nandi's blog

A new genus and species of prehistoric crocodile, Paludirex vincenti, has been identified from fossils unearthed in Queensland, Australia.

Paludirex vincenti roamed Earth during the Pliocene Epoch, between 5 and 2.5 million years ago.

Nicknamed the ‘swamp king,’ it grew up to 5 m (16.4 feet) long and was capable of preying on giant prehistoric marsupials.

“Crocs have been an important component of Australia’s fauna for millions of years,” said senior author Dr. Steve Salisbury, a paleontologist in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland, Brisbane.

“But the two species we have today — Crocodylus porosus and Crocodylus johnstoni — are only recent arrivals, and were not part of the endemic croc fauna that existed here from about 55 million years ago.”

“Whether Paludirex vincenti went extinct as a result of competition with species like Crocodylus porosus is hard to say.”

“The alternative is that it went extinct as the climate dried, and the river systems it once inhabited contracted — we’re currently investigating both scenarios.”

Several fossilized specimens of Paludirex vincenti were discovered near the town of Chinchilla in south-eastern Queensland.

“The largest crocodylian today is the Indo-Pacific crocodile, Crocodylus porosus, which grows to about the same size,” said lead author Jorgo Ristevski, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland, Brisbane.

“But Paludirex vincenti had a broader, more heavy-set skull so it would’ve resembled an Indo-Pacific crocodile on steroids.”

The study was published in the journal PeerJ.

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J. Ristevski et al. 2020. Australia’s prehistoric ‘swamp king:’ revision of the Plio-Pleistocene crocodylian genus Pallimnarchus de Vis, 1886. PeerJ 8: e10466; doi: 10.7717/peerj.10466

Source: www.sci-news.com/

The latest attempt to make a worthwhile Jurassic Park video game features Jeff Goldblum and a lot of hiding in cupboards.

It’s Jurassic Park we blame for the fact that dinosaurs so rarely appear in video games. There’s been dozens of tie-ins over the years but none of them have been particularly successful either commercially or critically, with the current Jurassic World Evolution – which is basically a business simulator – being about as good as it’s ever got. So despite the huge success of the films the games have never been big enough that anyone else has thought it that necessary to copy them.

That doesn’t stop the official games from coming out though, especially when there’s a new movie on the way, and so now we have a new VR game, which like Star Wars: Vader Immortal is split up into separate episodes on the Oculus Quest. Although while clearly no expense was spared on Vader Immortal it seems every expense was studiously avoided when it comes to Jurassic World Aftermath.

One of the problems with Jurassic Park as a licence is that while the films are all perfectly family friendly the experiences they portray would be completely terrifying in real life. That combined with the fact that you don’t really want to be shooting any of the dinosaurs, since they’re just animals not monsters, makes the idea of an action game much more difficult that it first seems. But while we sympathise with Aftermath’s problems that doesn’t make it any more enjoyable.

Although it’s not made at all clear when you start, Aftermath is set between the events of the first two Jurassic World films, with you embarking on a mission to, yet again, try and steal secret information from the facilities on Isla Nublar. So, no prizes for originality when it comes to the plot. However, your plans immediately go awry when your plane is attacked by pterodactyls and your pilot ends up getting eaten by a T-Rex. Or at least we think he was eaten; the game goes out of its way not to show what happens and there’s no blood on the T-Rex’s teeth afterwards.

Usually when we’re reviewing VR games the one bit of praise they can rely on is that at least the sense of immersion is impressive. The first impressions of Aftermath though are less than awe-inspiring. As you can see, it uses a cel-shaded visual design reminiscent of Telltale’s The Walking Dead games. That’s fair enough – photorealistic visuals are expensive – but sometimes the graphics get even more stylised, with 2D clouds floating past the window like a Super Mario game.

The more stylised visuals are used so inconsistently we suspect plans were changed some way through development but whatever’s going on, from a visual standpoint, Aftermath is one of the least impressive VR games we’ve seen in a long time. That doesn’t mean it’s entirely ineffective though and the fact that it is VR, and you have no weapons to defend yourself, means encounters with dinosaurs can still be very tense.

