Browsing the "Jurassic" Category

The Jurassic period is a division of earth’s history spanning from around 201 to 145 million years ago, and during which dinosaurs became the dominant land vertebrates. By the Early Jurassic, the supercontinent of Pangaea had split into Laurasia, in the north, and Gondwana, in the south. Separating them was the Tethys Ocean. Sea levels in the Jurassic were high and the climate was warm and humid, leading to the growth of vast forests of conifers and ferns. In the oceans, marine reptiles continued to diversify, as did ammonites. During the Jurassic, reef-building rudist bivalves and belemnite cephalopods appeared. On land, dinosaurs flourished; among the most successful were the giant long-necked sauropods. Bird-like dinosaurs such as Archaeopteryx began to appear. In the skies, pterosaurs were common.

Jurassic

Episode 120: Naked Ammonite

Published on February 1st, 2021 | by David Marshall

When an ammonite loses its shell, what kind of anatomical information can be found lying beneath? With Prof. Christian Klug... Read More


Cretaceous

Episode 108: Plesiosaurs

Published on March 1st, 2020 | by David Marshall

Plesiosaurs are some of the most easily recognisable animals in the fossil record. Simply uttering the words ‘Loch Ness Monster’ can conjure a reasonably accurate image of what they look like. Thanks to palaeoart, it’s also [&hellip... Read More


Blog

Walking in the Footsteps of Dinosaurs

Published on September 22nd, 2019 | by Guest Blogger

The recent discovery of a dinosaur trackway site on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, provides insight into “a day in the life of a bunch of dinosaurs just loitering about, 170 million years ago” according to [&hellip... Read More


Cretaceous

Episode 101: Organic Preservation of Dinosaur Bone

Published on July 1st, 2019 | by David Marshall

Fossilisation of organic material was long thought to result in the complete loss of original content. However in the last 20 years, several high-profile publications reported the discovery of proteins, blood vessels, blood cells and even [&hellip... Read More


Blog

A Look at Prosauropods: The Forgotten Dinosaurs

Published on May 28th, 2019 | by Guest Blogger

As with most children who are fascinated by dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus were amongst the first dinosaurs I learnt of. But as I grew older, another group of dinosaurs began to pique my interest, a [&hellip... Read More


Jurassic

Episode 87: Archaeopteryx

Published on March 17th, 2018 | by David Marshall

Archaeopteryx is perhaps one of the most iconic taxa in the fossil record. Exclusively found in the Late Jurassic Solnhofen Lagerstätte in Bavaria, Germany, it is a crucial taxon for understanding the relationship between dinosaurs and [&hellip... Read More


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