Web edition ·
Field Notes: a dinosaur boom, feathers and an injured horned dinosaur
Three discoveries, three stories: this web edition shows what to expect from Tiefenzeit Field Notes. Explore the findings and original sources in the linked articles.
Long-Necked Dinosaurs: After the Crash Came Another Boom!
First their diversity plunged. Then it climbed again. Long-necked dinosaurs from the group Diplodocoidea tell a striking story across the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition. A new study places their later diversity peak in the Aptian of the Early Cretaceous. In sampling-adjusted estimates, it even exceeds the highest Late Jurassic values. But different long-necked dinosaurs are behind this second boom.
Feathers in dinosaur poop: This little lump packs a surprise!
Feathers in dinosaur poop have put researchers on an unexpected trail: an unassuming lump from Montana preserves bird remains from around 66 million years ago. A tiny feather sits on the surface, with more feathers, scales and bones hidden inside. The find records a meal – and could help explain why some bird groups survived the mass extinction while others vanished.
Medusaceratops: Pus in its bone – and it lived on!
Medusaceratops had pus draining from a bone in its tail. An injury had badly damaged the horned dinosaur, and infection ate into the vertebra. Yet its body kept responding, building a massive sheath of new bone. The Montana fossil shows that the dinosaur lived for a long time after the injury. The evidence is strikingly clear.
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Selected discoveries, clearly explained, with sources to read further.