The famous kitchen scene from the first film is the obvious inspiration for much of the game, as you explore the island complex and try to hide whenever you see or hear a velociraptor nearby. This really would’ve been too scary for many if it looked realistic and we don’t mind admitting we got a bit flustered the first few times we were caught in the open. All the rest of the times, after you realise that a velociraptor coming round the corner is the game’s one and only trick, it starts to seem rather less terrifying.

When you’re not hiding from velociraptors or dodging dilophosauruses you’re doing exactly what someone tells you to do via the radio, which the game seems to think counts as solving puzzles. Not only is it all extremely simplistic stuff anyway but frustratingly none of the objects or buttons needed to proceed become interactive until the moment you need to use them, which does nothing for the already fragile sense of reality.

Perhaps you won’t mind the cel-shaded graphics – we didn’t like them but at least they’re some sort of stylistic choice – but the game’s also technically inept when it comes to the velociraptor’s artificial intelligence, which frequently sees them getting teleported to your vicinity purely for story reasons, and not because you made a noise.

This is extra frustrating because they then end up getting confused enough to not leave a room for minutes on end, as you literally have to sit and wait because there’s no other way to interact with the game world except activate the odd loudspeaker as a distraction.

We can almost feel the game daring us to make a comparison with Alien Isolation and on a very basic level the two games are similar. But where Alien Isolation (currently free on the Epic Games Store) represents perhaps the most authentic recreation of a movie ever seen in a video game Aftermath is exactly the opposite.

If Jeff Goldblum hadn’t somehow been roped into doing an afternoon’s voiceover work it would feel much more like an off-brand knock-off than the real thing (but then you could say much the same thing about the new movies). Everything seems very half-hearted and lazy, from the Simon Says hacking mini-game to the transparent attempts to pretend the game isn’t completely linear.

Aftermath isn’t so bad it feels insulting but it is a complete waste of everybody’s time, including Universal Studios who keep licensing out the films in the hope someone will make an interesting game based on them. There’s the germ of what could be one in Jurassic World Aftermath but this needs to evolve an awful lot more for the second part to be in any way worth considering.

Jurassic World Aftermath review summary

In Short: An especially disappointing film licence, simply for the fact of how much potential it wastes with its low budget visuals and bland gameplay.

Pros: Being stalked by a velociraptor is fun the first couple of times. Jeff Goldblum is in it.

Cons: Simplistic, highly repetitive stealth gameplay made worse by inconsistent AI. Linear progression, mindless puzzles, and unimaginative plot. Cheap-looking graphics.

Score: 3/10

Formats: Oculus Quest

Price: £18.99

Publisher: Oculus Studios

Developer: Coatsink Software

Release Date: 17th December 2020

Age Rating: 12

Source: https://metro.co.uk/

The Game Awards reveals Ark 2, bringing Vin Diesel to the front of the story and showcasing several iconic dinosaurs from the first game.

ARK 2 was recently announced at The Game Awards, and while most players are just surprised and bewildered at Vin Diesel's inclusion in the trailer, the trailer did show off a few of the iconic dinosaurs that will be returning for the sequel. The original ARK is all about taming dinosaurs and using them to make surviving on the Island easier, so it shouldn't be that shocking that fans of the franchise want to know what dinosaurs will be in the game. The trailer didn't confirm too many yet, but there are some that are easy to miss after watching the trailer just once.

For those that didn't see the ARK 2 trailer at The Game Awards, it is looking to be a more story oriented game. Vin Diesel leads his tribe through a pre-historic jungle before they are attacked by what seems to be a rival tribe. While fighting them off, and unexpected guest shows up and makes things more complicated. In the ensuing chase scene, Vin Diesel and a young child run past several other types of dinosaurs, all of which can be assumed to be in the final game. Naturally, anything could change between now and teh game's release so technically nothing is confirmed, but it's a safe bet that these dinos will make the cut.

ARK 2 - Chameleon Flower

The very first shot in the ARK 2 reveal trailer shows an exotic looking flower only to reveal that it is fact some kind of dinosaur. Its long nose looks like a flower just before it blooms, and it is apparently capable of opening its snout to camouflage with other nearby flowers. After it closes the flower on its nose, viewers can see more of the creature's face, revealing chameleon like eyes and a lizard like body. Its tail and back spines are also made to look like leaves, ensuring that nothing can recognize it as an animal.

