![By Durbed [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://i0.wp.com/iknowdino.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Velociraptor_restraining_an_oviraptorosaur_by_durbed.jpg?resize=1024%2C817&ssl=1)
A velociraptor hunting solo, as implied by a recent study By Durbed [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Here’s what came out this week in dinosaur news:
- A 130 million year old fossil from Hebei Province in China has been found source
- The “Baofenglong fossil” recently went on display at Chongqing Yongchuan Museum Town Hall in China. An 80% complete 49 ft (15 m) long herbivore source
- Residents near the Tumbler Ridge Museum voted to fund the museum with added attractions and services source
- More details from this years SVP conference (referred abstracts can be found in the PDF from the meeting) source
- Most sauropod fossils are from adults. Dwarf sauropods have a younger distribution, but still mostly adults.
- Several models of Yi qi extra wrist bone were proposed to find an orientation that may have worked with its patagial membranes
- Flight evolution can be categorized into 4 evolutionary phases: characters unrelated to flight, exapted traits, direct selection, and traits for longer flight duration
- Pterosaurs and maniraptorans couldn’t assume a bat-like pose
- Microraptor & Rahonavis could glide, Changyuraptor used it’s tail for pitch control, but troodontids were too big (relative to their wings) to get off the ground
- Ichthyornis has a skull half way between Archaeopteryx and modern birds
- “Birds are the only group of animals that rival mammals in terms of brain size”
- Sauropod trackway “gauge” might not mean much
- A synchrotron of coprolite from an early dinosaur like Silesaurus opelensis showed lots of beetle remains including wings & beetle tibia
- Based on carbon-13 isotopes in Deinonychus and Tenontosaurus it appears that raptors were not pack hunters
- Thanks to guinea fowl walking through soft mud we are closer than ever to recreate how dinosaurs made their tracks
- The pectoralis of Archaeopteryx was smaller than modern birds, but may have still been large enough to achieve brief flight
- A study of Psittacosaurus braincases shows that 2 year-old brains elongate significantly (midbrain & olfactory tract/bulbs especially)
- Ugrunaaluk was smaller than its massive cousins like Edmontosaurus, possibly because of dwarfism from living in the arctic reaching about 18-19ft long
- A new ceratopsian was found in Grand staircase Escalante National Monument
Check out these stories, our fun fact, interview with Jingmai O’Connor, and dinosaur of the day Zuniceratops in episode 206 of the I Know Dino Podcast!