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New Blog Takes Flight: Please join us in welcoming the latest addition to the paleosphere: Dragons of the Air, a blog published by Ross Elgin, a member of the “Pterosaur Flight Dynamics Group,” based in the Museum of Natural History, Karlsruhe, Germany. Be sure to check out this fascinating post about the construction and testing of pterosaur models.

The Dinosauroids Cometh: At Tetrapod Zoology, Darren Naish is dismayed to see that evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has lent his support to the “human dinosaur” theory—which posits that non-avian, therapod dinosaurs might have evolved into intelligent, bi-pedal, humanoid creatures if not for the inconvenient intervention of a rather large meteor. “Our body shape clearly works well for an intelligent, tool-using, sentient animal,” writes Naish, “but where is the convincing evidence that it is the only possible body shape for such a creature, or the most likely one to evolve in distantly related, or unrelated, organisms?”

Say hello to my little friend: Bob’s Dinosaur Blog reports that the 5,000-acre estate of the late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar has become a huge tourist attraction. Escobar was especially proud of his Jurasico Park, a group of life-sized dinosaur statues that includes a golden pterodactyl. Classy.

Photo Finish: Over at SV-Pow!, Mike Taylor shares his experiences in London, where he used the facilities at the Royal Veterinary College to produce a CT-Scan of specimen NHM R5937—a brachiosaurid sauropod nicknamed “The Archbishop.” Read all about it, especially if you’ve ever wondered how to pack a dinosaur bone for safe delivery.

Batter Up! Palaeoblog points us to this article recently published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, titled “The Sweet Spot of a Biological Hammer.” New research suggests that glyptodonts (giant armored mammals that arose 20 million years ago in South America) would have been first-rate baseball players—owing to their ability to swing their stocky tails like baseball bats, landing powerful blows with the spot on their tails that minimizes potentially harmful vibrations for the slugger. Read more about it at ScienceNOW.

Family Visit: At Tyrannosaur Chronicles, Traumador the T-Rex takes a nostalgic tour of the Calgary Zoo’s Prehistoric Park, which is scheduled for closing in February 2010.

Rock Star: Dinochick gives a shout out to Vanessa Bateman, the Manager of the Geotechnical Section for the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s Nashville Office. Bateman issued an early warning that averted a rockslide on U.S. Highway 64. Says Dinochick: “Awesome to save lives while also playing with rocks (and showing that there are some awesome chick geologist out there doing cool things)!”

Season’s Greetings: Nothing says Christmas like….a trilobite. Artist Glendon Mellow has recently unveiled his new greeting card, featuring the fossil Encrinurus trilobite, decked out like a Christmas tree for the holidays. (What, no Hanukkah trilobites? I guess I’ll settle for this dinosaur menorah.)

Turkey is one of the most delicious of dinosaurs. From Flickr user tuchodi.

Ah, Thanksgiving, the day when families across the United States sit down for a delicious feast of dinosaur with all the trimmings.

You read that correctly. Scientists have recognized that birds and dinosaurs are closely related for over a century, and within the last thirty years a tidal wave of discoveries has confirmed that birds are the living descendants of small, feathered theropod dinosaurs, or cousins of the menacing “raptors” of Jurassic Park. As odd as it might seem, the turkey on the table is truly a farm-raised dinosaur.

But how should you cook your dinosaur for Thanksgiving dinner? While some cooks might be at a loss as how to prepare such a meal, dining on dinosaur has become such a celebrated tradition that there are scores of recipes to chose from. The wonderful online resource Epicurious even has a special page devoted to helping you navigate through any Thanksgiving cooking emergencies, though I think we can all be thankful that it is easier to prepare a turkey dinner than one centered around a roast Tyrannosaurus.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

A portion of the lower jaw of Megalosaurus. It is the only fossil that can be presently attributed to this dinosaur.

The vision of dinosaurs that I grew up with in the 1980s is very different from the one we are familiar with today. It is no longer appropriate to show a Brachiosaurus wallowing in a lake or a Tyrannosaurus dragging its tail on the ground. Yet these changes are relatively minor compared to the transformations dinosaurs underwent during the 19th century.