ARK 2 - T-Rex

The most iconic dinosaur of all, it should come as no surprise that the T-Rex is making its return and had a big spotlight in the trailer. Called just "Rex" in the first game, the T-Rex in the trailer looks to be slightly larger and equally as clumsy. It also features some stylish furs on its neck and along its spine, perhaps in an effort to create a more realistic representation of the beast. That said, scientists still don't know exactly what the king of dinosaurs would have looked like, so this is still just a best guess.

ARK 2 - Prehistoric Birds

Players don't get a great look at them as they fly away quickly, but just before the T-Rex comes bursting through the trees, several pre-historic birds fly away. There was a wide range of avian species in the original ARK, but these seem to be something new. Though it's likely that birds like the Pelagornis and Icthyornis will make a comeback, it seems players will have to deal with new types of flying dinos as well in the coming sequel.

ARK 2 Brontosaurus And Pterosaur

In the last scene of the trailer, two other dinosaurs can be spotted. Vin Diesel delivers his "Lights Out" line and then it cuts to him and the child walking in the open again, this time alone. Right in front of them there are three winged dinosaurs that then take flight. This implies that they are non-hostile, and though they look similar to the first game's Pterosaurs, there's a distinctive butterfly like pattern on their wings that sets them apart. These could just be a unique design added to the dino or it could be an entirely new one altogether. Only time will tell.

Looking further back, players will also notice a variety of long-necked dinosaurs, likely Brontosaurus. These towering herbivores are present early on in playthroughs of ARK, but thanks to their docile nature they don't typically pose a threat. Next to the T-Rex, this is likely one of the most recognizable dinosaurs to the average person, so it makes sense that it would be included in the trailer. From this distance it is hard to tell, but it could also be a Diplodocus, a less recognizable dinosaur but still included in the original ARK. These herbivores are incredibly playful, often pushing players around and dealing more damage than they realize.

ARK 2 Trailer Mural

After escaping the T-Rex and the enemy clan, Vin Diesel and his group find themselves in a ruin full of technology. Of note, the child in the trailer examines a rock with several carvings on it. Though this mural certainly doesn't confirm any dinosaurs, it should be said that there are several on it that didn't show up in the trailer. Aside from the T-Rex and Brontosaurus which already had spotlights, there are at least three other dinosaurs shown that aren't yet accounted for.

On the bottom left, players will notice a Parasaur, a dinosaur commonly found in starting areas and on beaches of ARK maps. These herbivores make great pack mules and mounts, as they can carry a lot and still run relatively quickly. Above it there's a human riding on a Triceratops, one of the best defensive mounts that players can get early on in the first game. Finally, in the top right there is what appears to be a drawing of a Stegosaur, a dinosaur that in the previous game provided great utility for harvesting a variety of different types of resources.

ARK 2 Trailer

The ARK 2 reveal trailer is a visual marvel, and there's a lot going on at any given point. It's very possible that there were some dinosaurs shown that were missed here, and there are some that couldn't be identified with what was shown. Those players that fancy themselves dinosaur experts should also take the time to comb through the trailer and see if there are any other dinosaurs that were confirmed for the game at its reveal.

ARK 2 releases in 2022 for PC and Xbox Series X.

Source: https://gamerant.com/

Paleontologists uncovered a great deal about the “terrible lizards” in 2020.

There’s never been a better time to be a dinosaur fan. Even in a year where fossil explorations have been curtailed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, paleontologists have dug deep to describe dozens of new species and unlock new secrets about our favorite prehistoric creatures. The discoveries continue even now, with the fluffy “maned” dinosaur Ubirajara named just last weekend. As we anticipate what the fossil record might reveal in 2021, here’s a look back at ten dinosaur discoveries that surprised and enthralled dinosaur enthusiasts this year.

