SPECIAL ISSUE: DINOSAURS TAKE FLIGHT
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SPECIAL ISSUE: DINOSAURS TAKE FLIGHT FEATURES
40 ALL IN THE FAMILY A dadogmm shows how
dinosaurs are related to one
another—and where the birds fit in.
42 BIRD'S-EYE VIEW 34 THE VARIETIES OF TYRANNOSAURS Because modern dinosaurs are flying all around us, examining Knowledge about the most 48 BUTTING HEADS them closely can ofler new fearsome dinosaurs and their relatives Thefour greatest controversies insights into the lives is finally measuring up in dinosaur science of theirfossilized ancestors. to the animals' fame. J. DAVID ARCHIBALD MATTHEW T. CARRANO MARK A. NORELL AND XU XING SANKAR CHATTERJEE LUIS M. CHIAPPE AND PATRICK M. O'CONNOR ANDREW A. FARKE DAVID E. FASTOVSKY CATHERINE A. FORSTER MARK B. GOODWIN WILLEM J. HILLENIUS JOHN A. RUBEN MARY HIGBY SCHWEITZER '^^ R. JACK TEMPLIN
56 TALES FROM THE BADLANDS
In art and oral legends,
Native Americans recorded
their encounters unth dinosaur fossils. ON THE cover: ADRIENNE MAYOR 65 Million Years of Tyraiiiiosaurs by Frank DeNota SPECIAL ISSUE: DINOSAURS TAKE FLIGHT DEPARTMENTS *SK- -^
4 THE NATURAL MOMENT Preparing for Takeoff? Pliotogmpli by Mick Ellison
6 UP FRONT Editor's Notebook
8 CONTRIBUTORS
T' ^ 9 LETTERS m^."/* 10 SAMPLINGS Time Probes
25 UNIVERSE Knock 'Em Dead ^^^j^^^^n^ -iM Neil deGrasse Tyson M 30 NATURALIST AT LARGE 1 Bringing Up Baby David J. Varricchio i 62 REVIEWS W^p4 A Dinosaur Lover's Bookshelf Tlwiiias R. Holtzjr. 67 nature.net Jisifi» ^^^^^^^O ^[I^^HI 25 Dino Web Digs Robert Anderson
68 OUT THERE Loading tlie Cannon Charles Liu
69 THE SKY IN MAY Joe Rao
74 AT THE MUSEUM
78 ENDPAPER The Past Recaptured, Again Carl Melding
PICTURE CREDITS: Page 9
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Preparing for Takeoff?
Photograph by Mick Ellison THE NATURAL MOMENT UP FRONT
Sec preceding two pages Dinosaurs: Why We Care
Come one! Come all! Come children of all ages—the dinosaurs are back in town! That's right, kids, the world's most captivating crea- tures, those marvelous megafauna from the Mesozoic, the greatest
attractions in all of natural history, are returning to the spotlight. This month, on May 14, a new exhibition, "Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New In his April 1998 column Discoveries," opens at the American Museum of Natural History in New for Natural History, the late York City. And in honor of that special event. Natural Histoij is presenting
its favorite Stephen J. Gould warned his first issue in ten years devoted entirely to eveiyone's monsters. readers that fossil forgeries were So why do people care so much about dinosaurs? First, of course, many flooding out of JVIorocco. Now of them really were fearsome, scary, and terrifying. Tyrannosaurus rex, the
the hotbed of fakery seems to mother of all monsters, weighed in at nrore than six tons and featured a have shifted to China, where jaw four feet long studded with six-inch-long teeth. Mark A. Norell and
the black market demand for Xu Xing tell the story of T. rex and its extended family in "The Varieties
dinosaur bones is thriving. The of Tyrannosaurs" (page 34). The popularity of T rex and the other 128-million-year-old fossil of dinosaurs has created such a publishing phenomenon that the discerning Microraptor gui, pictured here, was book buyer needs a knowledgeable guide. Fortunately, Thomas R. Holtz
originally modified—a false beak Jr. has assembled a convenient list "for the dinosaur fan, and no less for was glued on—before luck land- the parents thereof" ("A Dinosaur Lover's Bookshelf," page 62). ed it in 2002 on the desk of Xu Another reason dinosaurs are so fascinating is that they pose so many Xing, a paleontologist at the In- puzzles. Dinosaurs flourished from the Late Triassic until the end of the stitute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Bei- MESOZOIC jing (and a co-author of "The TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOt| i_ HiPH Varieties of Tyrannosaurs," on ^mi page 34). 1 MIDDLE LATE EARLY MIDDLE LATE EARLY Microraptors seem to have a tradition of being improperly MILLIONS OF YEARS BEFORE PRESENT pieced together. The Arclmeorap- tor— a forged fossil that was hailed Cretaceous, and they left tantahzing clues about their lost world (for a in 1999 as the Unk between dino- plot of their interrelations, see "AJl in the Fanuly," also by Thomas Holtz, relates saurs and birds—was really a page 40). hi "Bringing Up Baby" (page 30), David J. Varricchio composite of an ancient bird how new fossil evidence is shedding light on parental care among
species, Yanomis martini, and a mi- dinosaurs. Yet, to the delight of its practitioners, plenty of questions in
croraptors tail. The irony is that, dinosaur science remain (see "Butting Heads," page 48).
with feathers covering its body, The third attraction about dinosaurs is their link with modern birds. As M. gui doesn't really need embel- Matthew T. Carrano and Patrick M. O'Connor explain in their article
lishment; it is quite birdhke on its "Bird's-eye View" (page 42), that link has opened up an extraordinary
own. Some paleontologists have window on the world of dinosaurs. A fourth appeal is the great mystery of
suggested that the creature—-just what caused the nonbird dinosaurs to disappear so suddenly . The leading Uvo and a half feet long—could suspect is an asteroid that slammed into Earth (see "Loading the Cannon," glide fi-om treetop to treetop. by Charles Liu, page 68). But more generally, the dinosaurs' demise has
AH microraptors in the known highlighted a sobering truth: planet Earth is part of a very dangerous fossil record, including M. gui, universe (see "Knock 'Em Dead," by Neil deGrasse Tyson, pageage 25).^5j. have been discovered embedded Throughout the magazine, you'U see the icon at right, in the shale of Liaoning Province, based on the fossilized footprint of a theropod dinosaur. As northeast of Beijing. Photograph- Adrienne Mayor points out in her article "Tales from the er Mick EUison captured this Badlands" (page 56), to Native Americans the fossil looked
specimen in Xu's laboratory, but like the footprint of a giant, prehistoric bird. That's what it
only after all questionable pieces looks like to paleontologists today, too. It's a reminder that dinosaurs are
had been removed. —Erin Espelie still flying, all around us. -Peter Brown
6 NATURAL HISTORY May 2005 GENUINE 2005 AMERICAN EAGLE SILVER PROOF COIN GIVE A GIFT THAT REMEMBERS
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^2005 United States f^int CONT RIBUTORS
MICK ELLISON ("The Natural Moment," page 4) studied art at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and the Ed- mm Peter Brown Editor-in-Chief inburgh College of Art in Scotland. He is a staff artist and pho- Mary Beth Aberlin Steven R. Black tographer in the division of paleontology at the American Mu- Executive Editor Art Director seum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City. Board of Editors Ellison T.J. Kelleher, Mary Knight, Avis Lang, Vittorio Maestro
Early years spent on a farm, reading Sherlock Holmes stories and Michel DeMatteis Associate Managiiiii Editor watching bad sci-fi movies, may have launched DAVID J. VAR- Thomas Rosinski Associate Art Director Hannah Black, Assistant Art Director RICCHIO ("Bringing Up Baby," page 30) on his career of pale- Erin M. Espelie Special Projects Editor ontological detective work. His research interests include taphon- Graciela Flores Editorial Associate Liz Donohue, Rebecca Kessier Interns omy, as well as reproduction in theropod dinosaurs. Varricchio is an assistant professor of paleontology at Montana State Uni- Contributing Editors Varricchio Robert Anderson, Charles Liu. Laurence A. Marschall, versity—Bozeman. Richard Milner, Robert H. Mohlenbrock. Joe Rao, Stephan Reebs, Adam Summers, Neil deGrasse Tyson No stranger to the pages of Natural History, MARK
A. NORELL ("The Varieties of Tyrannosaurs," Charles E. Harris Publisber
page 34) is chairman and curator of the division Edgar L. Harrison Advertising Director Gale Page Consumer Marketing Director ofpaleontology at AMNH. Norell is also the cu- Maria Volpe Promotion Director rator of AMNH's new exhibition, "Dinosaurs: Sonia W. Paratore National Advertising A'lanager Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries," opening May Donna M. Ponzoni Production Manager Norell Michael Shectman Fulfillment Manager 14. NoreU's co-author, XL) a paleontologist XING, Jennifer Evans Business Administrator with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, For advertising information or customer service, call 646-356-6508 is also a research fellow at AMNH. The two have collaborated on a number of scientific papers, including one describing their recent discovery of the feathered Advertising Sales Representatives Neil' York—Metrocorp Marketing, 212-972-1157, tyrannosaur Dilong paradoxic. Duke International Media, 212-986-6098
Dt'fmif—Barron Media Sales, LLC. 313-268-3996 C/iiMi't)—Robert Purdy & Associates. 312-726-7800 When he discovered, at age three, that he wouldn't grow up to he a dinosaur, West Coost~-Ou Course Media Sales. 310-710-7414 R. JR. decided to do the next best thing: he became a paleontol- THOMAS HOLTZ Toronto—^American Publishers Representatives Ltd., 416-363-1388 ogist. He is a lecturer in the geology department at the University Atlanta and Miami—Rickles and Co., 770-664-4567 National Direct Response—Smyth Media Group, 646-638-4985 of Maryland, in College Park, where he specializes in carnivorous
dinosaurs. Holtz is the chiefarchitect of the cladogram that appears Todd Happer Vice President, Science Education on pages 40 and 41 ("All in the Family"), and he has also chosen Educational Advisor}' Board and reviewed a splendid collection of books about dinosaurs, for Myles Gordon American Museum of Natural History readers of all ages ("A Dinosaur Lover's Bookshelf," page 62). David Chesebrough Buffalo Museum of Science Holtz Stephanie Ratcliffe Natural Histoty Museum cf the Adiroudacks Ronen Mir SciTech Hands On Museum MATTHEW T. CARRANO ("Bird's-eye View," page 42) is the curator ofdinosauria Carol Valenta St. Louis Science Center at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. He grew up near Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History Magazine, Inc. Charles E. Harris President, Chief Executive Natural History, where he says he spent many Officer Charles Lalanne Chief Financial Officer formative afternoons. His research interests in- Judy Buller General Manager clude the evolution and biomechanics of dino- Cecile Washington General Manager Charles Rodin Publishing Advisor saurs. Carrano's co-author, PATRICK M. O'CON- was drawn to the study of evolutionary NOR, To contact us regarding your subscription, to order a new Carrano O Connor morphology in dinosaurs and birds while exca- subscription, or to change your address, please visit our Web site www.naturalhistorymag.com or write to us at vating specimens in Madagascar. He is now an assistant professor of anatomical Natural History sciences at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Athens. RO. Box 5000. Harlan lA 51593-0257.
\'mml HiilcT)- (ISSN 0028-07 !2) is published monthly, except for combmcJ To write Fossil Legends of the First Americans, ADRIENNE MAYOR issues in Jiily/Augiis[ and Dcccmbcr/J.inuar)'. by Natural History Magnzine, Inc.. in ifTiliation with the American Museum of Natural History', Ccntnl ("Tales from the Badlands," page 56) traveled more than 8,000 Park We5t at 79ih Street, New York, NY 10024. E-mail: nhmag@natural hisiorymag com. Natural Hisior>' Magazine. Inc., is solely responsible for edito- miles, visiting archives, fossil sites, libraries, and museums, and rial content and publishing practices. Subscriptions: S30.00 a year: for Canada ,ind all other countries: S-JO.OO a year. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, interviewing both paleontologists and Native American infor- and .n additional mailing offices. Canada Publications Mail No. 40030827, Copyright © 2005 by Natuial History Magazine, Inc. All rights rcscr\'ed. No mants. Her book is being published this month by Princeton part of this periodical may be reproduced without written consent of Natural Hhiory: Ifwu would like to contact us regarding your subscription or to enter a University Press. Mayor is an independent scholar based in new subscription, plea.se write to us at Natural Hisiorj', P.O. Bos 5000, Harlan, Mayor lA 51593-0257. Postmaster: Send addrws changes to Naiiml Hhtflr)-. P. O, Box Princeton, New Jersey. 5000. Harlan. lA 51537-5000> Printed in the U.S.A.