Although the term “dinosaur” was formally coined by the anatomist Richard Owen in 1842, by this time naturalists had already been arguing over the bones of dinosaurs for decades. One of the first to be described was Megalosaurus, a creature that we now know to be a theropod of uncertain relationship to other predatory dinosaurs. When it was named by the geologist William Buckland in 1824, however, Megalosaurus was interpreted as being an enormous, crocodile-like animal.

The first dinosaur bones to be recognized by science were extremely fragmentary. If relatively complete, articulated skeletons had been found first perhaps the history of science would have been different, but as things were Megalosaurus was primarily represented by a portion of lower jaw and assorted other bones. Buckland considered that the bones were most similar to those of reptiles, and the serrated teeth in the jaw made it clear that Megalosaurus was a carnivorous animal. While not exactly the same as any living reptile, Buckland interpreted the dinosaur as being a huge terrestrial crocodile with a narrow snout.

But Buckland did not simply stop with description. He was a fervent Christian who believed that there was geological evidence for a worldwide deluge as described in the Bible. (Though it should be noted that even in Buckland’s time this view was falling out of fashion. His geologist peers were not happy with the way he crammed geology into a literal reading of Genesis even if they, too, were Christians.) His familiarity with both faith and science led him to contribute to the prominent book series on natural theology called the Bridgewater Treatises, and in it Buckland considered the divine message Megalosaurus embodied.

The sharp teeth of the prehistoric monster made it clear that it was a predator, Buckland argued, and surely it was a terror during the time that it lived. Yet predators were necessary in the economy of life. The jaws of Megalosaurus were not cruel but brought swift death, and Buckland thought this was consistent with Christian theology, as a kind God would make predators so efficient that they would not bring undue suffering to their prey. Buckland concluded:

The provision of teeth and jaws, adapted to effect the work of death most speedily, is highly subsidiary to the accomplishment of this desirable end. We act ourselves on this conviction, under the impulse of pure humanity, when we provide the most efficient instruments to produce the instantaneous, and most easy death, of the innumerable animals that are daily slaughtered for the supply of human food.

Today, however, we know that Megalosaurus was quite a different animal than Buckland envisioned and the natural weapons it used to kill were derived via evolution, not a fiat of divine creativity. Nor do paleontologists worry themselves about finding spiritual lessons from the life of the past. What is “natural” is not always good, and I sincerely doubt that anyone should take lessons on morality from a Megalosaurus.

A colorful Stegosaurus sculpture at Dinosaur National Monument.

When my wife and I pulled into the parking lot of Dinosaur National Monument we were greeted by a rather imposing figure. Standing in front of us was this sculpture of a strikingly-colored Stegosaurus. Just what color this dinosaur would be in real life is open to discussion, but I had never seen one with this color pattern before.

Have you stumbled across a dinosaur in an unexpected place? If you have, and have a photo of the encounter, send it to us via dinosaursightings@gmail.com!

The cover for Age of Reptiles: The Journey

Usually when dinosaurs appear in comic books or on screen they are there to menace the human protagonists of the story. Rarely do we get to see tales in which dinosaurs themselves are main characters, but Ricardo Delgago’s Age of Reptiles series is a notable exception.

Age of Reptiles started off as a four-part comic miniseries in 1993 with the story “Tribal Warfare.” There were no thought bubbles or pieces of dialog, only a visual story of a deadly rivalry between a pack of Deinonychus and a family of Tyrannosaurus. Delgado bent the science a bit to make a more action-packed story, but this is a comic book we’re talking about, after all.

The next entry in the series was called “The Hunt” and was released as a five-part series in 1997. It was another tale of species-on-species rivalry, this time between a pack of Ceratosaurus and a young Allosaurus seeking revenge for the death of his mother. Delgado’s artwork was a little more polished in this run, though it followed the previous installment of creating implausible scenarios with known dinosaurs.

Now, after a hiatus of more than a decade, Age of Reptiles is back with a new story, “The Journey.” The first issue was published earlier this month, and it appears to be a story about a massive group of dinosaurs migrating south for the winter. Where will the story go? I guess we’ll have to wait for the next issue (due out in January) to find out.

[Hat-tip to Zach for bringing this story to our attention.]