Tiny Fuzzball Shows How Dinosaurs Started Small

Some of the key traits that allowed dinosaurs to be such an evolutionary success story—from fuzzy feathers to warm-running metabolisms—may have first evolved in their tiny ancestors. This year experts reported the discovery of a tiny reptile from the Triassic of Madagascar they named Kongonaphon. While not a dinosaur itself, this animal was close to the ancestors of both dinosaurs and related flying reptiles called pterosaurs. This small, insect-eating reptile likely moved nimbly to catch lunch and may have sported a coat of fuzz to help regulate its body temperature. This hints that some key dinosaur traits, such as warm-bloodedness and insulating body coverings, evolved early in their history and were elaborated upon as dinosaurs eventually diversified into all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Winner By a Tail

Paleontologists have long suspected that the giant carnivore Spinosaurus spent much of its time around the water. Fossils reported in 2015 went a step further—flat feet and dense bones indicated that Spinosaurus spent a great deal of time in the water and is the first known semi-aquatic dinosaur. This year, a tail added another clue. The appendage, found at the same quarry as the 2015 skeleton, is long and deep. The tail is more like a paddle than what’s seen in other carnivorous dinosaurs and would have been suited to swishy, side-to-side motions that propelled Spinosaurus through the water. The fact that the tail goes with the other fossils found at the site also confirm that they all go to one individual, underscoring the fact that Spinosaurus had strange body proportions unlike any other dinosaur yet discovered.

Dinosaurs Suffered From Cancer, Too

Dinosaurs are often celebrated for being big, fierce and tough. The truth, however, is that they suffered from many of the same injuries and maladies that humans do. A study published this year in The Lancet reported on the first well-documented case of malignant bone cancer in a non-avian dinosaur. The animal, a horned dinosaur known to experts as Centrosaurus, probably coped with declining health before its eventual death in a coastal flood that caught its herd off-guard.

Dinosaurs Weren’t in Decline When the Asteroid Hit

If dinosaurs “ruled the Earth” for millions of years, why were they hit so hard by the mass extinction of 66 million years ago? Paleontologists have been puzzling over this question for decades, and, some have suggested, dinosaurs might have already been dying back by time the asteroid struck. But an increasing amount of evidence contracts that view, including a study published this year in Royal Society Open Science. The researchers looked at different evolutionary trees for what dinosaurs were around during the end of the Cretaceous to track whether dinosaurs were dying out, thriving or staying the same. After sifting through the data, the paleontologists didn’t find any sign that dinosaurs were declining before the asteroid strike. In fact, dinosaurs seemed perfectly capable of evolving new species. If the asteroid had missed, the Age of Dinosaurs would have continued for a very long time.

Taking a Long Swim

Sometimes dinosaurs show up where we don’t expect them. While paleontologists have found numerous fossils of duckbilled dinosaurs at spots around the world—from North America to Antarctica—no one had ever found one in Africa. That changed this year. In a Cretaceous Research study, paleontologists described a new species of hadrosaur found in Morocco. Named Ajnabia, the dinosaur lived at the end of the Cretaceous during a time when Africa was separated from other continents by deep water channels. Swimming would have been the only way for the dinosaur to reach prehistoric Africa from Europe or Asia, reinforcing the idea that exceptional events can help species move between distant continents.

Baby Titans Had Tiny Horns

Baby dinosaurs are exceptionally rare. We know far more about the adults of most species than how they started life. And when we do find those babies, they often hold surprises. An embryo of a long-necked dinosaur called a titanosaur reported in Current Biology drew attention this year for a strange, rhino-like horn jutting from its face. No such structure has been found in adult titanosaurs, and so it seems the horn is a kind of a temporary “egg tooth” that the dinosaur would have used to crack out of its shell.

Were Dinosaur Eggs Soft?

Think of a dinosaur egg and you’re likely to envision something out of Jurassic Park—a hard-shelled capsule the baby dinosaur has to kick or push its way out of. But research published this year in Nature proposes that many dinosaurs laid soft-shelled eggs. Under close examination, the eggs of the dinosaurs Protoceratops and Mussaurus turned out to be more like the leathery eggs of turtles than the thick, hard-shelled eggs known from other dinosaurs. This may indicate that dinosaur eggs started off soft and only later evolved to be hard-shelled in some groups. The findings may often indicate why eggs have been so hard to find for many dinosaur species, as softer eggs would decay more readily than hard-shelled ones.

