Walking with Dinosaurs 3D just landed a trailer.

Dinosaurs seem to be coming back in popularity. First we had the announcement of Jurassic Park 4, and then the recent release of Jurassic Park 3D. Now we have what appears to be Jurassic Park meets Disney set in the Arctic Circle, Walking with Dinosaurs 3D.

Walking with Dinosaurs 3D plays out the story of two brothers looking to follow in their father’s footsteps when they discover dinosaurs still thriving thousands of years after they were thought extinct. Directors Barry Cook and Neil Nightingale are the men in charge of this prehistoric epic starring Charlie Rowe.

The trailer for Walking with Dinosaurs 3D begins with pterodactyls flying like seagulls against a placid lake and mountains with lush trees in the visible distance. We then see a nest of baby triceratops being nuzzled by a grown-up triceratops as the grown-up spits food into the ditch where they wait. One of the babies starts fighting to get some of it as others push the one back.

The voiceover starts, “He was the smallest in the herd, trying to find his place in a great big world.”

The baby tries getting chummy with a bird, and then jumps out of the nest to sneak between the legs of another full-grown dinosaur. It stops and stares in wonder from beneath an ankylosaurus.

We see the words “This Christmas” in front of a mountain range as the voiceover speaks it out loud and another pterodactyl flies by the camera. Then we see a whole field of dinosaurs as one turns its head and roars. The voiceover continues, “An epic journey will begin.” We see what appears to be an exodus of dinosaurs across the wild.

Then a tyrannosaurus attacks the herd, sending the baby into the river only to be picked on by two pterodactyls.

“And one courageous survivor will grow to become their biggest hero.”

The rest of the trailer is above.

What do you think of the trailer for Walking with Dinosaurs 3D?

‘Walking With Dinosaurs 3D’ Lands Trailer [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The claim for world’s oldest dinosaur has a new contender. The bones of the Nyasasaurus parringtoni were found after researchers re-examined a number of bones that were first collected from what is now Lake Malawi in southern Africa. As reported by BBC, scientists estimate that this new species existed 10 to 15 million years before the previous earliest dinosaur specimens.

“It fills a gap between what we previously knew to be the oldest dinosaurs and their other closest relatives,” said Paul Barrett, researcher at the Natural History Museum in London. “There was this big gap in the fossil record where dinosaurs should’ve been present and this fossil neatly fills that gap.”

Researchers claim that the reptilian creature might have walked on two, although this might be difficult to surmise considering the fossil record consists of one upper arm bone and six vertebrae. For evidence of this claim they point to an “elongated deltopectoral crest” that served as an anchor for strong pectoral muscles. This feature is defining of species considered to be a dinosaur. But it’s possible this interpretation is incorrect, which cannot be known for certain until a complete skeleton is found for the purported world’s oldest dinosaur.

The Nyasasaurus parringtoni was estimated to measure between two to three meters in length with a large tail and weighed between 20 and 60 kilograms. As a comparison to the world’s oldest dinosaur, the Komodo dragon grows as large as three meters and up to 70 kilograms, which is about 150 pounds.

“Those animals were the earliest of this group that led up toward dinosaurs,” explained Dr Barrett. “Now this takes dinosaurs back to the right kind of time when those two groups would have split apart from each other. Dinosaurs start out as a very insignificant group of reptiles – all relatively small animals, relatively rare in comparison with other reptile groups – and it’s only a bit later in their history that they suddenly explode and take over as the dominant forms of life for nearly 100 million years.”

Researchers stop short of claiming the Nyasasaurus parringtoni is definitely the world’s oldest dinosaur. Even dating estimates can be suspect, as shown by the reevaluation of the age of the Grand Canyon. Scientists will typically have competing hypotheses until new evidence leads to an accepted theory. Even artistic renditions change dramatically, with a scientist’s preference pushing physical features that might not be present. Still, it’s possible that by digging in around a museum they managed to find the world’s oldest dinosaur.

World’s Oldest Dinosaur: Nyasasaurus Parringtoni Found In Southern Africa is a post from: The Inquisitr

The US Department of Homeland Security is preparing to seize a 70 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus Bataar that sold last month at Heritage Auctions for more than $1 million.

A New York court recently ruled that the auction house must return the fossil to modern-day Mongolia where it was discovered seven years ago and then removed illegally from the country.

