Dinosaur Fossils

Learn how fossils teach us about dinosaurs.

When every action and decision may determine the fate of everyone who has ever lived, the right choice is not always clear. For one man, there is no choice at all. Captain James Douglas sets off on a mundane transport and supply mission that quickly descends into disaster. Leading a fledgling society through a wild and hostile world was not part of his brief. Nor was the custodianship of all human life, history, and endeavor. Worse still, an enemy hides among his passengers, while the knowledge of a boy, just days out of school, may be all that stands between mankind and extinction. 

Mary Anning was only 12 years old when, in 1811, she discovered the first dinosaur skeleton - of an ichthyosaur - while fossil hunting on the cliffs of Lyme Regis, England. Until Mary's incredible discovery, it was widely believed that animals did not become extinct.

What dinosaur would you be if you had a bony ridge rising from the back of your skull and three horns poking up from the front? Answer: a triceratops! This book will keep you guessing as you find out how human skeletons are like—and unlike—those of dinosaurs!

Mary Anning grew up on the south coast of England in a region rich in fossils. As teenagers, she and her brother Joseph discovered England’s first complete ichthyosaur. Poor and uneducated, Anning would become one of the most celebrated paleontologists ever, though in her time she supported herself selling by fossils and received little formal recognition. Her findings helped shape scientific thinking about extinction and prehistoric life long before Darwin published his famous work on evolution.

In the history of life on this planet, 99.9 percent of all species have gone extinct. But a few have survived almost unchanged. Author Rebecca E. Hirsch introduces listeners to six living fossils, including the chambered nautilus, the horseshoe crab with its sticky blue blood, and venomous platypuses that sting, as well as a comprehensive explanation of evolution and extinction for listeners who may not be familiar with the terms yet.

Griffins, cyclopes, monsters, and giants - these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? Through careful research and meticulous documentation, Adrienne Mayor convincingly shows that many of the giants and monsters of myth did have a basis in fact - in the enormous bones of long-extinct species that were once abundant in the lands of the Greeks and Romans.

Dinosaurs! You don't need a time machine to learn about dinosaurs. This book covers a verity of dinosaurs for little to big, from vegan to carnivore. Enjoy.

In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, David Norman discusses how dinosaurs were first discovered and interpreted and how our understanding of them has changed over the past 200 years. He looks at some of the amazing discoveries that have enabled us to gain new and unexpected insights into dinosaurs as animals with natural histories and behaviors and considers some of the biggest questions in dinosaur biology, such as the implications of them having warm blood.

Ankylosaurus and other armored dinosaurs were the tanks of the prehistoric world. Sharp spikes and rock-hard plates protected these plant eaters from dangerous predators.

Dinosaurs such as Triceratops had deadly horns, bony frills, and sharp beaks. Some of these powerful plant eaters were so strong, they could knock down trees.

Odd meat-eaters like Carnotaurus were quick and deadly hunters. They had sharp teeth, good eyesight, and could run on two strong legs.

Ever since we first started discovering dinosaurs in the early 1800s, our obsession for uncovering everything about these creatures has been insatiable. Each generation has made huge strides in trying to better our understanding of these animals, and in the past 20 years, we have made more discoveries than in the previous 200. There have been extraordinary advances in palaeontological methods, and ever more dinosaur fossils promise a landslide of new data and huge leaps forward in our understanding of these incredible animals. 

In 1811, while exploring the cliffs near Lyme Regis, England, 12-year-old Mary Anning made the find of a lifetime. There in the rocks was the skeleton of a strange creature. Mary's find was later named Ichthyosaurus, a reptile that lived more than 250 million years ago. Anning went on to have a long career finding and identifying dinosaur fossils. However, her work often went unrecognized by male scientists of the time, and she received little credit until long after her death. Learn about Mary Anning's perseverance and her important discoveries in paleontology.

Listen and relive the exciting tales from Highlights, now on audio! Learn how and why pinecones protect and release seeds and about how wind and water have shaped desert sandstone into giant rock formations, along with other stories about science and scientists.  

Edmontosaurus and other duckbilled dinosaurs had beaks and strong teeth to eat tough plants. Many of these plant-eaters could communicate with other dinosaurs using the crests on their heads.

Could griffins have been real? When Adrienne Mayor carefully read the ancient Greek and Roman descriptions, this mythic hybrid of a lion and an eagle sounded like something people had actually seen. What could explain that evidence? After a decade of hunting through myths, poring over old maps, and tracing the discoveries of modern dinosaur hunters, she found the answer: awesome dinosaur fossils observed by ancient gold hunters in the Gobi desert.

Dinosaurs like Stegosaurus had stiff plates on their bodies. Some used their plates to heat themselves up or cool themselves off. This book takes listeners back to a time when these scaly herbivores walked the earth.

Bird-footed dinosaurs like Iguanodon were plant-eaters that could walk on two legs. Many of the dinosaurs in this group could run away from hungry predators. Others traveled in large herds to stay safe.

Long-necked dinosaurs like Brachiosaurus looked down on the earth from above the treetops. These mighty plant eaters had long tails, necks, and bodies.