Dino Facts
@dinofacts.bsky.social
Fun Facts about dinosaurs posted multiple times per week. Formerly DailyDinoFacts on that other app. Paleo volunteer trying to break into the world of collaborating on research papers. Dino Fact requests encouraged - just DM me!
In dinos, you can approximate age based on Lines of Arrested Growth (LAGs) mostly researched in load-bearing bones. They look like tree rings. Notably, when an animal is growing, the rings are wide (showing a period of growth). At adulthood, the rings become small and tightly packed (slowed growth).
November 1, 2025 at 11:10 AM
In dinos, you can approximate age based on Lines of Arrested Growth (LAGs) mostly researched in load-bearing bones. They look like tree rings. Notably, when an animal is growing, the rings are wide (showing a period of growth). At adulthood, the rings become small and tightly packed (slowed growth).
The abelisaurid line of carnivorous #dinosaurs likely had a wide range of skin patterns on their head - as noted and mapped by Delcourt (2018). His conclusion: some areas were likely adapted for social behaviours like intraspecies combat. Increasingly armoured heads seem to be a derived trait.
October 14, 2025 at 3:00 AM
The abelisaurid line of carnivorous #dinosaurs likely had a wide range of skin patterns on their head - as noted and mapped by Delcourt (2018). His conclusion: some areas were likely adapted for social behaviours like intraspecies combat. Increasingly armoured heads seem to be a derived trait.
Sorry for the less frequent posting - I have a little human hatchling due soon!
On that note: When most people think of dinosaur hatchlings, they think of #Maiasaura from the famous "Egg Mountain" locale in Montana. This was one of the first discoveries exhibiting dinosaur social behavior (1979)
On that note: When most people think of dinosaur hatchlings, they think of #Maiasaura from the famous "Egg Mountain" locale in Montana. This was one of the first discoveries exhibiting dinosaur social behavior (1979)
September 22, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Sorry for the less frequent posting - I have a little human hatchling due soon!
On that note: When most people think of dinosaur hatchlings, they think of #Maiasaura from the famous "Egg Mountain" locale in Montana. This was one of the first discoveries exhibiting dinosaur social behavior (1979)
On that note: When most people think of dinosaur hatchlings, they think of #Maiasaura from the famous "Egg Mountain" locale in Montana. This was one of the first discoveries exhibiting dinosaur social behavior (1979)
#Weewarrasaurus (illustrated below by PaleoEquii on Wikimedia Commons) was a herbivorous dinosaur from Late Cretaceous #Australia. Interestingly, its only known fossils, consisting of jaw fragments with teeth, were discovered by miners in NSW preserved in opal.
September 15, 2025 at 11:09 AM
#Weewarrasaurus (illustrated below by PaleoEquii on Wikimedia Commons) was a herbivorous dinosaur from Late Cretaceous #Australia. Interestingly, its only known fossils, consisting of jaw fragments with teeth, were discovered by miners in NSW preserved in opal.
#Aardonyx is a South African sauropodomorph from the Early #Jurassic. Yates et al (2009) describe this dinosaur as being remarkably robust and recover it one of the closest relatives of the true "long-necks" that was capable of walking on just its hind legs. #FossilFriday #paleontology
September 5, 2025 at 11:39 AM
#Aardonyx is a South African sauropodomorph from the Early #Jurassic. Yates et al (2009) describe this dinosaur as being remarkably robust and recover it one of the closest relatives of the true "long-necks" that was capable of walking on just its hind legs. #FossilFriday #paleontology
#Silesaurus and its relatives are looking increasingly like they are either the ancestors of the ornithiscian dinosaurs or are verrrry close relatives. These "dinosauriforms" have been recovered in a lot phylogenies lately as at or near the base of the plant-eating branch of the dinosaurs.
September 3, 2025 at 1:38 PM
#Silesaurus and its relatives are looking increasingly like they are either the ancestors of the ornithiscian dinosaurs or are verrrry close relatives. These "dinosauriforms" have been recovered in a lot phylogenies lately as at or near the base of the plant-eating branch of the dinosaurs.
