.

The researchers have found similarity in the internal structures of Triopticus and pachycephalosaurs skulls. Earlier, the researchers were confused as what for purpose pachycephalosaurs used their heads and now, they have same uncertainty for Triopticus.

Study’s lead researcher Michelle Stocker was of the view, “It’s difficult for us to say what the domed morphology would have been for or what would have ‘encouraged’ the evolution of this structure”.

Triopticus as per the researchers is an interesting example of evolutionary convergence as the unique body shapes found in many dinosaurs have evolved million of years back in the Triassic Period. According to the researchers, the dinosaur might have been around 10 feet long.

The researchers are not exactly clear on whether Triopticus walked on two legs or four and it is also known whether it ate plants or meat. The dinosaur was present when the very first dinosaurs were actually appearing.

Katharine Criswell, evolutionary biologist at University of Chicago, said that it is quite amazing to know that many of the iconic dinosaur features have arrived independently up to 100 million earlier in the distant reptilian cousins.

According to a report in CS Monitor by Eva Botkin-Kowacki, “Stocker and her colleagues came upon the skull when sorting through specimens collected across Texas by the Works Progress Administration in the late 1930s and early 1940s. “We were just going through the drawers and found this blob, essentially,” she recalls in a phone interview with The Christian Science Monitor”

New, but also familiar. When the paleontologists began to examine the skull, they quickly noticed the remarkable thickness of the roof of the skull. The dome-shaped skull struck them as particularly similar to those of animals that lived about 140 million years later: the pachycephalosaur dinosaurs.

Instead, the specimen was a relative of dinosaurs and crocodilians, Stocker says. And that means this is a prime example of convergent evolution, a process by which two different animals independently evolve a similar feature. The team dubbed the extinct animal, Triopticus primus, in a paper describing the specimen published Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

A report published in VOA NEWS informed, “In a warm, lush region of West Texas crisscrossed with rivers, a bizarre reptile roamed the Triassic Period landscape about 228 million years ago, boasting a bony domed head unlike almost any creature that ever appeared on Earth.”

Even the internal structure of Triopticus and pachycephalosaurs skulls was similar. There has been a long debate among paleontologists about how pachycephalosaurs used their heads, whether for head-butting like bighorn sheep, self-defense or some other purpose.

“It’s difficult for us to say what the domed morphology would have been for or what would have ‘encouraged’ the evolution of this structure,” said Virginia Tech paleontologist Michelle Stocker, who led the study published in the journal Current Biology.

Source: www.perfscience.com

It is well-known at this point that “Jurassic World” diverges from the science when it comes to its portrayal of dinosaurs.

In real life, many of the dinosaurs vary in size and are often covered in feathers, but a few of them actually don’t look that different.

Let’s start with Velociraptor, one of the most feared creatures in the “Jurassic Park” universe:

In reality, the Velociraptor could be more easily compared to either a turkey or a coyote:

The look of Velociraptors in the film was actually based more off of Deinonychus…

… as well as a Utahraptor which was discovered as the original “Jurassic Park” was being made:

One of the most terrifying new dinosaurs introduced in “Jurassic World” is the Mosasaurus, which makes even a great white shark look tiny.

The real Mosasaurus isn’t actually a dinosaur and it didn’t have spikes along its back.

The Mosasaurus is really “marine lizard that’s more closely related to snakes and lizards,” according to Dr. John Hutchinson.

After making a brief cameo in “Jurassic Park,” the Gallimimus returned for “Jurassic World”:

The real Gallimimus was actually fairly similar, but with a lot more feathers.

Here is a Pteranodon, the unlucky victim of the much larger Mosasaurus:

And here’s a sketch of what the winged animal (who isn’t actually a dinosaur) probably looked like:

The Pteranodon was actually a Pterosaur, which is “a winged reptile which is very, very, very closely related to dinosaurs but not a dinosaur,” according to Hutchinson.

And finally, there’s the almighty T. rex:

The real T. rex was still huge, but it was actually covered in feathers. 

Some have jokingly compared the T. rex to a “giant chicken.” But still, would you want to mess with it?

Humans helped kill off the giant animals of the Ice Age. We owe it to the ecosystem to restore what we destroyed.