The dinosaur skeleton was illegally imported to the United States from the UK in 2010.

The skeleton is currently being held by a fine art property company in Queens.

In 1924 Mongolia enacted laws to protect fossils found in the region which in turn declared those remains as property of the state.

Before the dinosaur skeleton went on sale in May officials from Mongolia objected to the sale. After the skeleton was sold the money was placed in an escrow account until a New York court was able to rule on the ownership of the dinosaur bones.

The deal who sold the skeleton says it was taken in “good faith” which led to the sale being delayed until a court ruling was issued.

According to Co-founder of Heritage Auctions Jeff Halperin:

“We have cooperated in the investigation process for palaeontologists to expeditiously examine the skeleton, and we will continue to cooperate with authorities.”

The Tyrannosaurus Bataar was exported from Britain under a claim that it was dug up in the UK and worth just $15,000.

The dinosaurs skeleton eventually arrived in Gainesville Florida in March 2010.

The discovery of Tyrannosaurus Bataars date back to 1946 when the first fossil was found in the Gobi desert.

Feds Move To Seize $1 Million Dinosaur Skeleton is a post from: The Inquisitr

Dinosaurs still exist in the form of birds, according to a new study by Harvard scientists, which shows the skeletons of birds are closely related to the prehistoric giants.

Arkhat Abzhanov, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University, has noted that there is an apparent resemblance between the skulls of juvenile dinosaurs and those of adult birds, and has done a more comprehensive study to see if the two are more closely related than scientists previously thought, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Abzhanov stated, according to the L.A. Times that:

“We examined skulls form the entire lineage that gave rise to modern birds. We looked back approximately 250 million years, to the Archosaurs, the group which gave rise to crocodiles and alligators as well as modern birds. Our goal was to look at these skulls to see how they changed, and try to understand exactly what happened during the evolution of the bird skull.”

The evolutionary biologist, along with graduate student Bhart-Anjan Bhullar, studied the skulls of dozens of adult birds, theropods (the dinosaurs which are more closely related to birds) and also earlier dinosaur species.

The L.A. Times reports that they were able to track how the skull shapes changed over the years through identifying various landmarks on the skulls.

Business Insider also reports that Abzhanov stated in a press release:

“By changing the developmental biology in early species, nature has produced the modern bird – an entirely new creature – and one that, with approximately 10,000 species, is today the most successful group of land vertebrates on the planet.”

Mid Day reports that Bhullar stated of the study that:

“While it’s clear simply from looking at the skulls of dinosaurs and modern birds that the two creatures are vastly different – dinosaurs have distinctively long snouts and mouths bristling with teeth, while birds have proportionally larger eyes and brains – it was the realization that skulls of modern birds and juvenile dinosaurs show a surprising degree of similarity that sparked the study. No one had told the big story of the evolution of the bird head before.”

The L.A. Times further reports that Abzhanov concluded:

“We can see that the adults of a species look increasingly like the juveniles of their ancestors. When we look at birds, we are actually looking at juvenile dinosaurs.”

[Image courtesy of The L.A. Times]

Dinosaurs Still Exist: Scientists Say Birds Are Baby Versions Of Prehistoric Creatures is a post from: The Inquisitr

New York City school officials have decided to ban 50 topics from standardized tests, including dinosaurs, aliens and birthdays. Why? Well, because apparently even birthdays are controversial, and could make kids upset. Apparently, for example, dinosaurs could remind them of evolution, and the topic of birthdays is banned because Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t celebrate them.

The banned topics were recently listed in a request for proposals to completely revamp the city’s English, math, science and social-studies tests the schools use for annual assessment.

In the request for proposals, school officials explained that the banned topics, “could evoke unpleasant emotions in the students.” This list is the longest by any state, and some people have called it outrageous, and a form of censorship.

A Department of Education spokeswomen, insisting that the list is not censorship, stated that, “This is standard language that has been used by test publishers for many years and allows our students to complete practice exams without distraction.”

Robert Pondiscio, a spokesman for the Core Knowledge Foundation, an education group, stated that:

” The intent is to avoid giving offense or disadvantage any test takers by privileging prior knowledge…but the irony is they’re eliminating some subjects, like junk food, holidays and popular music, that the broadest number of kids are likely to know quite a lot about.”