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1. 1. 1. ...11. 1. 1. 1. 1. ...11. ..I. III,.. I. In. ,.11.1,1.1 LETTERS
Chewing the Fat receptors less sensitive to Coleman (see "Effects of netic susceptibility to obesi-
I agree with Susan Okie's leptin, or maybe something Parabiosis of Obese with ty, however, this kind of article "Fat Chance" [2/05] in French fries that acts on Diabetes and Normal conscious behavior change that both DNA and our the appetite-stimulating Mice," Diabctologia, may be more achievable for modern society are to NPY/AGRP neurons. 9:294-298, 1973). Fried- some overweight people blame for the epidemic of H. David Stein, M.D. man, not Leibel, had the than for others. obesity. Nevertheless, over- Larchmont, Neii> York idea to use positional H. David Stein's suspi- weight individuals should cloning to isolate the gene cion that the obesity epi-
not be left with the fatalistic Susan Okie misrepresents mutation that leads to obe- demic might be caused by a
impression that they can do the roles of two scientists, sity and diabetes in mutant single, still unidentified
nothing to permanently re- Rudolph L. Leibel andjef- mice. He brought Cole- agent is one that some sci-
duce their weight. I am one entists share. Indeed, cer- of the 5 percent who has tain viruses have been
lost weight and kept it off. c_^Lji::> found to induce obesity in The two key elements birds or animals; the possi-
of my success are a diet I bility that such an agent
can live with and exercises occurs in humans is an ac-
I enjoy. tive field of research. Marion Ehrlich Wolfgang Liedtke feels
Wilmington, Delaware that I gave too Utde credit to his mentor, Jeffrey M. The problem with a steady Friedman, for the discovery
diet ofjunk food and tele- of leptin. It was not my in- vision is not that it makes tention to offer a detailed some kids fat, but that it history of recent scientific makes all kids unhealthy. progress in the understand- Responsibility for this ing of obesity, either in this Ufestyle rests with the par- article or in the chapter of
ents. It has not been easy to frey M. Friedman, by mis- man's exciting hypotheses to my book from which it was raise my son on a whole- stating Leibefs contributions the molecular level and iso- adapted. The leptin gene foods diet in a home with- to the new field of obesiol- lated the leptin gene. The was identified in a long- out a television or elec- ogy. She writes, "The gene manner in which the article term collaborative project
tronic games, but it has for leptin was identified and describes Leibel's contribu- conducted at Rockefeller been possible. sequenced as the result of an tion to this landmark dis- University by Friedman,
Ann Wisehart intensive collaborative effort covery is inaccurate. Rudolph L. Leibel, and Santa Barbara, California between Leibel and his Wolfgang Liedtke, M.D. other investigators. The
Rockefeller colleague . . . Duke University Medical gene was identified in
Given how difficult it is to Friedman." Actually, Fried- Center Friedman's laboratory by get a person to overeat to man's contributions to the Durham, North Carolina clomng and sequencing its gain weight, it is unlikely study of obesity are far mutant form in the obese that such factors as large greater than Leibel's. Susan Okie replies: I con- mouse. Nevertheless, Leibel portions, television, and The concept of a soluble gratulate Marion Ehrlich and other Rockefeller col- snack foods are truly at humoral factor that signals on her success in maintain- leagues who collaborated fault. Like most epidemics, satiety to the brain was first ing a healthy weight. Be- closely with Friedman were
obesity is most likely caused published in 1973byD.L. cause of differences in ge- not accorded credit as coau- by a single etiologic agent. thors on the Nature paper PICTURE CREDITS Cover; lllustradon by Frank DeNoa; pp. 4-5 & Cr. '0^4ick Ellison; p. 9(cartoon):
Some possibilities might ©Jonny Hawkins; p. lO(top): ©2()05Jim D. B.irr/AlaskaStock.com; p. IO(bottoni): ©Roy Uottcrell/Gctty announcing the identifica-
Images; p, 11 (top): ©Mallinckrodc Institute of Radiology/Wasliington University School of Medicine in include a virus after all, tion of the gene. — St. Louis; 11 (middle): Ulustiarion Frankfurt; 1 1 (bottom): p. by Nick p. ©Gusto Producuons/Photo Re-
searchers. Inc.; p. 24(top): ©Robert Frcrck/Gctty Images; 24(bottom): ©C.R. Mullis (UMich) et al. prior to the 1 990s, who p. ESA. ESO. NASA; p. 2S: Illustnirion by Christos Magganans; pp. 30 & 32 (top): Illustrations by Frank De- would have suspected that a Not;t: p. .32(bottoni); The D.ilian Natural History Museum; pp. .34-35 & 36: Paintings by Jason Brougham; From the Ground Up p, 35(lelt); 0; p. 3K: ©The Field Museum; p. .39(top): ©Mick Ellison; p. 39(bottom): ©Denis bacterium causes peptic- article Finnin/American Museum of Natural History: pp. 40-41: Illustratioas by Roberto Osti; pp, 43-45: Illus- In his "How Trees
trations by Advanced Illustration; p. 47: ©The Authors; p.49: llluso:ation by Sibbick; 50: ulcer disea.se? Other culprits John p. ©Royal Get High" [3/05], Adam Tyrrell Illustrations Museum; pp, 51, 53, 54 & 55: by Tom Moore; p. 56: ©Ollvin J. Hamilton/science- could be an environmental views.com; p. 57: ©Peter Paris; p. 58(left): ©Adriennc Mayor; pp. 5fi-59 & 60-61: ©The National An- Summers writes, "At the thropological Archives. Smithsonian Museum: p. 68: Illusmtion by Ian Worpole: p. 78: ©Mick Ellison contaminant that makes our (Continued on page 12)
May 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 9 — ''W^^t^
AMPLINGS Time Probes ureen
250,000,000 B.C. — Earth's most devastat-
Awakening today; all are cold specialists, and all can ing mass extinction of the past half-billion survive either with or without oxygen. years swept across our planet about 250
the "Dead" Some might even live in your fridge. million years ago, bringing the Permian
30,000 B.C. — Biologists have discovered a So how how did the new bacterium, period to an end. Some estimates put the
new bacterium. True, such discoveries are dubbed C. pteistocenium, manage to lie casualty rate at more than 90 percent of made many times a month—but this bac- dormant for so long? The answer isn't clear marine species and 70 percent of land
terium was found alive in 32,000-year-old yet. But the discovery raises hopes that sim- species. So, who did the deed?
Alaskan ice. When Richard B. Hoover, a ilar organisms could be found on other plan- One prime suspect has been extreme NASA astrobiologist, melted a chunk of ets that have or once had ice (think Mars). "euxinia" near the surface of the ancient
the ice back at the lab, out swam short Unlocking their secrets of dealing with the Tethys Sea. In euxinic seas, possibly be- rods with rounded ends. Talk about cold could lead to new methods of cryo- cause of shifting currents, normally bottom- longevity! preservation. Another, less hopeful possi- dwelling sulfide moves up into the "photic
Elena V. Pikuta of NASA, along with bility is that the warming of the globe's ice- zone," where oxygen-dependent photo- Hoover and several other biologist col- bound regions may introduce long-dormant synthesis takes place. The water soon
leagues, cultured the microorganism and bacteria into today's bacterial gene pool, becomes full of hydrogen sulfide and
studied its DNA and physiology. They soon with unpredictable effects. {International depleted of oxygen.
learned they were dealing with a new spe- Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Sulfide is toxic to most organisms, but
cies of the genus Carnobacterium . Eight Microbiology 55:473-78, 2005) green sulfur bacteria thrive on it. So if other Carnobacterium species are known —Stephan Reebs photic-zone euxinia was widespread around the time of the Late Permian extinction, you'd expect to see signs of green sulfur
bacteria in the rocks. Sure enough, Kliti
Grice, a geochemist at the Curtin Univer-
sity of Technology in Perth, Australia, and her colleagues discovered that Late Permian sediments from both western Australia and southern China hold an abun-
dance of the unique molecular fossils de- rived from the bacteria's odd biochemistry.
OK, euxinia may have killed off many
residents of the sea. But how did it affect
residents of the land? Grice 's team sug- gests that the lapping of sulfide-laden waters onto continental shelves might have given rise to plumes of hydrogen sulfide gas that wafted across the landscape and
poisoned the terrestrial species in its path. [Science 307:706-709, 2005) —S.R. Alaskan permafrost holds some hardy surprises.
Eau de Chypre building, complete with textile-
1900 B.C. — When Cleopatra betook herself to the Mediterranean making equipment and an olive
town of Tarsus at the command of Mark Antony, she is said to have press, Belgiorno's team discovered
perfumed the sails of her barge, causing the winds to stir his heart a wealth of stone and clay per-
and herald her arrival. But archaeologists are finding evidence for the fume-making paraphernalia: bowls, large-scale production of perfume thousands of years before the funnels, jugs, ladles, large spouted
Roman republic. An ancient perfume factory, recently unearthed from a vessels, small vials. Even more
hillside in southern Cyprus, suggests that efforts to mask one's natural intriguing, they have extracted
stink (and lure a lover) go back at least 4,000 years. The perfumery, the traces of olive-oil-based fragrances
oldest in the Mediterranean, predates Cleopatra by two millennia. from the clay and the soil. On
Maria Rosaria Belgiorno, an archaeologist at the Institute of Tech- chemical analysis, the fragrances
nologies Applied to Cultural Heritage, in Rome, and her colleagues bitter almond, citrus bergamot, rosemary, turpentine (aromatic pine
discovered the remains of the perfumery while excavating the Middle oil, not paint thinner)—^turn out to be among the essences still
Bronze Age site Pyrgos-Mavroraki. In what was once a large industrial deployed by Cleopatra wannabes. — Caitlin E. Cox
10 : NATUR.^L HISTORY May 2005 A Taste for Dinos from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in
1 30,000,000 B.C. — When dinosaurs strode Beijing and the American Museum of the Earth, early mammals were walking Natural History in New York, the larger of nearby. Until now, however, the received the two skeletons belonged to a three- opinion has been that the mammals were foot-long mammal endowed with a squat, rat-size insect eaters, discreet and noctur- powerful body and a carnivore's teeth. nal, cowering in the dark as the mighty Christened Repenomamus giganticus by
its discoverers, the creature now ranks as the largest known mammal from the era of the dinosaurs. Nearby Cast of a hobbit-size human brain was the fossil of a , smaller, cat-size Thinker's Brain ^•i-si ^ Repenomamus named R. robustus, 16,000 B.C. — Homo floresiensis, the minia- whose stomach ture human species discovered last Octo- provided another ber on the Indonesian island of Flores, has
revelation: a neat been much in the news. Alive as recently
pile of bones from as 18,000 years ago, the species was
a juvenile dinosaur contemporary with our own. And near the of the genus Psitta- skeleton of a three-foot-tall H. floresiensis cosaurus. adult female, dubbed Ebu, were clues
Repenomamus that she and her ilk had used tools and
could have been mastered fire. So Dean Falk, a paleo-
Some early mammals liked nothing better than a dinner of dino. either a scavenger neurologist at Florida State University in or a predator, the Tallahassee, together with a multidiscipli-
dinosaurs struck fear into their hearts. But investigators suggest. But given the paucity nary team of investigators, decided to see two complete skeletons recently discovered of modern-day mammalian scavengers how the H. floresiensis brain shaped up.
in the Lujiatun fossil beds of northeastern (hyenas do it the most), the mammal mavens Because Ebu's braincase was mostly in-
China (where many feathered dinosaurs and among us may be justified if we imagine tact, its inner surface retained an imprint early birds have been discovered) have Repenomamus on the hunt for wee live of the shape of the brain as well as the forced paleontologists to rethink that view. reptiles. (Nature 433:149-52, 2005) positions of major blood vessels. Falk and
Found by Yaoming Hu and his colleagues —S.R. her colleagues analyzed CT scans of the skull and used some fancy software to create a digital 3-D picture of the interior Why Scramble a Good Design? of the braincase, and they made a latex
70,000,000 B.C. — Rotten eggs are bad enough when they come from chickens, so imagine "endocast" of the organ that once occu-
the smell of a 70-million-year-old dinosaur egg. But a team of paleontolo- pied it. They then compared the endo-
gists led by Mary H. Schweitzer of North Carolina State University in cast with those of apes; human fore-
Raleigh was not about to let the "petroliferous odour" keep them runners, including H. erectus; normal
from examining the shells of a few astonishingly well preserved eggs modern females; a pathologically small- deposited by the giant Argentinian dinos known as titanosaurs. brained modern human; and a pygmy.
Ancient floods deposited silty mud around some clutches of the Ebu's chimp-size brain was most similar
eggs, fossilizing them almost instantly. The process left the skeletal to the brains of H. erectus and normal
remains and even some of the soft tissues of the eggs' ill-fated H. sapiens. Tellingly, a structure called the
embryonic contents visible in exquisite detail. Schweitzer and her lunate sulcus was pushed toward the back
colleagues were able to investigate not only the details of the eggs' of her brain, as it is in H. sapiens's, leaving structure, but also their molecular makeup and even the immunological more space for areas involved in advanced reactions they provoked. Titanosaur eggs, they found, weren't much different association, forward planning, and prob-
from those of their closest living relatives, birds and reptiles. It seems evolution is well lem solving. {Science DOI: 10.1126/
acquainted with rule zero of the indolent engineer: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. {Proceed- science.1 109727, 2005) —S.R.
ings of the Royal Society B, DOI: 1 0.1 098/rspb.2004.2876, 2005) —Nick W. Atkinson ( "Samplings" continues on page 24.)
May 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 11 LETTERS
(Continuedfrom page 9) tubes, the water evaporates into spaces
." within the trees' leaves . . . The xyleni tubes, however, are not open. They end blindly in the leaf, sur-
rounded by chlorenchyma cells. The cell walls in the xyleni and chloren- chyma cells have pores only a few nanometers wide. Water reaches the intercellular spaces in the leaves through these pores. The water forms menisci, or curved surfaces, at the openings of
the pores in the cell wall. It is from those menisci that the water in the xylem tubes hangs. Because the menisci are so small, they can stand the pull created by a hundred-meter- high column of water and prevent air from entering the column. Halvard Baugerod Nonuegian University of Life Sciences As, Nonmy
Cloud Nine Having just read "Send In the Clouds," [12/04-1/05] by Neil de-
Grasse Tyson, I knew it was time to send a long-overdue letter. Mr. Tyson writes the most informative and easy
to understand column I have ever read on a subject that should be almost im- possible to fathom to a layperson Uke myself. Thank you, Mr. Tyson, for al- ways teaching me something with your incredible monthly columns. Jeanne Kigali Atlanta, Georgia
Amendment Robert H. Mohlenbrock's statement
Discover the stunning natural beauty in "Peak Experience" [3/05] that and wildlife of "The White Continent" there are no representatives of the the region of Chile. and spectacular fjord Pulitzer Prize-winning author burseraceous plants in temperate Our air-inclusive 19-day incorrect. Plants JARED DIAIVIOND aslelephant tree), oc- in Collapse: How Societies Choose landings. Prices start at $4,980. cur in Cahfornia and Arizona, as well to Fail or Succeed Call 1-800-205-3005 for a as other places in the United States. brochure, 1-800-323-7436 ^ for reservations. "Diamond looks to the past to sound a Natural History welcomes correspondence warning for the future." —Newsweek Rates are per person, double occupancy, from readers (nhmag@naturalhistorymag. based on departure dale and cabin
category. Some departure" laxes. security . * -. com). All letters should include a daytime , AVAILABLE NOW FROM VIKING BOOKS .ind airport fees not incluc'cd L^VINJ www.penguin.com telephone number, and all letters may be Norwegiivi Coastal Voyage Also available as an audlobook from edited for length and clarity.
r, .norwtgiancoastalvoyage.us Penguin Audio VIKING
12 NATURAL HISTORY May 2005 -a SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION I5>
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Suvavner adventures for everyone ^s'^,,/. ^ —
Stt and Feel Quebec maritime
Quebec maritime is 3,000 kilometres (1,900 miles) of coastline, hun- di'eds of islands, nine national parks, 13 species of whales, and mountains among the highest in Eastern Canada. As the St.
Lawrence carved its way between the Laurentian and the
Appalachian mountains it shaped the history, landscape and soul of Quebec maritime.
For an exotic experience, visit the lies de la Madeleine, which are accessible by plane or ferry cruise from the Gaspe Peninsula.
Take the Gaspesie Tour on the South Shore or hop on a ferry to the North Shore —the Cote-Nord region— and foUow the Whale
Route for an unforgettable journey!
The Gaspesie Tour—Historical villages and traditions the Bas-Saint-Laurent region. Meander along the scenic route and marvel at the gentle landscape and pretty villages. Follow the road to Rimouski, the oceanographic capital of Quebec, and Pare nation- al du Bic, a 33-km2 (13 square miles) coastal marine park ideal for wildlife observation and hiking.
Mystical and awesome— the Gaspesie region. Learn about the world of fossils at Pare national de Miguasha, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site. Drive to the Gaspe Peninsida, where you will be awed by the power of Rocher Perce. Take a cruise to the world's largest accessible gannet colony on Bonaventure Island, which is part of a national park. At Forillon National Park of Canada, take part in the many educational activities proposed by naturahsts and \'isit the highest Ughthouse in Canada at Cap-des-Rosiers.
The V\/ha[e Route—Whales and piers — the Cote-Nord region. From Tadoussac to Blanc Sablon, Quebec maritime^ North Shore unveils 1,250 kilome- Breathtaking panoramas, tres (777 miles) of shoreUne dotted with bays, coves, sandy beaches and 13 species of cetaceans. splendid views at every turn, tasty maritime cuisine Begin your journey in Tadoussac, an official member of the 30 Most Beautiful Bays of the World and hospitable people! Club. For breathtaldng scenery and a rich array of marine flora and fauna, visit the Saguenay—St.
Lawrence Marine Park.
Looking for exceptional geology? Venture to the Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve of
Canada or to Pare national d'Anticosti on Anticosti Island, an island of 8,000 km^ (3,000 square miles) rich in history and home to more than 120,000 white-tailed deer.
There are some places you have to see . . . feel . . . and breathe. Quebec maritime is one of them!