Happy #FossilFriday from a newly named dinosaur! #Istiorachis macarthurae is a iguanodontian with elongate neural spines from the Early Cretaceous on the Isle of Wight! The scientific paper was published yesterday, so I'll need to read this over the weekend.
(Lockwood et al, 2025)
(Lockwood et al, 2025)
August 22, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Happy #FossilFriday from a newly named dinosaur! #Istiorachis macarthurae is a iguanodontian with elongate neural spines from the Early Cretaceous on the Isle of Wight! The scientific paper was published yesterday, so I'll need to read this over the weekend.
(Lockwood et al, 2025)
(Lockwood et al, 2025)
Happy #FossilFriday from a hadrosaur foot bone! Presumably Metatarsal IV of a large duck billed dinosaur, this bone was uncovered in Dinosaur Park Fm equivalent rocks in Montana. This is one of many finds coming from a multi-taxic bonebed that used to be a river channel in the Cretaceous. #science
August 15, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Happy #FossilFriday from a hadrosaur foot bone! Presumably Metatarsal IV of a large duck billed dinosaur, this bone was uncovered in Dinosaur Park Fm equivalent rocks in Montana. This is one of many finds coming from a multi-taxic bonebed that used to be a river channel in the Cretaceous. #science
Another fun picture from the field!
No fossils here, but a hot lunch is hard to beat some days. Leftovers warmed by the sun will have to do when you're living primitively and digging in remote locations but don't want to eat sandwiches every day. Sandwich fatigue is real. #Paleontology #Fieldwork
No fossils here, but a hot lunch is hard to beat some days. Leftovers warmed by the sun will have to do when you're living primitively and digging in remote locations but don't want to eat sandwiches every day. Sandwich fatigue is real. #Paleontology #Fieldwork
August 13, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Another fun picture from the field!
No fossils here, but a hot lunch is hard to beat some days. Leftovers warmed by the sun will have to do when you're living primitively and digging in remote locations but don't want to eat sandwiches every day. Sandwich fatigue is real. #Paleontology #Fieldwork
No fossils here, but a hot lunch is hard to beat some days. Leftovers warmed by the sun will have to do when you're living primitively and digging in remote locations but don't want to eat sandwiches every day. Sandwich fatigue is real. #Paleontology #Fieldwork
A fun anatomical quirk I have noticed is the torso & tail vertebrae of whales have their transverse processes projecting from within the height of the centrum whereas in dinosaurs they project from higher on the neural arch. I do not know if this rule has exceptions or not, but it's neat. #Anatomy
August 4, 2025 at 4:00 PM
A fun anatomical quirk I have noticed is the torso & tail vertebrae of whales have their transverse processes projecting from within the height of the centrum whereas in dinosaurs they project from higher on the neural arch. I do not know if this rule has exceptions or not, but it's neat. #Anatomy
#Sinoceratops is one of the most significant fossil finds very few folks talk about. Known from a partial skull from China, it indicates large ceratopsids were also part of the NA/Asia bio-exchange in the late Cretaceous. How widespread and long-lived were centrosaurines in Asia?
(Xing et al, 2010)
(Xing et al, 2010)
August 3, 2025 at 7:25 PM
#Sinoceratops is one of the most significant fossil finds very few folks talk about. Known from a partial skull from China, it indicates large ceratopsids were also part of the NA/Asia bio-exchange in the late Cretaceous. How widespread and long-lived were centrosaurines in Asia?
(Xing et al, 2010)
(Xing et al, 2010)
Happy #FossilFriday from #Coal! Who needs bones when you can find coal?
Often when digging, matted layers of plants and wood are found in the same layers as bone. The insides of logs especially are frequently filled with coal. I've found at least a bucket-full (official measurement) this year...
Often when digging, matted layers of plants and wood are found in the same layers as bone. The insides of logs especially are frequently filled with coal. I've found at least a bucket-full (official measurement) this year...
July 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Happy #FossilFriday from #Coal! Who needs bones when you can find coal?
Often when digging, matted layers of plants and wood are found in the same layers as bone. The insides of logs especially are frequently filled with coal. I've found at least a bucket-full (official measurement) this year...
