If you were to ask people if they know a good place to find dinosaur bones, many of them would say “Go west, young man!” There is a lot of truth to this. There are vast areas of western North… Read More ›
North America
Brachiosaurus
There are some dinosaurs that everybody thinks of when they hear the word “dinosaur”. Among these is a very large sauropod which was the reptilian analog of a giraffe. I am, of course, talking about Brachiosaurus. Brachiosaurus is one of… Read More ›
List of Articles about the Morrison Formation
The Morrison Formation of western North America is my favorite geological / paleontological formation to study. Within these rock layers, which are dated to the late Jurassic Period from approximately 157 to 147 million years ago, are found the fossils… Read More ›
Ceratodus: The Iconic Lungfish of the Mesozoic Era
Ceratodus was a genus of prehistoric lungfish which existed on Earth for a surprisingly long time, from the middle of the Triassic Period approximately 227 million years ago to the beginning of the Eocene Epoch of the Tertiary Period about… Read More ›
Fruitachampsa, the crocodile-bear-cat of the Morrison Formation
Meet the Jurassic Period’s analog of the common house cat. This is Fruitachampsa callisoni, a prehistoric reptile which inhabited western North America during the late Jurassic Period. However, this was not a dinosaur. In fact, Fruitachampsa was a distant relative… Read More ›
Caturus
This is Caturus, a prehistoric fish which swam in the oceans during the Mesozoic Era. Fossils of this saltwater fish have been found in North America, Europe, northern Africa, and as far as China within rocks spanning from the beginning… Read More ›
Pantosaurus
Hello everyone. Several years ago, I wrote a short article for Prehistoric Times magazine about the Sundance Sea. This was a shallow saltwater sea which covered much of central North America during the middle to late Jurassic Period. One of… Read More ›
Baptanodon
This is Baptanodon, an ichthyosaur which lived during the late Jurassic Period about 160-155 million years ago. During this time, the central part of North America was covered with a body of saltwater known as the Sundance Sea, and Baptanodon… Read More ›
Stegosaurus
Introduction There are over a thousand species of dinosaurs that are known to science today. Kids, it seems, are more disposed to remember these names than adults, and I have encountered several examples of children trying to impress people by… Read More ›
Champsosaurus: The Croc-Lizard of the Cretaceous
When most people hear the words “aquatic reptile”, they usually think of two things: turtles and crocodilians. Some clever people might mention sea snakes, and others might mention marine iguanas. Those who are keen on impressing you may bring up… Read More ›