Plan youi- \dsit today at www.quebecmaritime.ca/tonring or call 1-877-BONJOUR (1-877-266-5687) and ask for operator 610 to order your free vacation guide. Win a dream vacation! Visit our Web site to enter our contest. Contest code: Natural. ILES DE LA MADELEI, ii QUEBEC MARITIME'S MOST EXOTIC ISLANDS
The Gulf of St. Lawrence shelters a unique orchlpelago, the
lies de la Madeleine. Its landscape is spectacular—from rolling green valleys to deep red cliffs and miles of virgin
sandy beaches. Its islanders, the Madelinots, have a natural sense of hospitability. The warmth of their welcome and their vibrant Acadian culture will make you want to drop anchor! And the food... definitely divine and prepared with fresher- than-fresh irigredients: luscious lobster, smoked herring...
Visit the islands via theM.V Madeleine ferry, sailing daily from
fis, PEL For a unique chance to sail on the St. Lawrence i^r to the lies de la Madeleine, take the CTMA Vacancier, a ferry cruise ship departing from Montreal every Friday and from the Gaspe Peninsula every Saturday.
Win a dream vacation! <» SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION 0I>
Nova kotia
Scenery -and More- in Nova Scotia
Nowhere on earth are the tides higher — or swifter —
than in Nova Scotia's
Minas Basin, on the Bay of Fundy's eastern extremity. And no tune's better than summer to experience this gift of nature. Hikers who make the two-houl- trek to Cape Spht, a narro^> grassland hned by jagged chffs overlook- ing the Bay, are rewarded by the sight of a turbulent tide rushing over ocean
ridges below . . . then pausing before ebbing in the opposite dii'ection.
On the Parrsboro shore, the site of the biggest fossil find in North America, beachcombers gather semi-precious agates and sparkling amethysts at low tide.
Not surprisingly, Parrsboro's Nova Scotia Gem and Mineral Show draws visitors from around the world each August. Serious dinosaur fans wiU delight in a ^dsit to nearby Joggins Area Fossil Chff, an internationally recognized palaeontological site with an abundance of lOO-mUlion-year-old fossUized plants and dinosaur bones. For inspiring and diverse land and seascapes —plus whale and bald eagle sightings —the rugged coastUne-hugguig Cabot Trail is one of the world's most scenic drives. Along the way, stop at Cape Breton Highlands National Park, one of
Canada's most exceptional wilderness and hiking regions, for pristine landscapes and a bit of moose-spotting. Water sports enthusiasts can sail the gentle, fog-free coves and wooded shore of Bras d'Or Lakes, or scuba dive to discover unique sink- Top: Whales off holes rich in ecological diversity. A visit to Christie Brook and Falls near Bible HiU the coast; above: in the East District offers a perfect picnic or swimming spot, with its waterfall Cabot Trail; left: Bay of fundy dropping to a crystal-clear swimming hole surrounded by shallow caverns and looming chffs.
Summer in Nova Scotia offers sports and nature lovers a wide variety of activ- ities to choose from. At Kejimkujik National Park, a natural Historic Site of
Canada, 91 kilometers of trail wind through untouched forests, rivers and lakes.
Do bring extra fih}i for a visit to Peggy's Cove, sm-rounded by spectacular glacial
deposits of barren rock and granite boulders, to capture the view . . . and the
Nova Scotia spirit. ^-^:2^-,
Birds call. Sea^rass waves.
But it's tne tide tnat pulls.
the Cape Breton From the Bay of Fundy, home of the world's highest tides, to the rocky shores-Qf
fact, you'll find over Highlands. No matter where you are in Nova Scotia, you're never far from the sea. In
visit us. Spend time in 4,600 miles of spectacular scenery waiting for you to explore. Come
Nova Scotia and your thoughts will return again and again.
NOVASCQilA iJijcouer out (rue naiMrt
To begin your Nova Scotia experience visit novascotia.com/natural Dreamers' Gurde. or call 1-800-565-0000, op 190 to order your free Doers' and
Visit our neighbours at novascotia.com/neighbours
^WU^i;?: ^ ; ;fflT\tiMi^ —
Pennsylvania The Great Pennsylvania Wilds
summer comes to
WhenPennsylvania, ui-ban pleas-
ures take a backseat to an
unlimited number of out- door adventures. Gaze at stars, gaze at elk or both. Camp in wilderness glens, fish in rushing streams, hike or bike far from city cares ... or spend days exploring forests and nature preserves untouched bv time.
With more than 2 million acres of rambhng rivers, scenic streams and wild forest, the
Pennsylvania Wilds are a natiu'al treasure and home to the largest free-roaming elk herd in the northeast. EUc-watching central is the
town of Benezette, with a herd of 800 . . . and counting (not to mention courting, particularly in late summer and early fall). Last year saw the inauguration of the Elk Scenic Drive, a
127-inile corridor winding through tlu-ee state forests and three state game lands. A large portion of the Elk Scenic Drive includes two offi- cial Scenic Byways: Route 144 tlu-ough Sproul State Forest and Rovite
120 from Renovo to Driftwood.
One of America's most picturesque highways is Route 6, stretching more than 400 nnles across northern Peimsylvania. For stargazers.
Cherry Springs State Park is home to the darkest skies in the north- eastern United States. The 46-acre Park, located within the
Susquehannock State Forest, has a 360-degree view of the sky and zero
Ught pollution for optimum viewing of stars and planets. Cherry
Springs has been designated by astronomers as the northeast's only Top to bottom: Free-
Official Dark Sky Park. roaming elk dot the
Route 6 is also a key route for those who want to swim, water sld or valleys and moutains of Benezette. Warm boat on 13-mile Lake WaUenpaupack; hike, bike or take in the views at summer days attract the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area or ^dsit breathtak- hikers, bikers and ing Pine Creek Gorge, a spectacular site 50 miles long and 1,400-feet kayakers in Pine Creek deep. Hike the 42-mile Pine Creek Rail TraU, fish for trout, raft the Gorge. Cherry Springs rapids, canoe or simply soak the scenery. 6 will also take you up Route State Park's dark skies
to the 500,000 wilderness acres of the Allegheny National Forest, witli provide a canvas for
7nore than 1,000 mile of trails for hiking, biking or horseback riding. nature's light shows. •^^IJSf
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New York kate Commemorating the War That Launched a Revolution
the French and Indian War began 250 years ago, few could predict
Whenits powerful historical significance. Today, the five-year conflict is
acknowledged to have estabUshed the British colonial dominance on
the East Coast of America, setting the scene for the Revolutionary
War to come, and altering the liistory of this cotuitry and the world in its wake.
New York State will be commemorating the
250th anniversary with a comprehensive series of historic battle reenactments at pivotal sites and communities across the state from 2005 to 2010.
History buffs wHl have a significant number of fes- tivals, reenactments, 18th-century encampments and educational programs to choose from, aU held in some of the nation's most scenic settings.
The landscape is Uttle changed from 1754. when a young George Washington, serving under the British flag, was sent to evict the French from frontier territories. His failure to do so ignited a war, which quickly spread out across the colonies and into Canada, between France, Britain, and the American Indian nations that were struggling to preserve control of their lands. As a result, the ultimate fate of North America was decided and seeds planted for the American Revolution.
New York's unprecedeted series of reenact- ments and encampments will begin in June with the Grand Encampment of the French anfl
Indian War in Fort Ticonderoga, a large-scale two-day reenactment with miUtary camps, set- tlers, diiUs and battles. In July, another encampinent will recreate the 1759 Siege of Fort Top: Members of the British inniskilling
Niagara in Youngstown, featuring children's activities along with battle demonstrations Regiment fire into the opposing French forces at Fort Ticonderoga's Grand and artillery demos. In August, a battle reenactment will be held at the Old Fort Ontario Encampment of the French and Indian State Historic Site in Oswego to commemorate the founding of Fort Ontario in 1755. War; above: In a field overlooking Lake There will be full-scale British, Colonial, French and Native American military camps Champlain, battles occur each day with demonstrations of Ufe and 18th century merchants. camp And a September high- betv^een British and French forces during light will be a reenactment of the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Lake George at Fort Ticonderoga's Grand Encampment of
Lake George Battlefield Park. the French and Indian War
For a full listing of New York State commemorative activities, contact www.iloveny.com. fi^xm- £K^
Fort Oswego. Ckowx Point. Fort Edwaud. Fori Ticonderoga. F(Mri Si
The Massacre at Fort Will: ^>iE Batfle of Cakilix)n. Braouock. Johnson. Mi n
MoNTC.\LM. Rogers Rangers. The Siege of kSrt Niagaiu. Fort Ontario. Am
Names DEPICTING a nation's s' E\'Ents tfl\'f come 'fo life in New York S'fa'fe. Honor. Discover. Experience. Learn. I NY Vacations
i I o ve ny . c o nn
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Lake Placid
Lake Placid Summer: Scenery/ Sports and History
Overlook of Lake Placid Main Street, Lake Placid Sports fans know Lake Placid as the lovers know Lake Placid and Essex Home to the majority of the Adirondack site of the Winter Olympic Games County as key destinations for summer High Peaks, Essex County boasts three in 1932 and 1980—only one of three fun, with glorious mountain and water don't-miss scenic drives—the 170-mile towns worldwide to have hosted two views providing the backdrop for a Olympic Trail, from Great Lake Ontario
Winter Olympics. But savvy oudoors plethora of al fresco acti\'ities. to Lake Placid and Lake Champlain; the
Route 73 Byway, which winds past the
Adirondack's highest peaks and some of
its most picturesque waters; and the
Whiteface Momitain Veterans' Memorial
Highway, a spectacular mountaintop drive.
In Lake Placid, summer pasttimes
include antiquing, visits to the Winter
Olympic Museum, historic sites, and sce-
nic boat tours of the lake. Founded in
1765 and with one of the finest collec-
tions of Federal and Greek Revival
architectm-e in New York, Essex Village
is hsted on the National Register of
Historic Places, with weU-preserved 19th
century homes, inns and shops.
Summer is hiking time in the region.
Popular trails include High Falls Gorge
with the Ausable River's 600 feet of cas-
cading waterfalls. Hurricane Mountain's
exceptional ^dews of Lake Champlain
and the High Peaks with Moimt Mai'cy,
at 5,344 feet it's New York's highest peak.
Gentle rambles or challenging terrain
take youi- pick! <« SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION ls=-
Nebraska Nebraska Rocks!
Courthouse and Jail Rocks near Bridgeport Witness an ancient mystery at Hudson-Meng Bison Bonebed Nearly 65 million years ago, the land Lincoln's University of Nebraska State American Indian and African exhibits, now known as Nebraska roUed Museum of Natvu-al History features one dinosaurs, and wildhfe dioramas, beneath a giant inland sea, leaving a lega- of the world's premier collections of fossil Wliether the outcroppings of today catch cy of sUt, sand, fossils, and extraordinary elephants. You'll also experience a hands- yom- eye or the fossilized reminders of yes- land formations. Today, these otherworld- on discovery center, Nebraska fossils, terday ticlde yom- fancy, Nebraska rocks! ly outcroppings reveal astonishing cross sections of Great Plains geological history. amazed. Take a trip to the panhandle of Nebraska anvozed^Beveg to experience rugged buttes, badlands, Be and spires. Here you'U find Chimney
Rock—^the most mentioned geological for- mation in pioneer jom-nals—as well as
Courthouse and Jail Rocks. In the north- em part of the panhandle, be sure to see the lunar-hke landscape at Toadstool
Park.
Called the Pompeii of prehistoric animals by National Geographic,
Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical
Park near Royal features ancient rhi- nos and tiny ancestral horses engulfed by volcanic ash 12 million years ago.
You can also tour Hudson-Meng Bison Bonebed near Crawford, where
600 bison perished 10,000 years ago. Or Embark on a spectacular journey, ,
via Nebraska's rich and remarkable his visit Agate Fossil Beds National It's your passport to fun-fiHedadyeniui,
Monument near Harrison, where you'll that transcend time and im""'^"'"'
find Miocene paleontology exhibits and The hard part is deciding where to explore first. osiibilides.., endless American Indian artifacts. velpaLkct.cain-877-NEBRASKADepr.5NHBorvKMt www.VisitNebraska.org %. ".. \v;v;<.» ^•'>>v..!.'iX5iMi!aa»s^«ywa
tfiifA P L I N G S Time Probes
chemical change. Now that people have taken over the planet, the Wear and Tear pace has picked up alarmingly.
A.D. 1000 — For millions of years before the invention of bulldozers, According to Bruce H, Wilkinson, a geologist at the University of
ox-pulled ploughs, rotary tillers, and steam shovels. Earth's skin IVIichigan in Ann Arbor, agricultural and construction activity is now
w/as eroded at a slow, steady pace by wind, water, and natural eroding rock, soil, and sediment at about fifteen times the overall rate of erosion caused by natural processes. Across the globe, farm-
ing now erodes soil about twenty-eight times faster than the com-
bined effects of all natural processes during the past 500 million
years. Wilkinson calculates that, on its own, weathering by wind, water, and chemistry stripped away nearly eighty feet of land sur- face, on average, every million years. Enter l-lomo sapiens, and the ground becomes festooned with farms, orchards, pastures, houses,
public buildings, roads, canals, parking lots, airports, and on and on.
If you imagine all the human-caused denudation spread equally
across all the ice-free land on Earth, you're looking at an average net
loss of 1,200 feet per million years. At that rate, the lost rock and
soil would fill up the Grand Canyon in about half a century.
Toward the end of the first millennium A.D., Wilkinson estimates, people surpassed nature as the major force shaping Earth's
surface. Soil, in particular, is now being lost more rapidly than it is
being formed. In fact, the great disparity between the rates of natural and human erosion may make current agricultural practices Human activity has become the prime agent of erosion. unsustainable. {Geology 33:161-64, 2005) —Dave Forest
Not Jurassic Park? »osy Past
68,000,000 B.C. — Intentionally breaking 1 B.C. In in is all us. bones 1 ,000,000,000 — the universe, as Rome, ancient history around isn't standard operating procedure for a pale- The cosmic microwave background, which formed as soon as the young universe
ontologist. But there was no other way to get had cooled down enough for electrons and protons to bind, bathes us all in radia-
the thighbone of a recently excavated 68-mil- tion that left its source almost 14 billion years ago. The light of distant galaxies,
lion-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex fossil from a "redshifted" by the expansion of the universe since the big bang, shows the galax-
remote part of Montana to a laboratory. So ies as they were many billions of years ago. In fact, if you're looking for old, look for
John R. Horner of the Montana State Univer- red: it signals that the light source is very distant and very ancient.
sity-Bozeman and his colleagues, who discov- Christopher R. Mullis, an astronomer at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and
ered the specimen in 2003, gave in to the his colleagues have been following the motto "The redder the better." Searching tele- inevitable—and now they're thrilled they did. scopic archives for as-yet-unstudied diffuse X-ray smears (rather than points) populated
Fossils form gradually, as minerals from by ruddy blobs, they came up with a list of candidates, booked some time on the Euro-
soil, rocks, and water replace the chemical pean Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in northern Chile, and presto! they constituents of long-dead bodies. The result discovered the most distant mas-
is a rock-solid copy—except when it isn't, as sive object ever observed. It's a Horner, Mary H. Schweitzer, and two other colossal, fully formed, 2-billion-
paleontologists were startled to find. year-old galaxy cluster lying 9 bil-
Under Schweitzer's supervision, the fos- lion light-years from Earth. Add its
silized femur was given a soaking to remove age to its distance, and you're
the minerals. Astonishingly, the investigators looking at a galaxy cluster that
saw translucent blood vessels waving in the formed 11 billion years ago, less
acid bath. Soft tissue, still flexible, had been than 3 billion years after the big
preserved in the thick bone. And some of the bang. Apparently the young uni- vessels retained cell-like structures, complete verse grew up much more quickly
with what looked very much like cell nuclei. than cosmologists had thought it
Have the investigators come across a new could. P. S. The new cluster has as kind of molecule-swapping process? Might much mass as several thousand some of the original molecules (proteins, Milky Ways. (The A5troph\ysical
even DNA) be intact? Ongoing tests will tell. Journal, arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/
{Science 307:1 952-55, 2005) —S.R. 0503004, 2005) Galaxy clusters matured surprisingly early
—T.J. Kelleher in cosmic history.