Enter the Wonderchicken

Not all this year’s big dinosaur discoveries had to do with non-avian dinosaurs. A fossil dubbed the “wonderchicken” in Nature has helped paleontologists understand how modern birds took off during the Age of Dinosaurs. While birds go back to about 150 million years ago, the wonderchicken—or Asteriornis—lived about 67 million years ago and is the oldest known representative of what biologists think of as modern birds. The fossil, which includes a skull, has some anatomical similarities to chickens and ducks. These findings indicate that modern birds started to evolve and proliferate prior to the mass extinction that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs. If such beaked, seed-eating birds had not evolved, dinosaurs might have been entirely wiped out instead of leaving birds behind.

The Hunt for Dino DNA

Will DNA from the likes of Tyrannosaurus ever be found? The consensus has been “No,” as DNA decays too fast after death to survive millions and millions of years. But in a study published in National Science Review this year, researchers have proposed that they’ve found chemical signatures consistent with DNA in the bones of a 70 million-year-old hadrosaur called Hypacrosaurus. The results have yet to be expanded upon or verified, but the idea that even degraded DNA from non-avian dinosaurs might survive is tantalizing for all such a discovery might teach us about prehistoric life.

Polar Dinosaurs Remained Year Round

Ever since paleontologists discovered dinosaur bones within the ancient Arctic Circle, experts have debated whether the polar dinosaurs stayed in their cool habitats year-round or migrated with the seasons. A tiny jaw from a young dinosaur now answers that question. Described in PLOS ONE, the fossil belonged to a young raptor-like dinosaur that lived in an ancient Alaskan habitat marked by harsh seasonal shifts and long, dark winters. That dinosaurs were nesting and hatching babies in these habitats indicates that they were capable of surviving the harsh winters, even when it snowed.

Source: www.smithsonianmag.com/

Camp Cretaceous is returning to Netflix in January 2021 with its second season.

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Camp Cretaceous season one.

You need to know how to survive if you’re going to make it at Camp Cretaceous. The spin-off series to the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World franchise is about to blow you out of your seats. The animated series runs parallel with the first Jurassic World film in which the characters of Claire Dearing, her two nephews Zach and Gray, and Simon Masrani are mentioned through Season one.

The first season ended on a high cliffhanger, with the Camp Cretaceous kids becoming stranded in the park and Ben supposedly falling to his death from the monorail. The second adventure will see the group struggle to survive as dinosaurs go on the rampage across their side of Isla Nublar, as per Entertainment Weekly. Without any way to get off the island, it will be up to the campers to find a way to survive.

However, there is every chance they’re going to be constantly tested as they begin to unravel a new mystery, according to a recent trailer Netflix released.

Watch the trailer for Camp Cretaceous season two here:

This series is a load of fun. It’s not corny in any way, and it gives an insight into a whole other aspect of the dino-filled franchise that isn’t normally seen. It’s also told from the perspective of teenagers rather that of adults like the films are. This shows the multitude of view points the series provides without having to rely on one type of perspective. It adds uniqueness to a story that is being told in a totally different place at the same time.

With Jurassic World: Dominion delayed until 2022, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous gives fans more Jurassic World stories to fill the void.

Source: https://culturess.com/

Do you know your ammonites from your ichthyosaurs? This winter, head out to these four fossil-rich stretches of the UK coastline for palaeontology tours, bracing beach walks and quirky museums.

The first dinosaur to be scientifically described and named was found in Oxfordshire. The discovery of the large carnivore, Megalosaurus — unearthed by geologist William Buckland in 1824 — marked a pivotal moment in our nation’s fascination with palaeontology. (Interestingly, some 30 years later, its replica became part of the lineup at Crystal Palace’s dinosaur sculpture park, the first such attraction in the world.) The riches of subsequent digs in the UK and overseas have educated and amazed museum-goers throughout the country ever since.
 
But there are also treasures to be sought in the great outdoors, away from the crowds. The UK offers fertile ground for responsible fossil-hunting. The relics of the Mesozoic Era are revealed by the natural eroding of cliffs and coastlines, their stories at constant risk of being lost to the sea. It’s why you’ll find fervent fossil collectors scouring beaches — take Daisy Morris, for example. The five-year-old Isle of Wighter’s curiosity led to her groundbreaking 2009 discovery on the island’s Atherfield Beach: a new species of pterosaur (a flying lizard). The prehistoric beast was thereafter named Vectidraco daisymorrisae, in her honour.