Often when digging, matted layers of plants and wood are found in the same layers as bone. The insides of logs especially are frequently filled with coal. I've found at least a bucket-full (official measurement) this year...
A fun side-effect of doing field #paleontology in Western North America is the local #wildlife. Often, it's just birds and small mammals. But while hiking to a dig site, you often pass more dangerous friends like this one:
If you're lucky, they'll even give you a warning of where they are! How nice
If you're lucky, they'll even give you a warning of where they are! How nice
July 23, 2025 at 5:21 PM
A fun side-effect of doing field #paleontology in Western North America is the local #wildlife. Often, it's just birds and small mammals. But while hiking to a dig site, you often pass more dangerous friends like this one:
If you're lucky, they'll even give you a warning of where they are! How nice
If you're lucky, they'll even give you a warning of where they are! How nice
An important part of #paleontology is preparing fossil discoveries for transport. That is where "jacketing" is so important. Creating a protective plaster coating that surrounds the fossil allows for easier/safer transportation to the museums and labs where they can be cleaned and studied.
July 21, 2025 at 4:12 PM
An important part of #paleontology is preparing fossil discoveries for transport. That is where "jacketing" is so important. Creating a protective plaster coating that surrounds the fossil allows for easier/safer transportation to the museums and labs where they can be cleaned and studied.
Happy #FossilFriday from a bit of #Daspletosaurus skull! This is an emerging post-orbital horn - the "brow" bone of the late Cretaceous tyrannosaur. This picture is a few years old, but comes from the Judith River Fm of Montana.
Forgive the infrequent posts, summer is digging time!
Forgive the infrequent posts, summer is digging time!
July 4, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Happy #FossilFriday from a bit of #Daspletosaurus skull! This is an emerging post-orbital horn - the "brow" bone of the late Cretaceous tyrannosaur. This picture is a few years old, but comes from the Judith River Fm of Montana.
Forgive the infrequent posts, summer is digging time!
Forgive the infrequent posts, summer is digging time!
One of the most obvious ways to differentiate the contemporaneous #Gorgosaurus from #Daspletosaurus is the shape of the orbit. In Daspletos, the eye socket is a vertically-oblong oval. In Gorgos, the orbit is fairly circular. Both lived in western North America ~76mya. #TyrannosaurTuesday
July 1, 2025 at 11:40 AM
One of the most obvious ways to differentiate the contemporaneous #Gorgosaurus from #Daspletosaurus is the shape of the orbit. In Daspletos, the eye socket is a vertically-oblong oval. In Gorgos, the orbit is fairly circular. Both lived in western North America ~76mya. #TyrannosaurTuesday
#Buitreraptor ("The Vulture Raider") was a small carnivorous dinosaur from #Argentina 98mya. With its slender snout and a sickled toe claw on each foot, it belonged to the southern hemisphere family of raptors called Unenlagiidae. This is one of the smaller, lighter members of that family.
June 25, 2025 at 12:15 PM
#Buitreraptor ("The Vulture Raider") was a small carnivorous dinosaur from #Argentina 98mya. With its slender snout and a sickled toe claw on each foot, it belonged to the southern hemisphere family of raptors called Unenlagiidae. This is one of the smaller, lighter members of that family.
#Moros was a small, mid-Cretaceous tyrannosauroid from North America. This slender, long-legged predator lacked the bulk and size of later tyrannosaurs. Its name foreshadows these later more famous relatives: Moros = Greek embodiment of "impending doom". (Image from Jurassic World Evolution 2)
June 23, 2025 at 12:19 PM
#Moros was a small, mid-Cretaceous tyrannosauroid from North America. This slender, long-legged predator lacked the bulk and size of later tyrannosaurs. Its name foreshadows these later more famous relatives: Moros = Greek embodiment of "impending doom". (Image from Jurassic World Evolution 2)
Belly ribs? Also known as Gastralia, these dermal bones are found in some (but not all) dinosaurs. Their presence in the dino fossil record is relegated mostly to theropods and prosauropods. The red arrow shows the gastralia of Bucky the T.rex at @hmns.bsky.social
#FossilFriday #paleontology
#FossilFriday #paleontology
June 20, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Belly ribs? Also known as Gastralia, these dermal bones are found in some (but not all) dinosaurs. Their presence in the dino fossil record is relegated mostly to theropods and prosauropods. The red arrow shows the gastralia of Bucky the T.rex at @hmns.bsky.social
#FossilFriday #paleontology
#FossilFriday #paleontology
#Ajkaceratops is one of the only ceratopsians known from Europe. A native of what is now #Hungary roughly 85mya, it is known only from material at the front of the skull - including its beak - which is very similar to the Asian dinosaur Bagaceratops.
