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Yutyrannus huali lived in what is now China during the Early Cretaceous (124.6 million years ago). An early relative to the famed T.rex, it is known from three nearly complete fossil skeletons that were found together and show a surprising amount of detail, including the presence of a feathered covering over most of their bodies. At adulthood Y. huali measured at around 29.5 feet in length and weighed in at about 1.2 tons, making it the largest dinosaur yet discovered with direct evidence of feathers.

Ichthyovenator, meaning "fish hunter", with its bizarre sail shape, is the most complete spinosaurid specimen from Asia.

One ring to divide them all

Spinosaurus, meaning "spine reptile", was the first spinosaur ever discovered. Its fossils were destroyed in WWII, but new discoveries are revealing that its appearance was weirder than anyone imagined!

Named for the enormous neural spines running along it’s back to form what most have theorized to be a large sail or possibly a hump-like structure, Spinosaurus was first uncovered by German paleontologist Ernst Stromer in 1912 while he was in Western Egypt in the Bahariya Formation. The fragmented remains looked to be from a very large and unusual theropod, possibly one bigger than the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex, which had been discovered less than 10 years prior. Unfortunately the museum holding those remains was destroyed in a bombing run during World War II, but detailed drawings of the fragments did survive along with photos of the display.

Zuul was discovered on a dig in the Montana Badlands in 2014, during the excavation of what was thought to be Gorgosaurus, an early relative of Tyrannosaurus rex that stalked North America roughly 76.6 to 75.1 million years ago. While it was initially thought to be a specimen of another ankylosaur called Euplocephalus that had been known to science since 1897 known to live in the same area at the same time, research done at the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada would later identify the specimen as belonging to an as yet unknown genus of armored dinosaur. The specimen was given the genus name of Zuul, after the horned monster dog from the classic 1984 film, Ghostbusters, and the species name of crurivastator meaning “Destroyer of Shins.”

Vera Rubin!

An unnamed species of spinosaur from Thailand, that may be closely related to Ichthyovenator

"the study of the astronomy of ancient cultures"

Ursus spelaeus, otherwise known as the Cave Bear, was a species of bear that ranged throughout Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene in the last major Ice Age event, roughly 25,000 to 24,000 years ago. They were one of the largest species of Ice Age bears with big males standing upright at 11.5 feet and weighing in at a maximum estimated weight of around 2,200 pounds. Females were considerably smaller, the largest specimens being estimated at 550 pounds. Despite their immense size evidence shows that they most likely fed on an herbivorous diet. There is direct evidence of a possible predator prey relationship between Cave Bears and Neanderthals and other early hominid species, including cave paintings, and evidence of butchering.

Each flower only lasts one day but the plant makes plenty. A most primitive wild iris.

A land dwelling prehistoric relative of modern day crocodiles described scientifically in 1959, head to tail it measured some 23 feet in length and weighed over 1,000 pounds. It roamed what would eventually become known by humans as North Western Argentina, and it shared its environment with a wide variety of other creatures, such as early dinosaurs like Herrerasaurus and Eoraptor, as well as massive dicynodonts like Ischigualastia, Pound for pound it appears to have been the largest predator in the region it inhabited, but this weight and its likely cold-blooded metabolism likely slowed it down. Despite this it was more than fast enough to catch up with prey of that era.

Did you know the Mars 2020 rover contains an instrument called the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) that will create oxygen from the carbon dioxide atmosphere on Mars?

Yutyrannus huali was a basal member of the Tyrannosauroid clade, specifically part of the Proceratosauridae family group with other small bodied crested dinosaurs like Guanlong and Sinotyrannus. Yutyrannus was large for it’s group but still much smaller than later, more advanced members of it’s clade, like Tyrannosaurus Rex. Despite this, at roughly 30 feet it is still currently the largest dinosaur yet found with direct evidence of feathers. It’s name is in fact derived from the Mandarin word for feather, yǔ (羽), and the Greek word for tyrant. The species name huali is taken from Mandarin for beautiful, making it’s overall name mean something close to “beautiful feathered tyrant.”

Baryonyx walkeri was theropod dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous period in what is now Surrey, England. At nearly 30 feet in length and weighing in at around 1.9 tons it was a big animal, but despite its size fossil evidence of fish scales in its abdominal cavity suggest that rather than going after large prey items on land it most likely relied on fish for the bulk of its diet. This and other anatomical evidence actually made it the first theropod dinosaur ever known to have relied on a primarily ichthyophagous diet.

In the Late Cretaceous the world was filled with giant predators, both on land and in the sea. While T. rex was stalking the land looking for its next kill, the seas were brimming with millions of sharp, pointed, teeth, just looking for something to sink themselves into. Some of the largest of those teeth belonged to the Mosasauridae superfamily, a group of mostly huge marine reptiles who’s remains have been found around the world. This group contains some 38 separate genera spanning from 101 to 66 million years ago, all of which shared some overarching traits; for instance, all of them possessed long lizard-like forms with paddle shaped front and back limbs and crescent shaped tails like those of sharks.

Yeah... she's awesome.