24 NATUR.M. HISTORY May 2005 j I wish to receive all brochures from the following states: your Sendfor Georgia (1000) South Carolina (4000) Virginia (6000) FREE North Carolina (3000) Tennessee (5000) West Virginia (7000) OR check as many as you wish below. Travel Brochures 01 Ashland/Hanover Co., VA 15 Historic Hillsborough, NC 26 Olde English District, SC
02 Bedford Tourism, VA 16 Hopewell, VA 27 Old Salem, NC
03 Blue Ridge Parkway 17 Jamestown, Yorktown, 28 Petersburg, VA For faster service go on-line Williamsburg, VA 29 Reynolda House Museum www.leisuresouth.com or Guide, VA/NC
04 Cartersville, GA 18 Linville Caverns, NC of America Art, call 800-548-1672 ext. 4011
05 Charlottesville, VA 19 Maggie Valley & Winston-Salem, NC
06 Crooked Road, VA Waynesville, NC . 30 Richmond, VA
Roanoke Valley, VA 07 Danville, VA 20 Milledgeville, GA , 31
Area, Treasured Coast. SC 08 DeKalb, GA 21 Mosby Heritage VA , 32 SC's
09 Durhain, NC 22 Museum of the 33 Tennessee Overhill. TN Clly_ 10 Excursions Off 1-95 Shenandoah Valley, VA 34 Virginia's Explore Park. VA
Guide, NC/SC/FL 23 NC's Crystal Coast/Carteret . 35 Virginia Travel Guide, VA SUIe/Zip _ NC 11 go2williamsburg.com, VA Co., NC . 36 Winston-Salem,
Greenbrier County, 24 Newport News. VA . 37 Wytheville, VA , 12 WV
25 Northeast Tennessee . 13 Hampton, VA NATS
14 Historic Heartland, GA Tourism Association, TN EXPIRES e/31/05 NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST-CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO. 966 CINNAMINSON NJ POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY THE ADDRESSEE
South PO BOX 413050 NAPLES FL 341 01 -6707
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U£i,lis aear iaAitajke a ^rip uirouah iime wnen aou visit{Hlietne man'y uniaue nisiorical aiiraciions mrouanoui ine (uou/neasi.
From mountains to sea, the from the days of Daniel South is rich in history and Boone and the Wilderness Could You Have culture. It's not surprising, given Trail in Southwest Virginia 1 Survived? that this region is home to remembering the fallen at to the earliest European D-Day - Virginia's attractions settlements in the country, span America's history. In celebration of the 400th anniversary of the first with a heritage that stretches English-speaking settlement back centuries into Native Just to the south, North in the New World, Virginia American and prehistoric past. Carolina serves up culture and launched an interactive history with its own friendly game that challenges players Pick any period of our past flair. Whether visiting light- to survive the Jamestown and Virginia offers a variety of houses along its beautiful coast Settlement of 1607. fascinating historic attractions. or traveling the scenic Blue From Williamsburg, Yorktown Ridge Parkway, you'll find Since only 12 percent of and the birth of our nation to yourself slowing down just a bit. the original settlers survived,
Richmond, Danville and the re- And after all, isn't that part of the game promises to be
enactments of the Civil War - what a getaway is all about? challenging. Test yourself at www.Jamestown1607.org
Special Advertising Section • Leisure Publislning Company • 3424 Brambleton Avenue • Roanol Clockwise From Top: IVIany points of historic interest dot ttie landscape of Soutli Carolina's Lowcountry; Jonesborough, Tennessee, a National Trust for Historic Preservation 2005 Distinctive Destination; Cape Lookout Ligfithouse along North Carolina's Crystal Coast; Yorktown, Virginia brings history to life. Call for a free Travel Guide 1-800-VISIT VA Ihe's waiting for your call, ^hk ^'orvisitVirginia.org"'^ ^"""^' ^.^ Virginia isforLovers Virginia's Charlottesville City Of Museum PETERS MISELIM Petersburg Explore Park & Albemarle :B1-'RG?S i^FTHE of the SlIF.NANr^VH During a leisurely for- County "One of America's Shenandoah est stroll, experience Oldest Cities". \^LEY We offer the best of Valley Discover an array the life of the 1671 the South: to home (vr Opening April 3, Native American, the of historic attractions, two World Heritage 2005, this museum antebellum architec- 1757 frontier fort presidents, Sites, three tells the story of the dweller, and an 1850s ture, VA Ciril War m a dynamic wine historic Shenandoah community in young Trail attractions & industry, and various W Valley. Museum America. Dine at the driving tours, accom- culhiral activities to I complex also includes Historic Brugh modations and shop- tempt visitors all a historic house and Tavern. Blue Ridge ping opportunities. year round. six acres of formal Parkway, Roanoke. gardens. 800-842-9163 877-386-1102 800-368-3595 888-556-5799 www.explorepark.org www.SoVeryVirginia.org www.petcrsburg-vxorg www.shenandoahmuseum.org ^^ YOURNEXT * (Xavffi HOMETDWHEREAMBRICABEGAN Heroic survival at Jamestown *- The call to lEVcdution at V^niamsbuig * CddnatiDn of victory at YoddDwn Experience the birth of our nation, presented by three top living-history museums and two national park sites. $89 per person per night (Based on 2 night stays, double adult occupancy, tax not induded.) AmeiicasHistaticTriangle.com for details 1-800494-8643 SpringHill Residence Fairfield SUITES ' Inn \amori J^arriott HOTELi 1 Heritage & Cultural Travel Guide Advertising Insert For More Info Call -800-548- 1 672 Extension 40 1 1 Ashland/ Newport Roanoke Hanover NewSyVA Valley County Experience the ocean, Surround yourself in the ships, the wars 120 years of incredible American history and the history of railroad history with is our foundation, America minutes The Hotel Roanoke and hospitality is from Williamsburg and Conference our tradition. and a short drive to Center's History In Getaway to Ashland Virginia Beach. Fresh Motion Package. Hanover County, seafood, USS Monitor Includes guestroom, and enjoy our unique rehcs, historic homes breakfast, and tickets shops and restaurants, and plantations, to the Virginia our country roads, our historic districts Virginia wildlife, re-enactments, Museum of Transportation and the and delightful railroad town. nature trails, great golf and shopping. O. Winston Link Museum. 800-897-1479 888-493-7386 800-635-5535 ^^1 www.townJVshland.va.com www.newport-news.org www.visitroanokeva.com City Of Awaiting You Wytheville Hopewell in the Mosby Small town. Big experience! Hopewell is a great Heritage Area Plenty to see and place to stop for Experience Loudoun do in this small town history and more. County's heritage... in the Blue Ridge Visit our Civil War • Aldie Mill mountains, close to the sites, historic homes, • Loudoun Heritage intersection of military museums and Farm Historic Richmond Museum Interstates 81 and 77. downtown antique • Loudoun Museum For Less Accommodations, shops. 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Annual celebration of bluegrass music. $ 540-586-3329 or 877-HIPEAKS 276-395-6318 www.dday.org www.heartofeppalachra.com/spring_events.htm Living History Demonstration The Lost Space Craft: Liberty Bell 7 Recovered August 13, Coastal Discovery Museum, Hilton Head. SC May 27-September 5, Virginia Air and Space Center, Authentic demonstration of a Civil War campsite. Hampton, VA. Hands-on exhibit of early space flight. 843-689-6767 ext. 223 $ 757-727-0900 www.hiltonheadisland.org www.vasc.org Hamp Brown Bottom Festival August 20-2 , Milledgeville, Native American Festival 1 GA June 4-5, Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area.TN Annual African American Festival with food and Celebration of our Native American Heritage with entertainment. 800-653- 1 804 emphasis on Cherokee culture. 423-543-5808 www.milledgevillecvb.com www.tnstateparks.com Fall Show Under the Redcoat September 3-4, Beaufort, SC June 24-26. 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Great Shopping including a Sip a mint julep and textile workersj packet \ '^^m miners, & Dining on Historic sample real southern 1 colorful brochure of j f^'nHHifl railroaders and more along the scenic Main Street - On events, map of (j^;^uiJ-i'finf}i^J )-768-3401 ! 800-733-2280 866-633-5252 ext. 1155 , 1-80C 423-263-723.2 www.notatlanta.org ww\v.atlantasdekalb.org www.historicgeorgia.org www.tennesseeoverhill.coin Pinnacle Living Magazine X/- Off 1-95 Discover the Find your southern mountain dream IB^S^^^^f pl|§IpN§^OPFj-95| w'onderful attractions home. From cozy cabins to premier investment properties, our 84 page guide provides terrific insider's information. Spectacular photography. Award caliber terrific guidebook. I tips from editorial. Plus a detailed chart on over 100 .;;; Insider's the Outer Banks to communities in North Carolina, Virginia, ..i| Tennessee and Georgia. ..'..'i,'~-.< 'Ma Jacksonville. Plus ^ maps & lodging. Enjoy Call for your free copy the drive on 1-95 "ith this guide in vour glovebox! 800-548- 1672 ext. 4044 866-835-0660 www.pinnacleUving.net www.I95getaways.com -.<*%!, UNIVERSE Knock 'Em Dead How does one extinguish life on Earth? Let me count the ways. By Neil deGrasse Tyson Ever since dinosaur bones were features and the visits ofvagabonds from Meet iridium: a metal rare on Earth but discovered, scientists have prof- outer space. Maybe meteor impacts common in metallic meteorites, and fered no end ot explanations for generated some of those features, such conspicuous in a 65-million-year-old the disappearance ofthe hapless critters. as a bowl-shaped depression nearly a layer of clay that occurs at scores of sites Maybe a torrid climate dried up the inile wide in the Arizona desert.- In the around the world. That clay, daring to available sources of water, some say. 1950s at the big bowl, the American about the same time as the dinos checked Maybe volcanoes covered the land in geologist Eugene M. Shoemaker and out, marks the crime scene: the end of lava, poisoned the air, and brought on his associates discovered a kind of rock the Cretaceous. Now meet Chicxulub an ice age. Maybe too many early mam- that forms only under extremely high Crater, a 120-mile-wide depression at mals dined on too many dino eggs, or pressure—the kind of pressure only a the edge of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsu- the meat-eating dinosaurs ate up all the meteor can deliver. Geologists could fi- la. It, too, is about 65 million years old. vegetarian ones. Maybe the need to find nally agree that an impact caused the Case closed? Perhaps not. water led to massive migrations that bowl (now called Meteor Crater). Scientific inquiry shouldn't stop just spread diseases. Maybe the real problem Shoemakers discovery also resurrected because a reasonable explanation has was a reconfiguration of landmasses, the nineteenth-century concept of cat- apparently been found. Some paleon- caused by tectonic shifts. All these crises astrophism—the idea that changes to tologists and geologists remain skepti- have one thing in common: the scien- our planet's skin can be caused by brief, cal about assigning Chicxulub the Hon's tists who came up with them were well powerful, destructive events. share—or even a substantial share—of trained in the art of looking down. Once the gates ofspeculation opened, responsibihty for the dinos' departure. Other scientists, however, trained in people began to wonder whether the Some think Chicxulub may have sig- the art of looking up, began to make dinosaurs might have disappeared at the nificantly predated the extinction. Fur- connections between Earth's surface hands of a similar, but bigger, assault. thermore, Earth was volcanically busy May 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 25 Antarctica at aboLit that time. Plus, other waves of Therein was the genesis of Nemesis, extinction have swept across Earth the name given to this hypothetical without leaving craters and rare cosniic killer star. Subsequent analyses of the metals as calling cards. And not all bad extinction episodes have convinced things that arrive from space leave a most experts that the average time be- crater. Some explode in mid-air and tween catastrophes varies too greatly to never make it to Earth's surface. signify anything truly periodic. But for So, besides impacts, what else might a few years the story was big news. a restless cosmos have in store for us? Periodicity wasn't the only intriguing What else could the universe send our idea about death from outer space. Pan- way that might swiftly unravel the pat- demics were another. The late English terns of life on Earth? astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle and his longtime collaborator Chandra Wick- Several sweeping episodes of inass ramasinghe, now at Cardiff University extinction have punctuated the past in Wales, pondered whether Earth half-biUion years on Earth. The biggest might occasionally pass through an in- are the Ordovician, about 440 million terstellar cloud laden with micro- 1 years ago] the Devonian, about 370 organisms, or be on the receiving end million; the Permian, about 250 mil- ot similarly endowed dust from a pass- 11- to 33-day hon; the Triassic, about 210 million; ing comet. Such an encounter might and, of course, the Cretaceous, about give rise to a fast-spreading illness, they Cruise Expeditions 65 million. Lesser extinction episodes suggested. Worse yet, some of the giant from ^^yyZ^J pp 1 Experience the White Continent in a uniquely personal way with Orient Lines. Offering all the luxuries of much larger In 7 billion years the Milky Way and the Andromeda ships, thano Polo has been the definitive Galaxy may collide, causing a cosmic train wreck. choice for Antarctica for over a decade. No other cruise line of this size takes have taken place as well, at timescales clouds or dust trails might be real kil- you ashore by Zodiac landing craft so of tens of miOiohs of years. lers—bearing viruses with the power to you can walk in the footsteps of the Some investigators pointed out that, infect and destroy a wide range of spe- explorers, discover the wildlife and feel on average, an episode of note takes cies. Problem is, it's not clear how an in- place every 25 million years or so. terstellar cloud could manufacture and the grandeur of Earth's last frontier. People who spend most of their time carry something as complex as a virus. looking up are comfortable with phe- You want more? Astrophysicists have nomena that repeat at long intervals, imagined a nearly endless spectrum of and so astrophysicists decided it was awesome catastrophes. Right now, for our turn to name some killers. instance, the Milky Way Galaxy and the Let's give the Sun a dim and distant Andromeda Galaxy, a near twin ofours companion star, a few up-lookers said 2.4 million Ught-years up the road, are in the 1980s. Let's declare its orbital pe- falling toward each other. In about 7 riod to be about 25 iniUion years and billion years they may coUide, causing its orbit to be extremely elongated, so the cosmic equivalent of a train wreck. Orient LiNES^ that it spends most of its time too far Gas clouds would slam into one an- THE DESTINATION CRUISE SPECIALISTS from Earth to be detected. This com- other; stars would be cast hither and www.orientlines.com panion would discombobulate the Sun's yon. Ifanother star swung close enough distant reservoir of comets whenever it to confound our gravitational alle- for reservations, see your travel agent. passed through their neighborhood. giance to the Sun, our planet could get for brochures, call I-800-333-7300. Legions of comets would jiggle loose flung out of the solar system, leaving us from their stately orbits in the outer so- homeless in the dark. Tare ^hcwn m US. dollars lor CruiicTour only, per person, based on double occopanc}'. lar system, and the rate of impacts on That would be bad. !or r r^ininijm Gregory inside sialeroom. applicable on selecr sailings only. Airlare is add'iional to CruiseTour fare, asuilable from selecr U.S. cirics and deparrure raxes may Earth's surface would vastly increase. Two biUion years before that hap- .^•''}'. .'Ml oll,-rs '.IK based on as'ailabilisy. capadry conrroUed. nor combinable wdi odrer 'o!>;(.-i ro^hinDi- ivjdrour noricc and may be widrdrawn ar any rinre. Govcrnnrenr ' ,, seTiTe 'iiitfas and ices' are addirion.il. Orienr Lines is nor responsible for rypo- M al .ir . error: omissions ^bip's Rej;isrn': Bahamas. ©20D5 NCL Corporarion, Ltd. 26 NATURAL HISTORY May 2005 I ' Celebratms 100 Years*of Eihstei In 1905, Albert Einstein published five scholarly papers that changed' the course of modern physics and established him as the world's leading physicist. Princeton University Press, founded in 1905, published The Meaning of Relativity in 1921 and is today the publisher of The Collected Papers ofAlbert Einstein and many other important books about Einstein. In 2005, we join in celebrating Ccttaled and Edited hy Alice CaUfrice the World Year of Physics. With aforeword by Freeman Dyson With a foreword by Freeman Dyson The New Quotable Einstein Collected and edited by Alice Calaprice This newly expanded edition of the bestselling book includes more than 1 200 quotations, offering new insights into both the man ,- *^.