(Art Credit to the prolific Nobu Tamura)
(Art Credit to the prolific Nobu Tamura)
June 18, 2025 at 3:56 PM
#Ajkaceratops is one of the only ceratopsians known from Europe. A native of what is now #Hungary roughly 85mya, it is known only from material at the front of the skull - including its beak - which is very similar to the Asian dinosaur Bagaceratops.
(Art Credit to the prolific Nobu Tamura)
(Art Credit to the prolific Nobu Tamura)
"The Smallest Runner": #Minimocursor is a genus of neornithischian dinosaur. Its tiny skeleton from the Late Jurassic (as seen in Manitkoon et al, 2023) was found in Kalasin Province, #Thailand. See link below for full article. #paleontology
www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15...
www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15...
June 16, 2025 at 11:39 AM
"The Smallest Runner": #Minimocursor is a genus of neornithischian dinosaur. Its tiny skeleton from the Late Jurassic (as seen in Manitkoon et al, 2023) was found in Kalasin Province, #Thailand. See link below for full article. #paleontology
www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15...
www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15...
#Lesothosaurus was an Early Jurassic ornithischian dinosaur native to Southern Africa and named after the country of #Lesotho. This slender 2-meter long omnivore comes from the "Red Beds" of the Upper Elliot Formation - an arid ecosystem subject to seasonal flooding.
Illustrated by X user Qblivienz
Illustrated by X user Qblivienz
June 10, 2025 at 12:16 PM
#Lesothosaurus was an Early Jurassic ornithischian dinosaur native to Southern Africa and named after the country of #Lesotho. This slender 2-meter long omnivore comes from the "Red Beds" of the Upper Elliot Formation - an arid ecosystem subject to seasonal flooding.
Illustrated by X user Qblivienz
Illustrated by X user Qblivienz
"The Lizard of Algoa Bay" #Algoasaurus was an early Cretaceous sauropod from #SouthAfrica. This dinosaur has the unique backstory of being made into bricks, as masons using the quarry for raw materials did not know they were destroying fossils.
June 9, 2025 at 11:14 AM
"The Lizard of Algoa Bay" #Algoasaurus was an early Cretaceous sauropod from #SouthAfrica. This dinosaur has the unique backstory of being made into bricks, as masons using the quarry for raw materials did not know they were destroying fossils.
Happy #FossilFriday from #Huanansaurus (The South China Lizard)! This dinosaur was an oviraptorid discovered in 70 million year old fossil deposits in Ganzhou, China. The photo below (published by Lü et al in 2015) shows the holotype specimen's skull in left lateral view:
June 6, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Happy #FossilFriday from #Huanansaurus (The South China Lizard)! This dinosaur was an oviraptorid discovered in 70 million year old fossil deposits in Ganzhou, China. The photo below (published by Lü et al in 2015) shows the holotype specimen's skull in left lateral view:
#Psittacosaurus ("The Parrot Lizard") (aka "Tacos" to some [me]) was a perfectly meal-sized dinosaur to many predators in its native Early Cretaceous Asia. These dinos are fairly common finds in the right rocks, seemingly due to being well-preserved in collapsed burrows.
#Dinosaurs #TacoTuesday
#Dinosaurs #TacoTuesday
June 3, 2025 at 3:39 PM
#Psittacosaurus ("The Parrot Lizard") (aka "Tacos" to some [me]) was a perfectly meal-sized dinosaur to many predators in its native Early Cretaceous Asia. These dinos are fairly common finds in the right rocks, seemingly due to being well-preserved in collapsed burrows.
#Dinosaurs #TacoTuesday
#Dinosaurs #TacoTuesday