More recently, in the summer of 2020, suspected dinosaur footprints were revealed by furloughed youth worker Kerry Rees while strolling on a Penarth Beach. Should researchers confirm the new tracks, they’d represent the third set of dinosaur footprints uncovered in Wales, all in the same region — the archaeologically-rich Vale of Glamorgan.

With such exciting finds at our fingertips, it’s no wonder certain parts of the UK are sought out by those with a penchant for prehistoric treasure. And, with winter meaning thinner crowds and more turbulent weather, this season provides a peak opportunity for fresh discoveries. Here, we recommend four of the greatest regions in the UK for retracing the lost world. 

1. Jurassic Coast, Devon and Dorset

Tracing 95 miles of dramatic Devon and Dorset shoreline, the Jurassic Coast — the UK’s only natural UNESCO World Heritage Site — has no shortage of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period spectacles, some revealing over 185 million years of natural history. Entire skeletons have been found here, including those of ichthyosaurs, pterosaurs and plesiosaurs.

Beachcombers should head to the stretches of sand between Lyme Regis and Charmouth for the best chances of spotting a freshly unearthed fossil. Ancient fragments of marine reptiles’ backbones and fossilised seashells, urchins and belemnites can all be glimpsed, as well as lumps of iron pyrite (a mineral also known as fool’s gold). Budding collectors can arrange a guided fossil-hunting walk at the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre.

From Lyme Regis in the west to Poole in the east, the South West Coast Path — a popular hiking and cycling route — traverses the region’s geological highlights, including its most-photographed icons, Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door.

2. Isle of Wight

The island isn’t just the UK’s dinosaur capital, it’s also renowned as one of Europe’s richest grounds for dinosaur activity. Over 20 species from the Lower Cretaceous Period have been found here, including remains of the baryonyx, polacanthus, iguanodon, mantellisaurus, valdosaurus and pelorosaurus, which existed between 145 to 100 million years ago. A number of the species discovered on the Isle of Wight haven’t been found anywhere else in the world.

The majority of the island’s dinosaur treasures can be found along the southwest coast, with footprints and casts to be seen at Hanover Point, Compton Chine, Sudmoor Point, Chilton Chine and Cowleaze Chine. Fossils dating from the Lower Cretaceous period are littered along this stretch, but for abundance, set your sights on Compton Bay. Here, look for black fossilised dinosaur bones and teeth, iron pyrite, brachiopods, ammonites and lignite (a type of fossilised wood). At low tide, head to the bay’s eastern end to see the three-toed footcasts of an iguanodon etched into stone.

Professional guides at Dinosaur Expeditions host fossil-collecting walks and rockpool rambles that scour the beaches of the south-west coast on a two-hour tour.

3. Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan

Jurassic Period fossils are frequently exposed on the foreshore of Penarth by the coast’s eroding cliff-face — beachcombers seek out such items as brachiopods, ammonites and gastropods littered along the bay. An important dinosaur trackway can be spotted on the coast between Barry and Sully, a Site of Special Scientific Interest — as well as the area where, in August of 2020, new dinosaur tracks may have been discovered, pending verification. 

At Lavernock Point, the bones of a 200-million-year-old theropod dubbed the ‘Welsh Dinosaur’ were discovered in 2014. The discovery of the prehistoric beast, a distant cousin of the Tyrannosaurus Rex, is Wales’ most significant find to date, and its remains can be seen on display at the nearby National Museum Cardiff.

4. Dinosaur Coast, North Yorkshire

Brooding cliffs and golden sand form a dramatic backdrop for fruitful beach wanders. Whitby, Port Mulgrave and Robin Hood’s Bay are popular spots for fossil-hunters, with the Jurassic Period relics found here matching those of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. Among the more unusual finds are the region’s well-preserved fossilised plants, scatterings of which are most numerous on the bays of Filey Brigg, Gristhorpe, Hayburn Wyke and Cloughton Wyke.

Scarborough’s Rotunda Museum, founded by ‘father of geology’ William Smith in 1829, is a must-visit when in the region — the Ancient Seas of the Yorkshire Coast exhibition showcases local fossils to paint a picture of ancient marine life. Down the coast, Robin Hood Bay offers a more intimate gallery experience at the diminutive Yorkshire Coast Dinosaur and Fossil Museum, which is free to enter.

