Page 69 - Dinosaur (DK Eyewitness Books)

1954 1984
Russian paleontologist Evgeny Maleev discovers British paleontologist Michael Benton
the enormously long claws of Therizinosaurus, coins the name “Dinosauromorpha”
later found to be one of a strange group of for the group of reptiles consisting of
plant-eating theropods called therizinosaurs. dinosaurs and their closest relatives.
1965 1986
British paleontologist Alan Charig figures out British paleontologists Alan Charig and Angela
how dinosaurs, with their upright stance and Milner describe Baryonyx, a fish-eating theropod
gait, evolved from sprawling reptiles. found in southern England and later identified as
a relative of Spinosaurus. Sinosauropteryx
1969
American paleontologist John Ostrom 1991
argues that dinosaurs’ erect limbs meant American paleontologist William Hammer American paleontologists Raymond Rogers,
that they were active, warm-blooded animals. excavates Cryolophosaurus. This crested theropod David Krause, and Kristina Curry Rogers show
He claims that birds evolved from small will become the first Antarctic dinosaur to be that the big Madagascan theropod Majungatholus
theropods. Ostrom bases these claims named and described in a scientific paper, in 1994. ate others of its kind. This is the first undisputed
largely on his discovery in 1964 of the proof that some dinosaurs were cannibals.
agile theropod Deinonychus. 1993
Argentinian paleontologists José Bonaparte and 2005
1971 Jaimé Powell describe the immense sauropod Chinese paleontologists Meng Jin and Wang
A Polish-Mongolian expedition in Mongolia Argentinosaurus, possibly the largest dinosaur ever. Yuanqing show that some mammals ate
finds skeletons of a Velociraptor and Protoceratops baby dinosaurs. They found fossils of a
locked in battle. American paleontologist Paul Sereno describes baby psittacosaur inside a fossil specimen
Eoraptor, the earliest dinosaur to be discovered of Repenomamus robustus, an opossum-sized
1972 so far. mammal that lived in Early Cretaceous China.
American paleontologist Robert Bakker suggests
that air sacs in some dinosaurs reveal that these Jurassic Park’s animatronics and computer Swedish scientist Caroline Strömberg shows that
must have had a breathing system like that of simulations set new standards for the lifelike some sauropods fed on grass in Late Cretaceous
birds. Later research supports this idea, at least depiction of dinosaurs in films. India. Before this, people thought that no grass
for saurischian (lizard-hipped) dinosaurs. existed in the Age of Dinosaurs.
1995
1974 Argentinian paleontologists Rodolfo Coria and 2007
Paleontologists Peter Leonardo Salgado describe Giganotosaurus, a American and Japanese paleontologists report
Galton and Robert theropod perhaps larger than Tyrannosaurus. the first real evidence that some dinosaurs lived
Bakker publish a in burrows. They found fossils of an ornithopod
paper where 1998 in an underground den. Known as Oryctodromeus
they argue Chinese paleontologists Chen Pei-ji, (“digging runner”), this ornithopod lived in
that birds are Dong Zhi-ming, and Zhen Shuo-nan Montana, late in the Cretaceous Period.
dinosaurs. name Sinosauropteryx, the first known
Subsequent dinosaur with skin covered in downy 2008
research “dinofuzz” rather than reptilian scales. Belgian paleontologist Pascal Godefroit and
provides The discovery supports the theory that colleagues show that late in the Cretaceous
strong birds evolved from theropods. Period, ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaurs
support for and theropods not only lived but also bred in
their claim. American paleontologist Karen Arctic Siberia.
Chin describes tyrannosaur fossil
dung containing bones from a horned 2009
Robert Bakker dinosaur’s skull. Mary Schweitzer and colleagues at North
Carolina State University describe the oldest
2003 known protein (body molecule), from an
Six Chinese paleontologists describe 80-million-year-old hadrosaur’s thigh bone.
1978 Microraptor gui, a small theropod with Protein analysis confirms that ornithischian
In Montana, American paleontologists John feathered arms and legs that helped it dinosaurs were more closely related to living
“Jack” Horner and Robert Makela begin to glide from tree to tree. birds than to alligators.
excavations of fossil hadrosaur nests, eggs,
and young. They find the first evidence that
dinosaurs cared for their young.
1979
American geologist Walter Alvarez and his
nuclear physicist father Luis Alvarez establish
that a large asteroid smashed into Earth at the
end of the Cretaceous Period with devastating
effects. This was perhaps responsible for killing
off all dinosaurs except the birds.
1980
American paleontologist Ralph Molnar
describes the first dinosaur discovery from
New Zealand—a theropod bone found by
amateur fossil hunter Joan Wiffen.
1981
Australian paleontologist Alan Bartholomai
and American paleontologist Ralph Molnar
describe the ornithopod Muttaburrasaurus
from the first nearly complete dinosaur
skeleton found in Australia. Paleontologists at an Argentinosaurus dig site

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