The holotype of Suchomimus was a subadult – could it have been bigger than we thought? It still strikes me as a massive beast. This is such a cool image of Suchomimus with Paul Sereno for scale.
Something quite curious about Late Cretaceous ecosystems is how large carnivorous dinosaurs shifted roles throughout their lives. A clear example of this was discovered in the Dinosaur Park Formation, where the fossil of a juvenile Gorgosaurus libratus, around 5 to 7 years old, preserved the remains of two small oviraptorosaurs (Citipes elegans) in its stomach. The interesting part here is the contrast: while adult Gorgosaurus hunted massive prey like hadrosaurids and ceratopsids, the young preferred much smaller prey.
This shows a clear ecological niche partitioning based on age. Basically, adolescent tyrannosaurids functioned as mesopredators while the adults acted as apex predators. In fact, this helps solve a major paleontological mystery: why did ecosystems with these megatheropods almost completely lack medium-sized carnivores? If we look at today's African savanna, we see a huge variety of medium predators like hyenas or cheetahs coexisting with lions. In the Cretaceous, this didn't happen because young tyrannosaurids were so competitive that they monopolized that entire ecological space, crowding out other species as they grew.
do you think juvenile tyrannosaurids prevented the evolution of other medium-sized carnivores, or did they simply fill an already existing ecological vacuum?
I was recording a video about amber and its contribution to palaeontology when it just occurred to me. What would you encase in resin so that those who found it millions of years from now would learn about us and our way of life?
The Pinacosaurus was an ankylosaur, an armored dinosaur with a tail club, that inhabited what is now the Gobi Desert approximately 75 million years ago. For a long time, it was thought that all fossils found belonged to a single highly variable species, but the detailed study by Paul Penkalski published in 2026 has changed this perspective. By analyzing new specimens, the author discovered that the key to understanding the diversity of these animals lies in their noses, specifically in a system of internal cavities called paranasal apertures that functioned as an advanced thermoregulation system.
These cavities allowed the dinosaur to cool the blood traveling to the brain and recover moisture from the air when exhaling, a vital adaptation for surviving in such an arid and hot climate. Most fascinating is that the number and arrangement of these openings act like a fingerprint to identify each species. While the traditional Pinacosaurus grangeri possesses a simpler system with two or three apertures, Penkalski identified a new species named Pinacosaurus hilwitnorum that features a much more developed nasal complex, with up to five paranasal openings.
In addition to this new species, the research determined that another member of the group was so distinct that it deserved its own genus, now called Eopinacosaurus. This discovery is fundamental because it demonstrates that many fossils previously classified as juveniles were actually adults of different species. The anatomy of the snout not only reveals how these living tanks managed extreme heat, but also confirms that the Gobi ecosystem was much more diverse and specialized than we imagined.
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
The morphology and systematics of Pinacosaurus
Paul Penkalski
Received 01 Sep 2025, Accepted 12 Feb 2026, Published online: 12 May 2026
Ankylosaurs and Doedicurus lived around 50 million years apart… yet they evolved in surprisingly similar ways. Both developed heavy body armor, low and robust builds, and club-like tails used to defend themselves from predators.
What makes this even more fascinating is that they were not closely related: one was a Cretaceous dinosaur, while the other was a giant mammal related to armadillos. Even so, evolution pushed both toward almost identical solutions.
This phenomenon is called convergent evolution: when unrelated species develop similar traits because they face similar challenges.
And it raises a fascinating question:
Does evolution always tend toward certain “perfect forms”? Because this also happened with sharks and dolphins, birds and bats… and even different animals independently evolving into “crab-like” forms.
Coincidence… or unavoidable patterns of nature? 👀
¡Buenas gente! Hoy quería compartir con vosotros un rincón de la provincia de Jaén que me ha dejado volado. No todo es aceite de oliva por allí; resulta que en Santisteban del Puerto (en la comarca del Condado) tienen un yacimiento de huellas de dinosaurio (icnitas) que está rompiendo los esquemas de los paleontólogos.
Aquí os dejo los datos más locos:
El sitio se llama Monumento Natural Huellas de Dinosaurio de Santisteban del Puerto y las huellas están protegidas en una cabaña en el paraje de "Las Tres Eras".
Por lo que he sabido de mi familia, es un cráneo de Ictyosaurio. Vino de Hong Kong de una persona que tenía una colección privada bastante antigua, de Guizhou. ¿Podemos saber si es verdadero? ¿Esas marcas rectas son porque estaba fragmentado y lo han pegado para venderlo? Gracias
Si a alguien le sobran 750k puede comprar un rancho basado en la saga JP guapisimo ¿Ponemos entre todos y nos vamos?