^ieXiM and the myth. Paper $14.95 ISBN 0-691-12075-7 Cloth $39.50 ISBN 0-691-12074-9 Ouotabl With a new introduction by John Stachel With a foreword by Roger Penrose Einstein's ;FiVE PAPERS THAT CHANGED THE FACE OF PHYSICS • ", : -ivjd new intifduclion %• S'MCHEL Miraculous Year i ^ditid with a J(^i^. fmm^mmm^Tm WWW^lBBPppBKIIW Five Papers That Changed the Face of Physics Albert Einstein, Edited by John Stachel The Human Side The Collected Collected in this volume are the five papers New Glimpses From that changed physics forever. Papers of His Archives Mbert E/nste/n "I find myself thrilled by these papers.... Albert Einstein enormously gifted Edited by Banesh Hoffman in them one can see an Diana Kormos Buchwald, and Helen Dukas human being grappling with the nature of the General Editor world." Alan Lightman, Atlantic Monthly Paper $18.95 ISBN 0-691-02368-9 — Selected from among more ISBN 0-691-12228-8 Due May Paper $16.95 than 40,000 documents Einstein and Religion contained in the personal Pliysics and Theology collection of Albert Einstein New paperback edition Max Jammer and 15,000 Einstein-related With a new introduction by Brian Greene Paper $17.95 ISBN 0-691 -10297-X documents discovered by The Meaning of Relativity the editors, The Collected Albert Einstein, Fifth Edition Papers is an extraordinarily Mileva Marie Albert Einstein ambitious publishing The Love Letters Einstein added new material to every edition venture. The series will Edited by Jurgen Renn of this book until his death in 1955. This edi- contain over 14,000 and Robert Schulmann tion includes his last scientific paper, along documents and will fill physicist twenty-five volumes. Translated by Shawn Smith with a new introduction by noted Brian Greene. Paper $13.95 ISBN 0-691-08886-1 and author Visit our website for Paper $14.95 ISBN 0-691-12027-7 information on the volumes Einstein's already in print. German World Fritz Stern Celebrating 100 Tears of Excellence Paper $19,95 ISBN 0-691-07458-5 PRTNCFTON 800-777-4726 Read excerpts online nt'^rplUfliVClStTy J^YCSS www.pup.princeton.edu . — pens, however, the Sun itself will SAvell stroyed too fast—leaving us in desper- up and die of natural causes, engulf- ate need of sunblock. ing the inner planets—including Once the first wave of cosmic rays Earth—and vaporizing all their mate- took out our defensive ozone, the Sun's rial contents. ultraviolet would sail clear down to Go ahead... That would be worse. Earth's surface, splitting oxygen and ni- And if an interloping black hole trogen molecules as it went. For the choose your Belize comes too close to us, it will dine on birds, mammals, and other residents of the entire planet, first crumbling the Earth's surface and airspace, that would adventure. sohd Earth into a rubble pile by virtue be bad news indeed. Free oxygen of its unstoppable tidal forces. The re- atoms and free nitrogen atoms would mains would then be extruded though readily combine. One product would the fabric of space-time, descending as be nitrogen dioxide, a component of a long string of atoms through the smog—which would darken the at- black hole's event horizon, down to its mosphere and cause the temperature singularity. to plummet. A new ice age might But Earth's geologic record never dawn even as the ultraviolet rays slow- mentions any early close encounters ly steriUzed Earth's surface. with a black hole—no crumbling, no eating. And given the number of But the ultraviolet blasted in every neighborhood black holes and their direction by a supernova is just a rate of formation, I'd say w^e have more mosquito bite compared to the gam- pressing issues of survival before us. ma rays let loose from a hypernova. At least once a day, a brief burst of about getting fried by waves gamma rays—the highest ofhigh-ener- Belize... a great place How of high-energy electromagnetic gy radiation—unleashes the energy of to observe wildlife. radiation and particles, spewed across a thousand supernovas somewhere in Explore thousands space by an exploding star? the cosmos. Gamma-ray bursts were ac- of miles of rivers, marshes and lagoons. Most stars die a peaceful death, gen- cidentally discovered in the 1960s by Visit Maya villages tly shedding their outer gases into in- U.S. Air Force satellites, launched to and ancient temple terstellar space. But one in a thousand detect radiation from any clandestine sites. Seek out the the star whose mass is greater than about nuclear-weapons tests the Soviet Union elusive Jaguar, if you seven or eight times that of the Sun might have conducted in violation of can. Snorkel on the dies in a violent, dazzling explosion the 1 963 Liirdted Test Ban Treaty. What longest barrier reef called a supernova. If we found our- the satellites found instead were signals in the Western selves within thirty Hght-years ofone of from the universe itself. Hemisphere. All in those, a lethal dose of cosmic rays At first nobody knew what the bursts a relaxing, peaceful high-energy particles that shoot across were or how far away they took place. country where the space at almost the speed of light Instead of clustering along the plane of Your people are as warm would come our way. the Milky Way's main disk of stars and Caribbean and friendly as the The first casualties would be ozone gas, they came from every direction on Gateway climate. Experience molecules. Stratospheric ozone (O3) the sky in other words, from the en- to Central the diversity of Belize, — America, your English-speaking normally absorbs damaging ultraviolet tire cosmos. Yet surely they had to be nearby, at least within a ', radiation firom the Sun. In so doing, the happening , neighbor on the xCaribbean coast of radiation breaks the ozone molecule galactic diameter or so from us. Oth- Central America, apart into oxygen (O) and molecular erwise, how was it possible to account ,, all registered , , .,, only 2 hours oxygen (O,). The newly freed oxygen for the energy they here ^iMtii^' ~'i!^ from the U.S. atoms can then join forces with other on Earth? "-'":': fc-:';. -. oxygen molecules, yielding ozone In 1997 an observation made by an j^J:1 '800-624-6^6 or visit our once again. On a normal day, solar ul- orbiting Italian X-ray telescope settled jsite; www.travelbelize.org traviolet rays destroy Earth's ozone at the argument; gamma-ray bursts are the same rate as the ozone gets replen- extremely distant extragalactic events, ished. But if there were an over- perhaps signaling the explosion ofa sin- whelming high-energy assault on our gle supermassive star and the attendant stratosphere, the ozone would be de- (Continued on page 70) 28 NATURAL HISTORY May 2005 The fastest wa^TiO learn a language. Guaranteedr approach that has millions of people talking. Using the Finally, a different | Immersion'" method, our interactive software teaches award-winning Dynamic ^| without translation, memorization or grammar drills. Combining thousands ;;;_ of real-life images and the voices of native speakers in a step-by-step immersion process, our programs successfully replicate the experience of learning yow first language. 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This Troodon was an adult whose bones were still partly articulated, or Bringing Up Baby joined together, a prize compared to the scattered and jumbled remains we were used to finding. The evidence mounts that But an even bigger prize was in store. As soon as the rains subsided, we began some dinosaurs were attentive parents. digging. Beneath the right leg ofthe an- imal lay a clutch of at least eight By David J. Varricchio eggs. Was this juxtaposition purely ac- cidental, a result of the vagaries of fos- sil deposition? Or was it significant? The eggs were of a type ascribed, in the lit- erature of the time, not to Troodon, but to a somewhat smaller, herbivorous di- nosaur, Orodromeus. That identification had been based on the only clutch of such eggs ever found with embryonic remains. (Fossilized embryos are rarely discovered, because their bones only begin to ossify late in development.) Was our Troodon caught in the act of raiding an Orodromeus nest? Or could the earlier clutch have been misidenti- fied—in which case our find would re- flect a parent looking after its own eggs? We could only wonder. Meanwhile, more than 8,000 miles away in Mongolia, another egg surprise was cooking. Back in the 1920s, ex- plorers from the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, had discovered clutches of fossil eggs in the Gobi Desert. The explorers had attrib- uted them to the herbivorous dinosaur Troodon, a six-foot-long carnivorous dinosaur, broods its clutcli of eggs. The artist's reconstruction is based on excavations of fossils in Montana, dating Protoceratops, the most common species from about 75 million years ago. The eggs in the nest are half buried, a pat- in the fossil beds. Their prospecting lat- tern intermediate to that of Troodon 's closest living relatives: crocodilians er turned up a carnivorous theropod di- bury their eggs completely, whereas nearly all birds leave them exposed. nosaur on top of a clutch of the same eggs, and—drawing what seemed to be Montana, the summer of 1993 nally, kept from digging, we prospect- the obvious conclusion—they had Inbarely existed. It snowed in June ed for new fossils. named it Oviraptor, "egg stealer." Now, and August, and in between there As I picked my way along a relative- in 1993, on a new American Museum was plenty ofcold rain. On ground nor- ly firm sandstone ledge, surveying the expedition, paleontologist Mark A. mally baked hard and dry by the sum- slippery mudstone, a wet, shiny fossil Norell was discovering that both of the mer sun, I had my first and only bad- grabbed my attention. From my fossil- previous conclusions were wrong. land encounters with salamanders and hunting experience in the preceding As any aficionado of dinosaurs has turtles. For me and my colleagues from four summers, I knew it belonged to heard by now, what Norell and com- Montana State University-Bozeman, Troodon fonrwsus, a six-foot-long mem- pany found was a fossil embryo pre- the rain also made a mess of our pale- ber of the group of dinosaurs, mainly served in a supposed Protoceratops egg ontological pursuits, turning the mud- carnivorous, known as theropods. The except that the embryo was an Ovirap- stone we were quarrying into its glop- theropods include such charismatic ex- tor The original identification of the py namesake and preventing glue from tinct animals as Tyrannosaums rex, as well eggs was incorrect. Moreover, poor holding fossil firagments together. Fi- as the only surviving dinosaurs—the Oviraptor, maligned as an egg stealer. ATURAL HISTORY May 2005 . was apparently brooding its own nest, der the microscope. The ends of the The Orodromeus identification had as subsequent discoveries by American limb bones had been cartilaginous at indeed been mistaken: our eggs be- Museum and Sino-Canadian expedi- the time of death. Such immature longed to Troodon. In hindsight, sever- tions have confirmed. Clearly these limbs would have been too weak for al factors had contributed to the earH- dinosaurs, at least, cared for their eggs. the young animals to have run about er error. One was the prevalence of The new fmd in the Gobi, and the on their own. Similar growth patterns Orodromeus fossils near the eggs that subsequent rehabilitation of Oi'iraptors occur in the nest-bound young of contained the embryos (a false lead, as image, encouraged me to take a closer some birds. in the case of Protoceratops and Ovirap- look at our own Troodon fossil for clues Horner argued that dinosaurs were tor). Another factor was the earlier of parental care. As I've pursued that not the cold-blooded (in the emotion- paucity of good Troodon material for whodunit, new material that may al as well as thermal sense), uncaring comparison with the embryos. And fi- demonstrate parental care in yet other parents they had previously been as- nally, because the embryos had poorly fossU dinosaurs has come to Hght. Pale- sumed to be. But his break with ortho- developed teeth, they lacked the most ontologists have long attributed the doxy meant that his evidence would be characteristic Troodon feature—teeth evolutionary successes ofmammals to a disputed. At the time, paleontologists with unusually large and distinctive variety of features, but a critically im- were stuck in a reptihan perspective on serrations. portant one has been parental care. Af- dinosaurs. Few had considered that di- Another piece of the Troodon puzzle ter all, the name of the group comes nosaur reproduction might better re- fell into place the following summer. from the mammary glands, the organ flect that of crocodilians and birds, the In western Montana, about seventy virtually synonymous with parental extinct dinosaurs' closest living relatives. irdles south of our 1993 Troodon find, care. But the new dinosaur discoveries Both crocodilians and birds exhibit we came upon a complete clutch of suggest that perhaps it's time we stopped fairly extensive parental care. Croco- twenty-four Troodon eggs. The eggs looking down our mammaUan noses at the creatures that didn't survive the Cre- taceous mass extinction. Thefossil eggs rested upright, half buried in a shallow depression— As early as 1979, John R. ("Jack") Horner, also of Montana State a nest built 15 million years ago. University—Bozeman, proposed the radical idea that some dinosaurs not on- ly attended their eggs but cared for dilians guard their nests, help their rested nearly vertically in the ground, their young as well. In western Mon- young to hatch, and even protect them the upper portions within a soft mud- tana, along the Rocky Mountain Front, during early development. Many fa- stone and the bottoms within soil that Horner's team had uncovered grape- miHar birds, such as the backyard robin, over the ages had hardened into a lime- fruit-size eggs and two groups of feed their young. There is also a wide stone. Our awls and ice picks easily young of a new herbivorous species of range of birds, from chickens to os- stripped away the mudstone but were hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur, triches, whose young are able to feed completely ineffectual against the Hme- which they named Maiasaura. The fos- on their own as soon as they are stone. After we worked around the silized young were contained in bowl- hatched, but which still depend on their eggs, we were left with a shallow bowl shaped sedimentary structures, which parents for protection. of limestone with a raised rim—the re- he interpreted as nests. One of the mains of a Troodon nest buUt some 75 groups was intermixed with the fossils the early 1990s, Horner's ideas iTuUion years ago. The structure sug- ofbroken eggshells. Judging by the size Byhad gained a more receptive gests an open nest with the upper parts of the animals—only eighteen inches audience. When the news broke about of the eggs exposed, and brooding by long—compared with the eggs, these OWraptor and its misidentified eggs, our an attending adult [see illustration on op- Maiasaura offspring had been either suspicions about our own fossU grew. posite page] embryos close to hatching or newly Step one was to reevaluate the identiti- hatched young. The young in the sec- cation of the eggs. Fortunately, during couple of complete clutches and a ond group were substantially older in- the previous summers we had amassed A dozen partial ones are now known dividuals, each about three feet long. the largest known sample of Troodon re- for Troodon. The half-buried eggs, and Horner concluded that these Maia- mains anywhere, fi-om a rich bone bed those of Oi'iraptor as well (also now saura young had remained nest-bound discovered by Horner [see "Tlie Birth- known to be half buried), are good ev- egg-laying and dependent on adults for food. His day Site," by David J. Varricchio, April idence that the behavior of argument was supported by what he 1997]. Armed with this new material, these dinosaurs was innovative. To this found when he looked at the fossils un- we examined the original embryos. day, many reptiles bury their eggs. May 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 31 The bones of their embryos, in contrast to those of Horner's Maiasaura hatchlings, appear well ossified, indicating that the theropod young came into the world ready to forage for themselves. Anew case for parental care of young dinosaurs, in- cluding their feeding, conies from the paleontologist Rob- ert T. Bakker, who is legend- ary for his provocative ideas. Bakker recently examined some sites in Wyoming that in- clude isolated bones of large herbivorous dinosaurs, as well as the shed teeth of both small and large individuals ofthe car- nivorous theropod Allosaurus. His conclusion: The sites were Artist's reconstruct/on, above, of a nighttime family gathering the lairs of Allosaurus, places to of Psittacosaurus, based on which adults brought food to what appears to be a fossil feed their offspring. I find his nest, left. Discovered in arguments intriguing but not Liaoning Province, northeastern convincing. First, these "lairs" China, the yard-wide nest con- occur in what would have been tains the remains of an adult (its bact< half largely lost to erosion) exposed floodplains. Second, and thirty-four juveniles. Bakker maintains that the bones Apparently the group was killed and teeth were in place before rapidly and buried in place. The they were covered with the unusually well-preserved fossils sediments that now entomb show that this herbivorous di- them. A more standard expla- nosaur protected its young after hatching, as do crocodil- nation, though, seems suffi- ians and birds. cient: water simply carried and deposited the fossils and sedi- ments together. A much more convincing find, from Liaoning Province in northeastern China, presses whereas nearly all birds leave them ex- occur in pairs, as do eggs in some oth- the point of parental care much more posed. The theropods seem to have been er theropod clutches, suggesting the fe- effectively. In 2003 I had the good for- pointing the way toward the present-day male laid two eggs at each sitting. Mod- tune to be asked by Timothy Huang behavior ofbirds. Troodoii\ eggs also had ern birds also lay intermittently, but be- of Paleoworld-Taiwan and Liujinyuan a large end and a small end, as do the cause they only have one functional and Gao Chunling of the Dalian Nat- eggs of modern birds. Research I un- ovary and oviduct, they lay just one egg ural History Museum, in DaUan, Chi- dertook with Frankie D. Jackson of at a time. In contrast, modern turtles na, to take part in describing an ex- Montana State University—Bozeman, and crocodihans lay all their eggs in one ceptional specimen. who specializes in the study of eggs and bout. The paired eggs suggest that these The specimen includes the partial re- nest sites, shows that these extinct thero- dinosaurs retained two functioning mains ofa single adult Psittacosaums sur- pod egg shells were nearly indistin- ovaries and oviducts, each producing a rounded by thirty-four young, each guishable at the inicroscopic level from single egg at a time. about nine inches long and most of those of modern birds. Yet there is no hard evidence that the them complete, their skeletons articu- Curiously, the eggs in the clutches theropods cared for their hatchlings. (Continued on page 61) :-, AT U R ,\ L H 1 S T O RY May 2005 1 a Inner strength The miracle is on the inside... Our bed utilizes natural principles of physics. Nothing mechan- ical or electrical. No motors, switches, valves, air pumps, or water heaters. It can't break, leak, short-circuit, or stop working. It needs no rotating, turning, flipping. 