23 Jul 2014Dinosaur Discovery exhibition breaks Museum attendance recordsMore than 130,000 people have visited the Western Australian Museum’s Dinosaur Discovery: Lost Creatures of the Cretaceous exhibition in Perth, making it the most popular display ever held at the Museum, exceeding the previous record of over 113,000 set by A Day in Pompeii, held at the Museum in 2010.Read more News Jane Rosevear
17 Jul 2014Bone Hunters at the MuseumThe Terrestrial Zoology department recently exhumed specimens that had been buried for skeletonising with the help of a team of Museum staff members and volunteers. These specimens were buried whole or partially flensed (flesh stripped from the bones) to allow naturaly occuring invertebrates in the soil eat the remaining soft tissues from the bones. Twenty-five specimens were exhumed, including several marine mammals, sea turtles and the jaws of an elephant. The bones of each specimen were carefully cleaned by brushing the soil off and then scrubbing in soapy water.Read more Photo Galleries Lintette Umbrello
15 Jul 2014The Age of the MammalsMammals began to thrive after the end of the Cretaceous when all dinosaurs, except toothless birds, became extinct. Mammals evolved before the Cretaceous and during this period most were very small. This is probably because they were hunted intensely once they reached a certain size, most likely by small theropod dinosaurs like Velociraptor. Mammals living in the Cretaceous belonged to the several extinct groups, monotreme (egg-laying) and marsupial (pouched) groups, and possibly the placental group.Read more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014End of an EraAn asteroid impact unleashed a series of cataclysmic events, ending the reign of dinosaurs. Some 66 million years ago, an asteroid, estimated to have been 10 kilometres across, smashed into what is now a coastal area of Mexico. The impact generated an enormous shock wave and tidal waves reached far inland. Glowing debris from the impact was catapulted back into space only to be pulled back by the Earth’s gravity. The returning debris generated an intense heat pulse as it rained down which may have been strong enough to cause global fire storms.Read more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014Birds Are Dinosaurs TooWhen evidence mounted that some dinosaurs had feathers and other features once thought to be unique to birds — birds were reclassified as dinosaurs. In the 1990s spectacular fossils of feathered dinosaurs were found in China. Fossils of extinct dinosaurs belonging to the group called maniraptors have features that are found in modern birds such as long forearms with modified wrist bones, wishbones and breastbones. Birds are now classified as maniraptoran dinosaurs. Some modern dinosaurs such as ostriches, have sharp claws on their fingers just like their ancestors.Read more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014Fight to the Death Velociraptor attacking a Protoceratops Image Peter SchoutenRead more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014Amargasaurus Amargasaurus Image Peter SchoutenRead more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014Cretaceous AmphibiansGiant frogs from Madagascar along with other large amphibians living in the Cretaceous may have eaten small dinosaurs. Predatory frogs Beelzebufo ampinga, nicknamed the ‘devil frog’, is known from fossils recently discovered in 72–66 million-year-old rocks from Madagascar. This frog is closely related to modern South American horned frogs (Ceratophrys) which are voracious and fearless ambush predators that feed on frogs, mice, lizards, snakes, birds and larger insects.Read more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014Burrowing DinosaursIn 2007, scientists found the first evidence of a burrowing dinosaur. They found the bones of an adult and two juveniles called Oryctodromeus cubicularis, a small ornithopod dinosaur. These bones were in the chamber of a filled burrow, preserved in 95-million-year-old rocks in Montana, USA. Several features of the adult skeleton are consistent with habitual burrowing.Read more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014How Big Could They GrowThe largest theropod dinosaurs are estimated to have a maximum body size of around 12–13 metres. Almost all fossil dinosaur skeletons are incomplete so their size is estimated by extrapolating from the bones that are found. Torvosaurus is arguably one of the largest Jurassic theropods. Its skull was estimated to be over 1.5 metres long based on a very large jaw bone found in 150-million-year-old rocks from Portugal. This skull is similar in size to the largest carcharodontosaur skull from the mid-Cretaceous and the largest tyrannosaur skull from the Late Cretaceous.Read more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014Carcharodontosaurus Carcharodontosaurus Image Peter SchoutenRead more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014Bite MarksFossil bones of Cretaceous dinosaurs sometimes have bite marks inflicted by theropods which can tell us about how these predators fed. Most of these bite marks are the result of kills or scavenging. In rare cases, the attacked dinosaur survived long enough for new bone growth to occur. Bite marks are not only found on the bones of herbivorous species but also on theropod bones. For example, skulls of tyrannosaurs are often found with bite marks inflicted by other tyrannosaurs.Read more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014Dinosaur Look-a-likesThere is often confusion about what a dinosaur really is. The frequent mention in newspapers of plesiosaurs as ‘aquatic dinosaurs’ and pterosaurs as ‘flying dinosaurs’ highlights this confusion. Although they are both prehistoric reptiles they are only distantly related to dinosaurs. Some even say crocodiles are dinosaurs but these living reptiles are only distant relations as well.Read more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014From Dinosaur to FossilBacteria are part of the fossilisation process, turning dinosaur bones into stone. Cretaceous dinosaur fossils are mainly found in areas that were flood plains during this time. Dinosaurs often drowned and were buried under the sand and mud (sediment) that spread over the flat landscape during flooding. Once buried, bacteria feeding on the decaying bones changed the chemistry in the surrounding sediment. This caused minerals in the ground water to form crystals within the bones, slowly turning them to stone.Read more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014Stomach StonesFossilised dinosaur skeletons have been found with stones (gastroliths) in their stomach region. Birds swallow sharp, rough stones that help grind up food in their muscular second stomach, called a gizzard. This ensures they extract as much nutrition from their food as possible. Crocodiles also swallow stones, as did extinct long-necked plesiosaurs, but the function of these stones is unclear. The stones may help with controlling buoyancy but the total weight of stones in these animals is very small relative to the whole weight of the animal.Read more Article Danny Murphy
15 Jul 2014Cretaceous InsectsThe Cretaceous period was a significant time for the evolution of insects. Although many familiar insects such as beetles, flies and cockroaches already existed, the Cretaceous saw the appearance of several new groups that play important roles in the ecology of the world today.Read more Article Danny Murphy