PhysOrg.com [USA], May 12, 2010
Dinosaur footprints up to 1.2 meters (four feet) in diameter have been
found in an area of Patagonia known as Argentina's "Jurassic Park," a
scientist said Wednesday. Jorge Calvo of the National University of
Comahue said the footprints are "sauropod dinosaur tracks of different
sizes," and were "in good condition." The scientist estimated that the
footprints found "more than 90 million years old."
http://www.physorg.com/news192897547.html
Feathers too weak for early bird flight
PhysOrg.com [USA], May 13, 2010
The early bird - didn't fly very well. Recent fossil discoveries that
showed feathers on some of the early flying animals, like the well-known
Archaeopteryx, created a bit of a flap in the archaeological world. And
now comes a report that those feathers may have been too weak for use in
flapping flight - helpful only for gliding. Unfortunately, researchers
cannot tell from the fossils if the feather shafts were hollow, like
modern birds, or were solid. If their feathers were hollow the thin
shafts would have buckled like a drinking straw if the animals had tried
vigorous flapping, according to Nudds, of England's University of
Manchester, and Dyke, of University College, Dublin, Ireland.
Robert L. Nudds and Gareth J. Dyke report in Friday's edition of the
journal Science that the central shaft of feathers on Archaeopteryx and
Confuciusornis were much more slender than on feathers of similar-sized
birds today.
http://www.physorg.com/news192978286.html
Brazil experts find fossils of pre-dinosaur creature
PhysOrg.com [USA], May 11, 2010
Brazilian paleontologists announced Tuesday they discovered the
well-preserved and near-complete fossils of a pre-dinosaur predator that
lived some 238 million years ago. The creature, a Prestosuchus
chiniquensis, was about seven meters (22 feet) long, weighed 900 kilos
(one ton) and lived in the Triassic Period (250 to 200 million years
ago), paleontologists from the Lutheran University of Brazil said. A
team led by paleontologist Sergio Furtado Cabreira and biologist Lucio
Roberto da Silva found the fossils in the town of Dona Francisca, some
260 kilometers (160 miles) from Porto Alegre, the capital of the
southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. "It is something that we could
never imagine -- the quality of preservation and the size of the fossils
are sensational," said Da Silva in a university press statement.
http://www.physorg.com/news192827557.html
Also:
Scientists discover megalodon shark nursery
PhysOrg.com [USA], May 11, 2010
University of Florida researchers have discovered a 10-million-year-old
Neotropical nursery area for the extinct megalodon shark in Panama,
providing fossil evidence the fish used these areas to protect their
young for millions of years. Appearing in this week’s edition of
the journal PLoS ONE, the article is the first thorough study of
megalodon juveniles and gives scientists a better picture of shark
behavior. "The study provides evidence of megalodon behavior in the
fossil record," said lead author Catalina Pimiento, who just completed a
master's degree in zoology from UF and worked in the Florida Museum of
Natural History's vertebrate paleontology division.
"Behavior doesn't fossilize, but we were able to interpret ancient
protection strategies used by extinct sharks based on the fossil
record."
http://www.physorg.com/news192814578.html
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