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Knowledge about the mostfearsome dinosaurs .> relatives is measuring up j and their finally to the animals' fame. : By Mark A. Norell and Xu Xing hundred years ago, Henry fourth-floor fossil halls can still see Fail-field Osborn, a verte- what Brown means. The T rex skele- A brate paleontologist and cu- ton reconstructed from Osborn's leM^ rator at the American Museum of Browns efiForts has become a N^ Natural History, reintroduced the _york City icon—-an image perni^ world to one of iaently etched in * the most spectac- lindofmany ular animals ever ing visitor to to have trod Eart|| illeries off"^ Tymnnosaums rem um. The specime| the hundi Osborn describe4"1:!: s since t , ^ had been collect- iwery T ; ed by the legend- become t ary fossil collector •' t famous ii Barnum Brown in lur of th the badlands of '' its name eastern Montana 'tl borrowi in 1902. During Foss/;Fossil of Dilong foundfoi in tlie Yixian name ro ' 7^*'°"mation P'^'^'"^'preserves traces:es of thetine animal'san/ma/'s his career, Brown ^^^^^^ ^^^ with part '> , feathery coat, seenseer here;re along , , collected several produc.o ^fof ^^^two ^^^tehraevertebrae fromft ,thean;ma/'sta,7.the animal's tail. P''^^ such as motorcy- other tyranno- Ther/ie feathers were aboutout an inch long. su- saurs—that is, T cles and a new KX and its closest relatives. In the Oc- perhighway in Denver, and its body tober 1915 issue of the American Mu- has inspii-ed both GodziEa and Bar- seum Journal (as Natural History was ney—making it, in two senses, per- once known) Brown called T.rex "the haps, the most terrifying msf*^^''^^ very embodiment ofdynamic animal lain in contemporary cu^ force." Visitors to the museum's frenzy of collection hr'~" Dilong paradoxus, a feathered tyrannosaur, is shown in an artist's reconstruction. Although no one knows what patterns existed on the dinosaur's feathered coat, the artist has depicted th'eni as speckled, based on patterning found in many living birds. The plants shown in the background, Tyrmia acrodonta Cwith large leaves) and Equisetites longevaginatus (with reedy stalks), are common/jj fpiind near Dilong fossils. May 2005 natural history 35 — which it ultimately comes—but it is becoming ever more complete. TyrannosaurUke dinosaurs begin appearing in the fossil record about 145 million years ago, near the boundary between the Jurassic and Cretaceous. The group lasted nearly 80 million years, finally dis- appearing 64.5 million years ago. At least six weU- estabHshed tyrannosaur species are known, as well as several other species thought to be either closely re- lated to the main group or part of the group itself The earliest bona fide tyrannosaur is Dilong para- doxus. It was discovered last year in Liaoning Province in northeastern China, in rocks about 128 million years old. Dilong had features common to many more primitive theropods—the group of dinosaurs most closely related to birds [see "Bird's-eye Viau," by Matthew T. Carrano and Patrick M. O'Connor, page 42]—such as a hand with three fingers (most tyrannosaurs' hands hadjust two fingers) and a relatively small body (it was just five feet long). But Dilong also had skeletal fea- tures, skuU openings, and teeth that were characteris- Juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex bears a coat of feathers predicted tic oftyrannosaurs. In particular, the teeth at the front to be characteristic of the species at a young age. Iftyran- of its snout had D-shaped cross sections. nosaurs were endothermic, or "warm-blooded," feathers Larger tyrannosaurs, as long as twenty feet, ap- could have been important as insulation for smaller animals, including the immature T. rex. As T. rex grew/, however, its peared just a few million years later: Alectrosaurus size alone would have kept it warm, without an insulating roamed what is now China and Mongolia. Eotyran- coat. The dinosaur would have shed its feathers. nus (which was probably, though not certainly, a tyrannosaur) hunted on what is now the Isle of nied Tyrannosaunts's recent cultural ascendancy. More Wight in the EngUsh Channel. specimens of the animals have been discovered in the Throughout the Late Cretaceous, tyrannosaurs past decade than were found in the preceding nine. diversified into several species, all with large heads, Together those finds comprise a sample so good that powerful bodies, and two-fmgered hands. Tyranno- paleontologists are testing hypotheses about tyran- saurs Uved throughout the Northern Hemisphere, nosaur biology with real data, rather than relying on but they are best known from Asia and North Amer- mere conjecture. ica. Two species, Tyrannosaurus, in North America, As a consequence, dinosaur paleontology has and Tarbosaums, in Asia, were so closely related that changed dramatically since the days of Osborn and they constitute strong evidence for a Beringian land Brown, particularly in the past twenty years. Com- bridge joining the two continents in Late Cretaceous pare a book on dinosaurs published before 1 990 with times. North America, though, was home to the a modern textbook on an existing group, say, mam- greatest tyrannosaur diversity; here Albertosaurus, mals or reptiles. The textbook would include chap- Daspletosaurus, Dryptosaurus, Gorgosaunis, and Tyran- ters on the systematics (evolutionary relationships) nosaurus—as well as the recently discovered Appala- and classification of the various groups of animals, chiosaurus—hved at the top of the food chain in Late their Ufe histories, soft-part anatomy, sociobiology, Cretaceous communities. biomechanics, diet, geographic distribution, and feeding. The older dinosaur book would largely end For much of the twentieth century tyrannosaurs after chapter one—systematics and classification. were portrayed as lizardlike or crocodilelike, But times have changed. Ignorance about so much sometimes with hides covered in tubercles and scaly of a tyrannosaur's life has given way to ever-im- outgrowths like the ones on a large iguana. But new proving ideas of how tyrannosaurs grew, how they fossil discoveries suggest a more birdlike appearance. moved and behaved, and what they looked like Tyrannosaurs shared a number of characteristics the discovery that some even had feathers is partic- with birds, including hollow bones, feet with three ularly surprising. The book of the tyrannosaurs is primary toes that all pointed forward, and a wish- not yet etched in stone—unlike the fossils from bone. And in late 2004, when the first specimens of mf . Dihng were described, they corroborated a hy- branched and about an inch long, are similar to the pothesis that at least some tyrannosaurs had what coverings of Sinosauropteryx, the first feathered di- might be the most superficially obvious bird trait of nosaur that was not a bird to be discovered. them all; feathers. The discovery of the first feathered dinosaurs in Investigators from the Institute of Vertebrate Pa- the late 1990s caused quite a stir. By now paleon- leontology and Paleoanthropology, in Beijing, were tologists have firmly established that many thero- digging in the Yixian (pronounced E-she-an) For- pod dinosaurs had feathers. They range from sim- mation in northeastern China's Liaoning Province. ple structures, such as the ones on Sinosauropteryx The rocks of the Yixian, which have yielded many and DUong, to feathers just like those of a modern of the exquisite feathered dinosaurs described in the bird, which occur on Caudipteryx and several past decade, were formed between 135 million and other species. 128 million years ago. The younger of those sedi- Feathers likely evolved in multiple stages, begin- ments, laid down at the bottoms ofponds and lakes, ning as hollow, hairlike structures that may have are called paper shales because their layers are paper- served as insulation. Indeed, feathers insulate birds thin. Thanks to the oxygen-poor conditions of the to this day, and a covering of feathers may have been lake bottoms, and to the fine grain of the original a factor in the origin of endothernay (warm-blood- sediments, the paper shales often preserve soft tissues edness) in dinosaurs—especially the ones closely re- of plants and animals. lated to birds. Subsequently those primitive feath- Soft parts are uncommon finds in the fossil record. Among the tissues preserved in the paper shales are delicate feathers, Surrounding the tyrannosaur were flower parts, hair, insect wings, and scales. the unmistakable traces offeathers. The fossils are smashed flat, however, and the anatomical intricacies of the skeleton are often distorted or even destroyed. ers specialized and diversified into a range of types. Fortunately, the Yixian Formation has given up Some dinosaurs are -known to have had long tail other treasures. The lower, older rocks are made up plumes and large feathers on the backs of their ofcoarsely grained sediments that contain a high per- hands:—not for flight, but perhaps for display of centage of volcanic ash. Those coarse sediments do some kind. Eventually, though, evolution co-opted not preserve soft tissues, but they do preserve spec- the feathers for flight. imens in three dimensions, and some of the speci- Although it was a little surprising to discover that mens appear to have been buried alive by the ash. Dilong had feathers, it was far less surprising that the The ashen deposits have yielded spectacular speci- feathers were of the primitive type. After all, the mens, including groups of baby Psittacosaums [see theropod dinosaurs that have feathers similar to Varricchio, closely relat- "Bringing Up Baby," by DavidJ. page 30]; a those of modern birds are much more mammal called Repenomamus, whose last meal, a ed to birds than tyrannosaurs are. young Psittacosaums, fossilized inside it; and an array In spite of the downy feathers cloaking the earli- ofother mammals and theropods, including the most est tyrannosaurs, probably not all tyrannosaurs would complete specimen of Dilong found to date. have been giant fuzz balls from hell. The larger an Much of that specimen's skeleton was preserved, endothermic animal, the more heat it generates rel- making it ideal for comparison with other fossils. ative to the surface area of its body. Thus, mammals One of us (Xu) noted a similarity between the new such as elephants and rhinoceroses have just a sparse specimen and an extremely fragmentary animal col- coat of hair, because they need to radiate excess heat lected years earlier from the Yixian's younger paper efficiently. A full-grown T rex would have weighed shales. Although that specimen was only a few bones about the same as a large African elephant, and so it spread on several broken slabs of rock, enough was is unlikely that the dinosaur would have benefited present to confirm a hunch that it too was a Dilong. from extensive insulation. If T re-x was endothennic, though, a recently hatched T rex, weighing only a What made that realization exciting was what few pounds, would be predicted to have been cov- surrounded some of the skuU bones and seg- ered in insulating feathers, which were then shed as ments of the tail on the fragmentary specimen: the the animal grew [see illustration on opposite page] unmistakable traces of a body covering [see photo- graph on page 35]. The covering looks like a thin As the tyrannosaurs' physical appearance has be- film of dark streaks, all running at oblique angles to come clearer, so have the growth patterns and the skeletal elements. The structures, which are life histories of the animals. Dilong, the smallest form, was also the most primitive. Alectrosaunis, an- included one of us (NoreU), deterinined that ad- other early tyrannosaur, was bigger but stiU not gi- vanced tyrannosaurs all reached maturity in about gantic. Albertosaiinis, Daspletosaiinis, and Tarbosaunis, twenty years. The oldest of the seven 77 rex speci- which appeared in the fossil record at the end of the mens the team surveyed was twenty-eight when it Cretaceous, all weighed in excess of 3,000 pounds died and weighed about 13,000 pounds. The small- and measured more than twenty-five feet long. T. est specimen was a two-year-old that weighed about rex, at more than 12,000 pounds, forty feet long, sixty-five pounds. In the intervening years, T. rex and fifteen feet high, was, of course, the biggest of must have grown at a fantastic rate. During the five- them all. year phase of its m.ost rapid growth, a T rex would What kind of growth pattern led to T. rex's mas- have gained at least five pounds every day. sive size? One possibility is that it grew at the same rate as its smaller ancestors, but just kept growing for To reach even the half-ton sizes of the smaller a longer time. Or perhaps it grew for the same length tyrannosaurs, an animal would have to consume of time as its rela- a great deal of food. Little is known, though, ofhow tives, but faster. A or what tyrannosaurs ate. Everything from scaveng- third possibility is ing to aggressive predation has been proposed. Yet that it began life in some clues to their diet do exist. A few bones of a large egg—after plant-eating dinosaurs such as Edmontosaurus and all, an ostrich egg is Triceratops have bite marks that seem to correspond twenty-four times to the serration pattern of tyrannosaur teeth. It can- larger than a chick- not be determined, however, whether those animals en egg. There are were aHve or dead at the time of the bite. physical limits to Other evidence comes from a coprolite—fos- the size of eggs, silized dung—from southern Saskatchewan that however, which seems to have come out of a tyrannosaur. An analy- make it highly un- sis of the dung by Karen Chin, now at the Univer- likely that T rex\ sity of Colorado Museum in Boulder, and her col- eggs were much leagues initially found small digested bones, con- larger than those of firming little more than what all schoolchildren Albertosmims. already know: T. rex ate meat. More careful analysis Fortunately, fos- indicated that the bones came from juvenile herbiv- sils record dinosaur orous dinosaurs. Certainly juvenile animals are a Fibula of the tyrannosaur Gorgosaurus shows growth. Many ver- common prey of large carnivores today, and it is no how the animal grew during its five-year life. tebrates, including surprise that similar patterns should have played out line in the bone, like a tree ring, records Each dinosaurs, leave an- in the past. the annual growth. The fibula is unusual in that it nual rings in their Skeletons reveal more than just how fast tyran- never hollows, as do most bones in a tyran- bones as they grow. nosaurs grew, however, or even what they ate. Many nosaur. The bone enables paleontologists to study the entire growth history of an animal. By examining the tyrannosaur skeletons display bones that have bro- cross sections of ken and healed; that is certainly the case with sev- bones microscopically, paleontologists can determine eral ribs of the specimen at the American Museum. how much the bones grew each year, as well as the "Sue," a T. rex at the Field Museuna in Chicago, age of an animal at death. But applying the technique shows similar rib injuries, and it has leg injuries as is compUcated somewhat by the fact that most of the well. Many T. rex specimens, as weU as other tyran- weight-bearing bones in tyrannosaurs are hoUow. nosaurs such as Albertosaiinis, also have pathologies The hollow cavities were formed as the animal ma- of the skull and vertebral column. tured and grew to adulthood, erasing the early Perhaps the most illuminating injuries occur on growth rings. Soine bones, however, remained sol- the teeth and snout. Many tyrannosaurs have mul- id for life. One is the fibula, a small bone on the out- tiple bite marks on the muzzle and nicks on the sides side of the leg. That bone grows through accretion, of the teeth. Such wounds might have come from and is not extensively remodeled as the animal ma- nuzzling or other face-to-face contact, perhaps in tures. The adult fibula even contains the embryon- battles for territory or mates. It is impossible to say ic fibula—so the bone captures the entire Ufe histo- whether some of the scars and broken bones result- ry of the animal. ed from hunting or from roughness associated with Gregory M. Erickson of Florida State Universi- mating. But