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The popularity of dinosaurs seems never ending, fuelled by films such as Jurassic Park and documentaries (Walking with Dinosaurs). But how much do these popular programmes really tell us about the recent scientific discoveries and the latest research into the world of the dinosaur? This is the first book explain the latest findings in dinosaur research and the exciting scientific discoveries that have built up a picture of how dinosaurs looked, what they ate, and how they moved and interacted with each other. Taking a new approach to the subject, David Norman combines many areas of science, such as anatomy, genetics, forensics and engineering design, to piece together the evidence of how animal life evolved on earth, and why it did in the way that it did. David Norman also discusses the role that informed speculation and luck has played in many of the major discoveries. Starting with ancient myths of dinosaur-like monsters (dragons) and the history of the discovery of dinosaurs, he goes on to discuss their evolution and the many different techniques used to understand them, including the latest virtual reality animation sequences and engineering design analysis.
[...]... Cliffs of Dover and is found widely across Eurasia and North America The earliest dinosaurs known have been identified in rocks dated at 225 Ma, from the close of the Triassic (a period known as the Carnian), in Argentina and Madagascar Rather disconcertingly, these earliest remains are not rare, solitary examples of one type of creature: the common ancestor of all later dinosaurs To date at least four, possibly... concentrated in particular on anatomy He gained a reputation as a skilled anatomist, and acquired a position at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, which gave him access to a great deal of comparative material and, through considerable industry and skill, allowed him to foster a reputation as the ‘English Cuvier’ During the late 1830s, he was able to persuade the British Association to grant him... memorably remarked, are popular because they are ‘big, scary and [fortunately for us] dead’, and it is true that their gaunt skeletons exert a gravitational pull on the imaginative landscape of youngsters 2 Top: a sketch of the Iguanodon model at Crystal Palace Bottom: A photograph of the model of Megalosaurus in Crystal Palace Park Looked at through the harsh lens of objectivity, the cultural pervasiveness... creatures have been identified: three meat-eaters (Eoraptor, Herrerasaurus, and Staurikosaurus), a tantalizingly incomplete plant-eater named Pisanosaurus, and an as-yet-unnamed omnivore One conclusion is obvious: these are not the earliest dinosaurs In the Carnian there was clearly a diversity of early dinosaurs This indicates that there must have been dinosaurs living in the Middle Triassic (Ladinian-Anisian)... dinosaurs is extraordinary After all, no human being has ever seen a living non-avian dinosaur (no matter what some of the more absurd creationist literature might claim) The very first recognizably human members of our species lived about 500,000 years ago By contrast, the very last dinosaurs trod our planet approximately 65 million years ago and probably perished, 5 Introduction Mayor has shown that as... ecology To illustrate a few of the trials and tribulations inherent in any such programme of palaeontological investigation, we will examine a rather familiar and well-studied dinosaur: Iguanodon This dinosaur has been chosen because it has an interesting and appropriate story to tell, and one with which I am familiar, because it proved to be the unexpected starting point for my career as a palaeontologist... terms the pathway to fossilization for any land creature is that much longer, and fraught with greater hazard Many animals that die on land are scavenged and their remains become entirely scattered so that even their hard parts are recycled into the biosphere; others have their skeletons scattered, so that only broken fragments actually complete the path to eventual burial, leaving tantalizing glimpses... the Mycenaean The Griffin myth arose in Mongolia/north-west China, in association with the ancient caravan routes and gold prospecting in the Tienshan and Altai Mountains This part of the world (we now know) has a very rich fossil heritage and is notable for the abundance of well-preserved dinosaur skeletons; they are remarkably easy to find because their white fossil bones stand out clearly against the... history – was truly profound It encouraged the search for, and discovery of, other giant extinct ‘lizards’; it established, beyond reasonable doubt, that pre-biblical ‘earlier worlds’ had existed; and it also determined a particular way of viewing and interpreting such fossil creatures: as gigantic lizards Dinosaurs Normandy William Buckland eventually named this creature Megalosaurus in 1824 (with a little... creature was, perhaps not surprisingly, Iguanodon The name means, quite 22 7 One of the original Iguanodon teeth found by the Mantells literally, ‘iguana tooth’ and was created yet again, at the suggestion of Conybeare (clearly the latter’s classical training and turn of mind gave him a natural facility in the naming of many of these early discoveries) Dinosaurs Not surprisingly, given the comparisons . in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey. a sketch of the Iguanodon model at Crystal Palace. Bottom: A photograph of the model of Megalosaurus in Crystal Palace Park. Mayor has shown that as early