Akylosaurus, it’s name means the “fused lizard.” This big guy was the largest known member of a group of the most heavily armored dinosaurs ever to have lived, most of it’s body was covered in large osteoderms (bony hard scales, or plates), this armor was so impenetrable that some scientists think that they might have had armored eye lids. Ankylosaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous at around 68 to 66 million years ago. The largest specimens found to date probably weight in at a maximum of 4.4 – 7.9 tons, and sported a large tail weapon (or club) that could be up to around 2 feet wide and could easily shatter bone, easily able to shatter the leg bones of big predators like Tyrannosaurus Rex.

From its many observatories, to Meteor Crater, to the dark skies, to its numerous contributions to space science, Arizona is full of space! (Ha- "full of space"- nice oxymoron)

B. excelsus was first described by O.C. Marsh in 1879, for a century its name stood among the likes of Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops horridus as a quintessential example of what the world thinks of when they hear the word “Dinosaur.” Although there has been some confusion among the public as new studies come out and names have been changed and now changed back, and possibly changed again, the silhouette of Brontosaurus is still what people think of when they conjure up images of long necked giants knocking down trees in a prehistoric forest looking for plants to eat like some sort of giant reptilian cow. B. excelsus lived some 156.3 to 146.8 MYA during the Late Jurassic. It was roughly 72 feet in length and weighed around 17 tons.

A member of the icthyosaur order, Stenopterygius was a marine reptile from the Early Jurassic period (183-179 million years ago). At around 10 to 13 feet in length, it was similar in size and body shape to it’s better known relative Icthyosaurus, of which the first skeleton was discovered by fossil hunter, Mary Anning. Despite similarities, Stenopterygius had a smaller skull and more narrow flippers than it’s more famous relative, but the fossil finds of this animal are perhaps even more amazing than that of any other icthyosaur.

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Don't let Saturn use your bathtub. He always leaves a ring.

I’ve been rovin’ for more than 650 sols and I look at dust and rocks and stuff. Lots of rocks. For science.

Oviraptor was a small predatory dinosaur that lived in the Gobi Desert during the Late Cretaceous (around 75 million years ago). It was about 3 feet tall and 5 feet in length, and very lightly built, probably only weighing around 55 to 79 pounds, much like it’s modern bird relatives. Studies of earlier relatives suggest that they not only had feathers but had large display feathers on their tails that were likely used to woo potential mates. The discovery of Oviraptor embryos has allowed scientists to get a better idea of the biology of these animals and of dinosaur egg laying behavior, as well as their development.

Medicine... in space!

Pink and Purple Anatomically correct colorful heart pattern

Anatomically correct colorful heart pattern

At up to 20 feet Pteranodon had one of the largest wingspans of any flying animal in the fossil record. From around 86 to 84.5 million years ago it flew along the coastal shores of an Cretaceous seaway that once split the North American continent. The first specimens were discovered in 1870 by Othniel Charles Marsh in the chalk deposits of Western Kansas. Marsh initially thought his discovery was a part of the Pterodactylus genus of pterosaurs found in Europe, over time with more complete finds he realized that it was indeed part of a new genus separate from those previously found, but the common name stuck for most people and the name Pterodactyl is still used today in movies, poorly informed books and other media.

Weighing in at around 7.9 tons and measuing up to around 40 feet in length, Tyrannosaurus rex was a carnivorous powerhouse. With teeth the size of your average banana and a jaw wrapped in powerful muscle, recent studies have estimated it was capable of exerting a bit force of around 12,000 pounds, making it easily capable of ripping the flesh and absolutely pulverizing the bones of any Cretaceous animal unlucky enough to cross it’s path.

Anatomically correct colorful heart pattern

Black and white pen and ink dissection drawing done in Adobe Photoshop

Psittacosaurus was an early Ceratopsian, a member of the same group as Triceratops, and Styracosaurus. While they lacked the crests of their larger relatives they possessed tall skulls and powerful beaks, Ptittacosaurus (meaning “parrot lizard”) gets it’s name from it’s parrot-like beak structure. Fossils also have been found with preserved bristle-like filaments on the fail section, most likely used for display. Though it was small, only about 6.5 feet in length and weighing in at around 44 pounds, we know a lot about them. Psittacosaurus has the largest number of described species at around 9 or 10, many of those species possess specialized beak structures that possibly aided them in different ecological niches.

Incisivosaurus was a small dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous, 126 million years ago. It was discovered in Northern China in 2002. The nearly complete remains were found with feather preservation. Their most unique feature is a pair of pronounced front teeth that scientists think they used to break open hard nuts or fruit as it's likely they were primarily herbivores. They measured only 3.3 feet in length.

Space medicine!

Darwinopterus (Darwin’s Wing) was a pterosaur found in China that lived during the Middle-Jurassic period, about 160 million years ago. Despite being much smaller than it’s later cousins,only having about a 3 foot wingspan, it is an important speciment as it represents a possible transition between early long-tailed pterosaurs like Rhamphorhynchus and later short-tailed flyers like Pteranodon. Because of this transitional status it was named after the famous biologist and author of the theory of evolution, Charles Darwin.