there is no doubt that the injuries were ty m Tallahassee and a group of colleagues, which painful, and that the animals lived a hard-knock — culate big the muscles of the hind limb must life—and that the pain could have made a six-ton, how forty-foot T. rex extremely cranky. have been for the animal to move at various speeds. His simulations clearly showed that T. rex adults Popular images often portray tyrannosaurs as could never have run much faster than twenty-five sohtary animals, or speedy, or both. Arguably miles an hour. Going faster would have tied up such the best evidence for such behavior is trackways, a high percentage of the total body mass in the hind- which are essentially snap- shots of individual events. Trackways have indicated herding in sauropods, pre- served the moment of a kill, and even suggested that some theropod dino- saurs hunted m packs. Un- fortunately, only a couple of tyrannosaur trackways have been recovered, and some are not particularly informative. Other evidence, though, suggests tyrannosaurs were gregarious. For example, some tyrannosaur excava- tions have yielded multiple individuals. One of those is a quarry that Barnum Brown excavated in the Red Deer River area of what is now Dinosaur Alberta, Provincial Park in Skulls of mature Dilong (left) and T. rex (above), pictured at the same scale, show obvious Canada. The quarry was similarities, and one salient difference: size. Analysis of tyrannosaur growth patterns revealed that the group's various species, all quite similar in size in youth, each undergo a growth re-excavated by Philip J. widely. The result was an enormous range in size. Currie of the Royal TyrreU spurt during which growth rates vary Museum of Paleontology in DrumheDer, Alberta. Curries analysis of collec- limb muscles that the rest of the animal would have tions both old and new showed that several Alber- been emaciated. tosaunis individuals of various ages and sizes were In fact, the fastest runners were probably juvenile preserved together. Because no other dinosaur spe- T. rex's and other smaller tyrannosaurs. That suggests cies were preserved with those animals, Currie sur- the various tyrannosaur species would have exploit- mised that they died at the same time, perhaps while ed different prey in areas where they lived together crossing a dangerous river. Although the find is not just as cheetahs, leopards, and lions do in Africa to- definitive evidence for pack behavior, it and other day. The speed analysis also suggests that T. rex and similar depositions of multiple tyrannosaurs are at other big species would have gone from speedy youth least highly suggestive that such behavior took place. to lumbering adulthood. As for the speed of tyrannosaurs, some fantastic claims have suggested the huge animals could reach The book of the tyrannosaurs is stiU, slowly, be- sprinterlike speeds. But those claims fail to take ac- ing written. The tyrannosaurs of2005 are quite count of some basic issues in the physics of move- different from the ones familiar to Osborn and ment of large animals. John R. Hutchinson, now at Brown. No longerjust large, imperious hzards, they the University of London's Royal Veterinary Col- represent an evolutionary explosion of diversity lege, and his colleagues digitally modeled the hind some feathered, some not, some faster than others, Umb and hips of a T rex [see "A Weighty Matter," by but all capable of wreaking havoc—culminating in Adam Summers, June 2002]. By varying the control- some of the most magnificent animals ever to walk lable factors in the model such as posture and the to- the Earth. Both ofus look foi-ward eagerly to adding tal weight of the animal, Hutchinson was able to cal- more to every chapter. D May 2005 NATUR.AL HISTORY .21 >^ < < I X cc U Q. 3 < Ul < Si U (O May 2005 natural history 41 ew ^SMsK trick M. The array ofthe dinosaurs that flourished dur- Mesozoic through global calamity to the present day. ing the Mesozoic era was as dazzUng as any Modern paleontologists, in large part by the Ught bestiary ever imagined; not even medieval of that torch, are elucidating the paleobiological fantasies ofgrifFms and unicorns could compete with characteristics of those long-dead, long-buried. the fabulous record of fossils in rock. Yet with a sin- long-obscured animals. gle exception, the entire dinosaur Hneage was oblit- erated 65 inillion years ago. The sole dinosaurian To understand what one can learn about dino- representatives to survive the cataclysm were the saurs from the study ofbirds, it is usefril to sketch birds, a group that has since radiated into virtually how the two groups are related. A discipline of biol- every environment on the planet. ogy known as cladistics, or phylogenetic systematics, The suggestion of an evolutionary Hnk between investigates the evolutionary relationships among or- dinosaurs and birds originated with several late- ganisms by charting their anatomical similarities. nineteenth-century biologists, most notably Dar- Cladistic hypotheses about such interrelations often win's friend Thomas Henry Huxley. At first wel- take the form of a branching diagram called a clado- comed, the hypothesis was later disregarded by most gram. Each junction on the cladogram indicates an biologists and treated with skepticism through much evolutionary event that spUt one lineage into two. ofthe twentieth century. But in the past three decades, Each of the two descendant Uneages shares one or the hypothesis has roared back to Ufe, with almost more features inherited from the ancestor at the most overwhelming support. The latest evidence for the recent junction, and those shared features define dif- Hnk has come from the spectacular recent discover- ferent groups. To exainine the relations within and ies of a number of feathered dinosaurs in China. between groups of organisms is also to chronicle the To many a casual eye, the case is made by the pres- sequence by which those groups' features evolved. ence of feathers on the fossils. But feathers only According to the leading cladistic hypotheses, birds highlight one ofthe most visible similarities between are descended from within the group of theropod the two groups. Biologists classify birds among the dinosaurs. Theropods are quite familiar to most dinosaurs not only because both groups have (or people, if not necessarily by that name: members had) feathers, but also because they share a suite of include giant Tyraiiiiosaunis, sickle-clawed Velocirap- other, characteristic anatomical traits. One of those tor, and bircUike Oniithoiniiints. Theropods such as important traits is the "pneumaticity" of the skele- Herremsaums, from the Middle Triassic are among the ton: certain dinosaurs possessed bones ridcOed with earliest known dinosaurs. [For a summaiy chart ofgeo- air pockets, which during life were linked with the logic periods, see "Up Front," page 6.] pulmonary, or breathing, system of the animal. Theropods, Hke birds, were bipedal animals. AH of Much the same is the case with many birds today. them share several key features: thin-walled bones, a The classification ofbirds as dinosaurs also implies foot with three main toes, and a joint in the lower that many other so-called avian features are better jaw. Early theropods spht into two groups, the her- thought of as dinosaurian. And similar anatomies rerasaur-Hke primitive theropods, and a group called could imply that the bodies of birds and dinosaurs the neotheropods, which included most of the fa- functioned similarly. Moreover, one may also learn mihar predatory dinosaurs [see the branch of the ilhis- a great deal about dinosaur biology by contrasting tration on pages 40 and 41 outlined in bhie]. Early neo- their features with the anatomical and biomechani- theropods, known as the coelophysoids, were cal characteristics ofother, more distantly related ver- common in the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. tebrates. It is the birds, though, that have carried the As the neotheropods emerged as a separate group, torch of dinosaurian biological heritage from the they shared an important "birdlike" trait—the fur- NATURAL HISTORY May 2005 Because modern dinosaurs are flying all around us, examining them closely can offer new insights into the lives of their fossilized ancestors. Theropod dinosaurs, represented here by an artist's reconstruction of Ornithomimus (left), are thought to comprise the group from which modern-day birds, including the ostrich (right), de- scended. Because common descent implies shared anatomical characteristics, comparisons of theropod and bird anatomies can provide new insights into dinosaur biology. Two particularly fruitful comparisons—of the muscles and bones of the legs, and of the animals' "pneumatized" bones—have revealed much about theropod locomotion and the theropod pulmonary system. May 2005 NATURAL HISTORY — maniraptorans (to which Velociraptor and many other dinosaur species belonged) show the greatest affinities with birds. Some early forms, including primitive tyran- nosaurs, had a downy covering on the skin, possibly either for insulation or for display [see "Hie Varieties of Tyratmosaurs," by Mark A. Norell and Xii Xing, page 34]. Other spe- cies had distinct feathers covering nearly the caudofemoralis entire body. Maniraptorans also had a spe- cialized shoulder blade and a unique, curved gastrocnemius bone in the wrist, which enabled the hand to move in just one plane. The motion was similar to wing folding in modern birds. Finally, with just a few additional modifi- cations—such as the lengthening ofthe fore- arm and hand—the last living subgroup of the maniraptorans appeared: the true birds. The hypothesized interrelations ex- pressed by a cladogram can guide pale- Ornithomimus, !ike nearly all theropods and birds, walked on its hind legs, but comparing the anatomy of the two groups shows their methods ontologists to specific evolutionary patterns of walking differed. Theropods (left) had large caudofemoralis muscles, that can shed light on other aspects of di- which attached to their long tails and provided power that caused much nosaurian biology. For example, how did of the movement of each step to occur at the hip. Ostriches (right) and dinosaurs move? Living animals, of course, the other birds have reduced tails and correspondingly diminutive caudo- confront the same laws of physics as the femoralis muscles. But birds, for their size, have proportionately larger dinosaurs did. By studying the biomechan- muscles, such as the gastrocnemius, in the lower leg than theropods did; most movement during a bird's step takes place at the knee. ics oflocomotion in Uving animals, then, di- nosaur biologists can focus more precisely cula, often (in birds) called the wishbone. The fur- on what the fossil evidence can convey. cula is fornied by the fused left and right clavicles, Early theropod locomotion was not particularly and in modern birds it acts as a spring between the specialized—theropods were, in general, neither run- powerful flapping wings. Clearly, though, the fur- ners nor plodders, neither climbers nor diggers nor cula did not function in that capacity in the earliest swimmers; more likely, they were jacks of many of neotheropods. Although its original role remains those trades, but masters of none. Their most notable unclear, it may have helped neotheropods control attribute was an inherited one: bipedahsm. The orig- their forelimbs. inal dinosaurs walked on two legs, making the group an oddity in the history ofvertebrates. In spite oftheir the end of the Early Jurassic the theropods split shared bipedalism, various theropod groups did be- Byagain, giving rise to the ceratosaurs (a group that come more specialized in their locomotion, as their includes Cemtosaurus) and tetanurans (a diverse group skeletons attest. Comparing their bones with those that includes AUosatinis, Spmosaums, Tyraimosaunis, of modern animals can help show how differences in Velocimptor, and a number of others). The tetanurans anatomy translate into differences in behavior. are named for their taUs, which were less flexible than Among living groups, the distal—that is, distant those of their forebears. Like the hand of a modern from the body's center—segments of limbs are rela- bird, the tetanuran hand had only three fingers; the tively long (compared with the rest of the body) in tetanurans' wrist was more specialized, and their en- fast runners such as ostriches and cheetahs, and in tire foreUmb more birdlike, than the corresponding long-distance runners such as wildebeest and cari- anatomy of any of the earlier theropods. bou. Animals with relatively short distal bones, such Around the same time the aUosaurs appeared, an- as elephants and hippopotamuses, have more colum- other subgroup of the tetanurans, the coelurosaurs, nar legs and do little running. Between those ex- also branched off. Coelurosaurs included both large tremes is a near-continuum of variation. The pro- species, such as Tyrmuiosaunis rex, and small ones, portions of the distal limb bones in theropods were some not much bigger than a chicken. The generally intermediate between the extremes of coelurosaurs—particularly their subgroup known as cheetah and elephant. s'ATURAL HISTORY May 2005 — — Another mammalian tendency is that large spe- Although great size, as well as a great range of cies typically have relatively short Umbs and small body sizes, are among the most familiar qual- species relatively long ones. The same pattern held ities of dinosaurs, the early theropods were both in theropods. Some large theropods, such as spin- smaU and fairly uniform. Eoraptor, one of the earli- osaurs and aUosaurs, had lionlike limbs—perhaps est theropods, was perhaps three feet long and because they hunted by stealth or covered relative- weighed about twenty-five pounds, more or less the ly little ground in their roamings. Other species dimensions of a medium-size dog. Yet even that an- bucked the trend, though. Tyrannosaurs had a run- imal was much larger than its nearest ancestors. Fur- ner's Hmbs, despite their enormous size—indicating ther change came quickly. By the Late Triassic, the that they were probably adapted to running rela- dominant predators were coelophysoid theropods, tively fast or far. a group ranging from the nine-foot-long Syntarsus to the fifteen-foot-long Gojirasaurus. But the first Another way to examine theropod biomechan- large theropods, animals more than thirty feet long ics is to reconstruct the musculature of the and weighing between two and three tons, appeared Umbs. Muscle-attachment marks on fossihzed thero- during the Late Jurassic. The true giants did not ar- pod bones can be compared to similar marks on the rive until the middle of the Cretaceous period. The dinosaur's nearest Uving relatives: the crocodilians carcharodontosaurs were among the largest terres- whose ancestors were quadrupedal—and the birds. trial predators that ever lived, some reaching as much The hind-limb muscles of birds are well adapted as forty feet long and weighing four tons. The spin- for bipedal motion. The muscle arrangement at the hip and knee max- imizes stabihty, yet gives the leg the abil- ity to make wide swings fore and aft. But bipedaUsm in birds is a highly spe- ciaHzed form of bipedal motion; the large tails of birds' ancestors, which in crocodilians stiU anchor the leg muscles, have mostly vanished in birds. Hence, in birds, the muscles attached to the tail are also small [see illustration on opposite page]. Birds walk in a crouched posture, moving the knee more than the hip Skeletons of theropod dinosaurs and most modern birds are perforated by what biologists sometimes call "Grou- their pulmonary systems, a condition l In later theropods, such as aUosaurs and tyran- ing or exceeding the carcharodontosaurs in size. nosaurs, several new muscle attachments appeared, What is interesting is not so much the absolute which occur in birds but not in crocodilians or ear- size of those giant predators but that at least three Uer theropods. Yet despite the rearrangement of the Uneages of theropods independently evolved to al- attachments of some leg muscles, most theropods most exactly the same size. Something, it would StiU retained substantial attachments of the leg mus- seem, made such a size advantageous. Or perhaps cles to the taU. The Mesozoic world was probably something structural or ecological made any larger not full of Groucho-running theropods. Rather, the size a real disadvantage. leg muscles attached to the tail would have caused Body size affects nearly every aspect of organis- the upper part of the Umb to move at the hip. mal biology. The basic physics of size dictates an May 2005 NATURAL HISTORY animal's structure and function in a number of pre- lungs, they do not take part directly in gas exchange. dictable ways. For example, when an animal dou- Furthermore, in some parts ofthe bird lung, air flows bles its linear dimensions, its volume increases almost continually in just one direction. Those spe- eightfold. Hence processes that depend on volume, cializations enable birds to exchange gases efficient- such as maintaining body temperature, are highly ly enough to sustain high metabolic rates and regu- sensitive to changes in body size. Other physiologi- late their temperatures internally. cal processes that depend on surface areas—gas ex- Although avian lungs and air sacs are made of soft change across a membrane, for instance—are inter- tissues, they have important connections with the mediately affected by changes in body size. One skeleton. Extensions from the air sacs physically in- consequence of those geometric