Source: www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/

A new genus and species of medium-sized python that lived during the early-middle Eocene Epoch has been identified from several nearly complete skeletons and partial skulls found in Germany.

The newly-identified python species lived in what is now Germany, approximately 47.6 million years ago (Eocene Epoch).

Named Messelopython freyi, the ancient snake is the earliest-known member of the superfamily Pythonoidea.

“The geographic origin of pythons is still not clear,” said co-author Dr. Krister Smith, a paleontologist in the Department of Messel Research and Mammalogy at the Senckenberg Research Institute and the Institute for Ecology, Diversity and Evolution at the Goethe University Frankfurt.

“According to our findings, these snakes already occurred in Europe at the time of the Eocene, over 47 million years ago,” said lead author Dr. Hussam Zaher, a paleontologist in the Museu de Zoologia at the Universidade de São Paulo.

“Our analyses trace their evolutionary history to Europe!”

“However, the large constrictor snakes subsequently disappeared from the European continent for quite some time,” he noted.

“Fossils of this snake family did not appear again until the Miocene — between 23 and 5 million years ago.”

“As the global climate began to cool again after the Miocene, the pythons once again disappeared from Europe,” Dr. Smith added.

The fossilized remains of several Messelopython freyi individuals were recovered from the Middle Messel Formation.

“The discovery of a new python species in the Messel Pit is a major leap forward in understanding these snakes’ evolutionary history,” Dr. Smith said.

“Modern pythons live in complete spatial separation from their anatomically very similar relatives, the boas,” he added.

“However, in Messel, Messelopython freyi and primitive boas such as Eoconstrictor fischeri lived together in the same ecosystem.”

“We therefore have to revisit the thesis that these two groups of snakes competed with each other, making them unable to share the same habitats.”

The findings were published in the journal Biology Letters.

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Hussam Zaher & Krister T. Smith. 2020. Pythons in the Eocene of Europe reveal a much older divergence of the group in sympatry with boas. Biol. Lett 16 (12): 20200735; doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0735

Source: www.sci-news.com/

Over the years, researchers have found ample evidence proving that the horned Triceratops and the Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex), which roamed western North America in the late Cretaceous period — some 69 million years ago — were mortal enemies. However, finding perfectly-preserved fossils of the prey and predator locked in combat was something they only dreamed of until the 2006 discovery of the "Dueling Dinosaurs" at a private Montana farm by commercial fossil hunters Clayton Phipps and his team.

"The "Dueling Dinosaurs" is one of the most remarkable fossil discoveries ever made," Scott Sampson, a paleontologist and the president of Science World, a nonprofit education and research facility in Vancouver, BC, told Smithsonian in 2017. "It is the closest thing I have ever seen to large-scale fighting dinosaurs. If it is what we think it is, it’s ancient behavior caught in the fossil record. We’ve been digging for over 100 years in the Americas, and no one’s found a specimen quite like this one."

Surprisingly, the intertwined creatures. thought to be the best-preserved skeletons of Triceratops and T. rex unearthed to date — and the only 100 percent complete skeleton of T. rex yet discovered— were not well-received by American museums and research institutions. Some researchers believed they were scientifically useless, while others were upset they were being sold by for-profit collectors. After failing to sell the fossil even in a private auction, Phipps locked it up in storage, where it remained for a decade.

In 2016, Lindsay Zanno, a paleontologist at North Carolina State University and the head of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, offered to buy the fossil from Phipps for $5 million. However, the transaction could not be completed due to a legal battle about the fossil's ownership between the current and previous owners of the Montana farm where it had been found. The matter was finally decided by courts in May 2020. On November 17, 2020, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences officials announced that the world's most famous dinosaurs would finally be available for research and public viewing.

The museum's scientists believe the carcasses, which are still entombed in the Montana hillside's sediment with each bone in its original position, will provide access to biological data not available in normal fossil finds, where the remains are scattered. The rare burial conditions, which preserved features such as skin impressions and possibly even the remains of soft tissues and stomach contents, will reveal unprecedented insights into the cretaceous residents' lives. Even more exciting is that the "Dueling Dinosaurs" will be housed in a new, hi-tech exhibit that will allow visitors to see the fossils up-close and talk to paleontologists as they meticulously uncover their secrets.