Deanna Kuhn, a professor with the Columbia University Teachers College disagrees with the ban, saying:

“If the goal is to assess higher-order thinking skills, controversial topics, for example, ones that are the subject of political debate, are exactly what students should be reasoning about.”

Also included on the list are topics like dancing (except ballet), celebrities, animals or inanimate objects with human characteristics, and references to excessive TV-watching or video-came-playing.

NYC Tests: Dinosaurs, Aliens, Birthdays Banned is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you’ve ever wondered what dinosaurs were eating right before they went extinct you’re in luck. A group of palaeontologists just discovered the remains of a large flying reptile in the gut of a Velociraptor.

While Velociraptors have long been thought to be “hyper predators” scientists suggest that this particular pterosaur was too large to be the raptor’s intended prey and was likely scavenged.

Findings are published by an international team of scientists in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology.

The raptor died approximately 75 million years ago in the Gobi desert, Mongolia and according to Dr. David Hone from the University College Dublin, Ireland:

“It would be difficult and probably even dangerous for the small theropod dinosaur to target a pterosaur with a wingspan of 2 metres or more, unless the pterosaur was already ill or injured … So the pterosaur bone we’ve identified in the gut of the Velociraptor was most likely scavenged from a carcass rather than the result of a predatory kill.”

This particular pterosaur was dining on a 75mm-long bone shard that became lodged in its rib cage where the gut use to be.

Aside from proving that velociraptors likely scavenged for food scientists also now realize that they were capable of eating relatively large bones for being such small animals.

Because the bone was not consumed by stomach acid it suggests that the raptor died shortly after eating.

Are you surprised to learn that the velociraptor with all of its tenacity would scavenge for food when not fighting for it?

Dinosaur’s Last Meal: Flying Reptile Found In Velociraptor’s Stomach is a post from: The Inquisitr

The oldest known dinosaur nesting site has been uncovered by paleontologists in South Africa’s Golden Gate Highlands National Park.

Dating to 190 million years ago, the dino nursery is said to contain multiple nests, eggs, hatchlings and the remains of adults of the Massospondylus species. These herbivores were related to the more widely known Sauropod, and walked on their hind legs (though babies moved about on all fours initially).

Project leader Robert Reisz told LiveScience:

“The transition from four legs to two during an individual’s lifetime is a very unusual growth pattern that we rarely see in animals, but we do see it in humans. The largest articulated skeleton of this animal was about 6 meters (19.7 feet) in length, but they probably grew even larger.”

The discovery of the nesting site is the oldest evidence to date for a rigidly organized nest. Reisz described how the eggs were laid out carefully in a single layer:

“The nests seem to be fairly shallow because all the eggs are in one layer. We do not know if the nests were covered by vegetation or if they were buried because the nature of the sediments preclude the preservation of plant fossil remains. It is quite possible that the mother guarded the nests.”

Researchers have located ten dinosaur nests at the site so far, but anticipate they will find many more embedded within the South African cliff. It is believed Massospondylus would lay as many as 35 eggs at a time, a survival strategy due to the high number of meat-eating predators that stalked the region at the time.

[Via LiveScience]

Oldest Dinosaur Nursery Discovered in South Africa is a post from: The Inquisitr

This week a 200 million year old fossil skeleton belonging to a Thalattosaur was discovered in Alaska along the shore of a low tide near Tongass National Forest.

According to International Business Times, scientist determined that the skeleton which was submerged in water and rocks is a rare marine creature that last roamed the earth nearly 200 million years ago.

One researcher said of the find:

“Scientists are continuing to dig out the rest of the fossils along with finding the skull which may be buried deep into the beach rocks. They were able to dig out two large slabs of rocks with fossils embedded. The slabs were sent to a museum lab in order to chip out the delicate bones in hopes of revealing one of the most complete Thalattosaur skeleton ever discovered.”

Geologist Dr Jim Baichtal revealed to the Daily Mail that the discovery was a complete surprise:

“We were just having our morning coffee out on the outcropping when somebody said, ‘what’s that?”‘

The Thalattosaur, because it is a sea creature is rarely found in decent condition, in many cases only fragments from the creature are discovered.

The skeleton is now at Alaska’s Museum of the North, where rock will be separated from bone in a delicate process.

Dinosaur Skeleton Found In Alaska [Thalattosaur] is a post from: The Inquisitr