“The Museum is thrilled to have the unique opportunity to house and research one of the most important paleontological discoveries of our time,” said Dr. Eric Dorfman, director and CEO of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. “Not only are we able to uncover unknown details of these animals’ anatomy and behavior, but our new dedicated facility and educational programs will allow us to engage with audiences locally, across North Carolina, and worldwide."

Source: https://www.dogonews.com/

A new poster and trailer have arrived online for the second season of Netflix and DreamWorks’ animated adventure Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous which sees the young campers stranded and struggling to survive in the wreckage of Jurassic Park; check them out here…

Now stranded on an abandoned Isla Nublar, the campers struggle to survive among the wreckage of Jurassic World. As the T.Rex takes over Main Street, forcing the kids deeper into the jungle, the discovery that they may not be alone not only threatens their rescue but may uncover something more sinister.

Source: www.flickeringmyth.com/

The 1990 novel Jurassic Park is an agonizingly detailed book. There are, and this is not a joke, several paragraphs dedicated to the problems inherent in feeding dinosaurs when the bacteria that helped them to digest food went extinct millions of years ago, and a long-winded discussion about how park management chose not to clone a lot of larger dinosaurs because they poop too much. Author and verified theme park bummer Michael Crichton was a lot of things, but "inattentive to detail" was never one of them.

By contrast, the film adaptation of Jurassic Park is astonishing in other ways. Expert use of CGI created special effects sequences that movie hipsters can point to a quarter-century later while chanting "still holds up" like it's a personal mantra. Despite only featuring 15 minutes of actual dino footage, the blockbuster ignited the imaginations of adults and children, inspired a generation of future paleontologists, and ensured that Barbasol would remain fiscally solvent well into the next millennium. Details were painted over in broad strokes, in no small part thanks to Steven Spielberg's keen eye for whether or not audiences want to watch a symposium on prehistoric creatures' bowel movements.

But with nearly 30 years behind it, Jurassic Park has now been dissected by fans with all the cautious dexterity of a velociraptor meeting a fresh new cow. Errors have been spotted, ranging from the pedantic (Nedry's Jeep was a four-wheel drive and he never should have had to use a winch) to the oddly silly (the labels on some of the dinosaur embryos are spelled incorrectly). And one flub, pointed out on Reddit's /r/MovieDetails forum, has the potential to put the whole franchise into a tailspin.

In Jurassic Park, sucking less means sucking more

The problem, you see, is the mosquitoes. Those pesky old mosquitoes, enjoying their eternal slumber uninterrupted before being unceremoniously syringed for their precious bodily fluids.

You'll probably recall that the magic of cloning in the Jurassic Park universe is made possible by di-no DNA, extracted from prehistoric mosquitoes frozen in petrified tree sap. The thought process goes something like "mosquitoes drink blood, so dinosaur mosquitoes drink dinosaur blood." With a pipet full of bug lunch, the scientists at the park were basically just some troublesome frog genes away from a paddock full of Barneys.

But as Reddit user MattAPlaton points out, the species of mosquito seen on top of park proprietor John Hammond's cane, and again during the expository Mister DNA tour, presents a problem: it's an elephant mosquito, or Toxorhynchites rutilus. Elephant mosquitoes are notable for two features in particular. First, they're the largest insects of their kind found in the USA. Second — and this is the important part — they don't drink blood. Vector Diseases Control International states that both males and females of the species "feed exclusively on sugary substances -– primarily flower nectar but also plant sap, honeydew, and juices from rotting fruit." While that's great for anyone trying to start a theme park where kids can ogle Mesozoic-era smoothies, it doesn't bode well for recreating a stegosaurus.

There are a couple of explanations. It could be that the useless bug fossils, already pulled from the ground, were used for decorative and informational purposes in a "waste not, want not" move that directly contradicts the whole "spare no expense" routine. The other: Hammond never cloned a single dinosaur after realizing that it was cheaper to hire Stan Winston to fake it for him with animatronics, and Jurassic Park is more like Westworld than we ever suspected.

Source: https://www.looper.com/