relationships is vade the skeleton, a process known as pneumatiza- that the larger the animal, the harder it becomes to tion. The result can be dramatic. Imagine walking adjust its body temperature. Body temperature is down the windpipe ofa bird, into its lungs, and then regulated through the body's surface area, but heat on into the skeleton, including the backbone and is stored in the body's volume. limbs—within the pulmonary system. That's some To some degree, most living reptiles rely on the fantastic voyage! external environment for controlling body temper- No other living animals have pneumatic bones Hke those of birds, but substantial evidence suggests that theropods, along with the flying pterosaurs Lightweight hones made giant and sauropod dinosaurs, had at least a superfi- dinosaurs possible. Birds owe cially similar pulmonary system. Like birds, those animals had holes in the outer surfaces of many their hones to that earlier evolution. of their bones. The holes were connected to large, air-filled chambers within the bones. ature; thus, reptiles are called ectothermic, or, some- Even in birds, though, the function of pneumat- what erroneously, "cold-blooded." Birds, however, ic bones remains unclear. No gases are exchanged can fme-tune their body temperatures internally, a within the bones, nor do the air-fiUed chambers in condition referred to as endothermy, or, also some- the bones help move air through the lung—bone, what erroneously, "warm-bloodedness." But the after all, is not a flexible bellows. One plausible idea apparent dichotomy between endothermy and ec- is that pneumatic bones might have evolved because tothermy is misleading; rather, there is a broad spec- they replaced heavy (and metabolically expensive) trum of metabolic types, many of which are direct- bone marrow with air. Pneumatic bones enable a ly correlated with the anatomical form and func- bird (or a dinosaur) to expand its overall body size tion of the breathing apparatus. without a commensurate increase in weight. Ivlany reptiles have relatively simple lungs. As they expand or contract, air flows in and out of them In spite of the uncertain role of pneumatic bones, through the same channels, just as it does in people. their presence in theropods suggests that at least But the configuration of the internal cavity of the some theropods had air sacs similar to those observed reptilian lung varies from species to species. In a few in birds. Without additional evidence, though, it is species, including some lizards, each lung is a sim- probably idle to speculate any further about how ple sac, and gases are exchanged only around its theropods breathed. Nevertheless, the historical edges. In other species, such as monitor lizards and perspective provided by theropod pneumaticity may crocodihans, the lungs are partitioned into chambers be the key to understanding the origin of air-fiUed, made up of an intricate net of support structures. lightweight bones in birds. The network provides a larger surface area, which Ornithologists have long sought to explain pneu- enables higher rates ofgas exchange than do the edges matic bones in birds as an adaptation to some aspect of a simple, sacHke lung. of their hfestyle, such as the great benefit they offer for energy savings in flying. Pneumaticity clearly orig- Modern birds have modified the basic reptilian inated much earUer in avian history, but perhaps for a design in such a way as to increase lung par- similar reason—that is, its adaptive value in relaxing titioning, and, consequently, the surface area for gas the constraints on the size of theropods. One point exchange. But unlike the reptiUan lung, the avian corroborating that idea is that many of the largest lung changes very litde in size during ventilation. theropods, such as carcharodontosaurs and tyran- Instead, birds have flexible air sacs (usually nine in nosaurs, often had the most extreme pneumaticity. number) that act as bellows to move air through the Many ofthe smaller theropods, in contrast, only pneu- lungs. Although the air sacs are connected to the matized certain regions of the vertebral column. -lATURAL HISTORY May 2005 L Vertebrae (top row) in three species of bird—penguin (a), to reduce body weight, whereas penguins and other diving owl (b), and screamer bird (c)—show varying degrees of birds have no pneumatization in order to reduce their pneumaticity. fThe more air sacs in tlie bone, the greater buoyancy. Medium-size birds such as owls have intermedi- its pneumaticity.) The theropod dinosaur vertebra (d) ex- ate levels of pneumaticity. The colored circles in the line hibits similar pneumatic openings. Large birds such as drawings (bottom row) correspond, by color, to identical screamers likely possess such heavily pneumatized bones anatomical structures in each bone. Similar patterns of pneumaticity occur in birds: Using living animals as "model organisms" for among flying birds, at least, the larger the bird, the understanding dinosaur biology offers many more extensive its pneumaticity. Certain large- advantages over traditional methods of paleontol- bodied flying birds, such as bustards, pelicans, and ogy. But paleobiologists must also remain cautious vultures, pneumatize virtually the entire skeleton, when making inferences related to the activities of out to the tips of the wings. Many medium-size and long-dead animals. For example, as tempting as it is small birds, such as ducks, pheasants, and songbirds, to read "bird" into every dinosaurian trait, it is just only pneumatize the vertebrae and limb bones clos- as important to acknowledge the limits of current est to the lung and air sacs. Some interesting excep- knowledge, and the fact that the dinosaurs main- tions to the correlation between body size and pneu- tained their own evolutionary trajectory; they like- maticity occur in birds that dive underwater to feed, ly possessed an amalgam of traits present in modern such as grebes, loons, and penguins. Those birds have birds and their reptilian relatives. eUminated bony pneumaticity altogether, so as to re- Ideally, paleontology integrates multiple lines duce their buoyancy when they dive. of evidence, from a variety of Hving and extinct The broad variation in skeletal pneumaticity animals, to assess the full biological potential of among birds suggests that interactions between the long-extinct groups. That approach is not without pulmonary and skeletal systems alter drastically in its limits. Nevertheless, by seeking novel ways to response to a variety of physical and environmental integrate the vast array of biological subdisciplines, pressures. Could similar variations in pneumaticity paleobiologists are beginning to put a modern reflect the various physical and ecological factors face on some very old "terrible lizards." Those theropods had to confront? With birds as a model, complementary studies will ultimately provide paleontologists should be able to frame and test hy- the most rigorous assessment of how dinosaurs potheses that can begin to answer that question. actually lived. CH May 2005 NATUR.M HlSTOR-il What Good Was All y BUTTING HEADS THE Headgear? Dinosaur For Decoration By Mark B. Goodwin After prospecting for several hours clusters of bony horns, nodes, and one hot, dusty afternoon in the tubercles. Some specimens even sport Disputes summer of 1983, I noticed a round, multiple pairs of horns, between four cracked, softball-size, and honey-col- and six inches long. Needless to say, III the social arena, controversies ored fossil emerging from the badlands all this headgear is prominently fea- are fed by opinion and ideology. around the Judith River Formation in tured when charging pachy- Uncomfortable facts are routinely Montana. I was about to uncover the cephalosaurs are portrayed. But did ignored. Among scientists— ideally, best pachycephalosaur ("thick-headed these dinosaurs really butt heads? at least—controversies must be lizard") skull yet found, buried in the My colleague John R. ("Jack") grounded in facts. But merely piling bed of an ancient stream that had me- Horner, of Montana State University— up facts doesn't close a case. It's andered across a broad coastal plain 78 Bozeman, and I tested the head- how the facts fit together that million years ago. butting hypothesis on some thirty counts. That's the role of a theory: Pachycephalosaurs first gained no- pachycephalosaur domes and skuUs. to make sense of disparate facts. toriety when the science-fiction We examined micron-thin sections of Theories excite scientists, because writer L. Sprague de Camp charac- bone from the insides of the skuUs un- theories make predictions: new evi- terized them as "bonehead" dinosaurs der the microscope, and imaged the dence, if it is relevant at all, should with a fondness for using the "bulge" skulls with high-resolution computer conform to the theory. If it does not, of "soHd bone" on top of their brains tomography. Both juvenile and the theory must be revised. to "butt each other with these heads subadult pachycephalosaur domes Ever since the first discoveries of in fighting over the females." turned out to be highly porous and dinosaur bones, theories about the In pachycephalosaurs, the bones at fiUed with spaces for blood vessels, animals—how they lived and died, the top of the skuU do indeed unite showing that the bone tissue was fast- how their bodies functioned, why they to form a conspicuous round (and growing and well nourished. grew so large and had such strange quite solid) dome, surrounded by For decades paleontologists had as- armament, how they were related to other animals—have occupied some of the best scientific minds. Some of those theories have emerged For Defense By Catberiiie A. Foister and Andrew A. Farke as mainstream scientific thinking— most paleontologists espouse them more When fossil ceratopsians, or their cranial appendages defensively. or less whole, though dissenting voices horned dinosaurs, were first Pointy headgear certainly plays a role are usually around to highlight their discovered in the American West in in the defensive strategies of many impeifections. Other theories, on topics the 1870s, the enormous spikes, modern animals. For example, the that still lack decisive evidence, remain horns, and neck shields that sprouted horned Hzard Phrynosoma mcalli appar- vigorously competitive. from the creatures' humongous skulls endy uses the horns on its head to For this special issue. Natural instantly captivated the public and deter the shrike, a bird fond of impal- History invited eleven leading investi- paleontologists alike. Speculation ing lizards on thorns or barbed wire for gators to present their views about four about the purpose of these bizarre later consumption [see "Tlie Natural of the most important controversies in cranial appendages quickly followed. Moment," March 2005]. Longer horns dinosaur paleontology. In some cases, Paleontologists suggested that the make a lizard less Hkely to end up as a the mainstream contender has proceed- long horns were used defensively, to shrike s meal. Much larger animals ed with certainty, emboldened by the "impale the enemy." Even today this adopt a similai- defensive strategy: some weight of the evidence. Tlie challenger idea makes perfect intuitive sense. unfortunate visitors to Yellowstone has largely been content poking holes Any animal fairly bristling with long, National Park have experienced the in the theory. In other cases, the posi- pointed horns and spikes simply use of horns by bison firsthand. tions staked out arc complementary. looks ready to fend off any and all But paleontologists early on recog- All the participants, of course, an- would-be predators. More recently, nized that defense may not have been ticipate further discoveries that will paleontologists have suggested that the sole function of cranial "weapon- -otifirm, once and for all, their own other dinosaurs, notably the dome- ry." In 1907 J.B. Hatcher and col- .'hcoretical predictions. headed pachycephalosaurs, also used leagues charmingly informed their ATU;- .M HISTORY May 2005 sumed that what they aggression, and submission. called "radiating struc- Our microanalysis yield- tures" in the dome could ed another noteworthy resist compression, giving discovery: coDagen fibers the animals a biomechani- that typically anchor ten- cal advantage in head- don and ligaments to bone butting. Our microscopic lay within and just below examinations proved in- the surface of the dome. stead that the structures The finding indicates that were transitory, a product Two male Centrosauruses cross horns in a fictionalized encounter. Was the skuU had an external of the growth of the dinosaur headgear like theirs primarily ior defense against predators or covering, most Ukely of for combat over mates? Was it primarily for display? Or was it some com dome. Remarkably, they hard keratin, similar to the bination thereof? were absent m the skulls of biUs of modern birds. adults—precisely the individuals that bone" and accompanying cranial pro- Many birds display brightly colored would have engaged in head-buttmg. tuberances were chiefly ornamental. keratin on their heads to communicate And in the fossils we examined, we They enabled individuals within a spe- with other members of their species. saw no evidence of fractures, healed cies to recognize each other and com- The domed skulls of pachycephalo- wounds, or speciahzed adaptations tor municate, the way African antelope saurs may Hkewise have been vibrantly managing the forces generated by such as hartebeest, impala, and wilde- colored to indicate sexual maturity, at- head-butting, such as the adaptations beest do when they display their elabo- tract a mate, or warn an adversary. that occur in bighorn sheep. rate horns. If the modern animals are So if the elaborate cranial dome was good models, most encounters among Mark B. Goodwin is a curator at the not for head-butting, what was its head-butting dinosaurs would have Unii'ersity of California Museum of function? We think the "bulge of soHd been ritualized displays of intimidation. Paleontology in Berkeley. readers that " Trkeratops was extreme- miniature Triceratops with three horns parison to modern animals is all pale- ly deficient mentally" and likely and a bony frill, or ruff, over its ontologists have to go on to infer quite docile, except during the neck) also engages in horn-to-horn ceratopsian behavior. breeding season, when "combats be- combat with other males of its kind. Ultimately, dinosaurs probably their cranial appendages in tween rival males . . . must have been Actual evidence of horn use in used prompted and carried out by blind, ceratopsians is circumstantial. On whatever way they were needed. The unreasoning instinct." some Triceratops fossils, both on the pattern is well demonstrated in deer: The "mate competition" hypothe- face and on the frill (the only plate even though antlers function primar- sis is borne out by research showing extending back over its neck) , there ily for display and for combat with that the cranial headgear of most are healed puncture wounds. Some rivals, they can also be used with modern animals evolved not only for paleontologists interpret the wounds deadly efficiency against predators. defense against predators, but also for as evidence of combat with members Triceratops Hkely used its horns to im- ritualized jousting or just plain of the same species. Other skulls press mates, shoo ofi" rivals, or argue "showing off" among members of show that ceratopsians undervvent tor territorial ownership. But it's hard their own species. Male bighorn rapid evolutionary change and that, to imagine that such deadly weapon- sheep with the largest horns, for in- in particular, the size and shape of ry wasn't aimed at a menacing Tyran- stance, have the highest social rank their horns and frills responded to nosanrus when the need arose. If and are more likely to mate. Similar shifting circumstances with great you've got it, use it! patterns hold for many horned or plasticity. Those findings suggest that Catherine A. Forster is an associate diversi- antlered mammals, including African natural selection focused on professor in the dcpartnicnt of anatomical antelope, deer, and pronghorn. fying the cranial appendages for use sciences at Stony Brool^ Lhiii'ersity in New Among reptiles, the male Jackson's in relations with other members of Yorli. Andre]\- A. F-iRKE is a Pli.D. chameleon (which looks like a the same species. Beyond that, com- candidate in tlic same department. May 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 49 ' Were Dinosaurs "Cold- ?? BUTTING HEADS qj^ "WARM-BLOODED"? jfiffiSsassai "Cold-blooded" By John A. Riibeii and WiUetnJ. Hillenius Endothermy, or warm-blooded- of birds or mammals. Even the pos- ferred in another way. We found that ness, in birds and mammals re- sible presence of feathers in some living endotherms have much wider sults from high rates of internal heat dinosaurs is not a certain indicator of nasal chambers than living ectotherms production, even while at rest. In the endothermy: many modern birds oc- do, probably to compensate for the wild, metabolic rates in birds and casionally regulate their body temper- turbinates' extra resistance to air flow. mammals are about twenty times atures ectothermically. Multiple lines of evidence indicate higher than they are in reptiles. The entire study of metaboHsm in that dinosaurs had relatively narrow, These elevated metabolic rates also fossilized animals changed recently, ectotherm-Hke nasal passages. When require accelerated rates of oxygen with the realization of the impor- we examined several specimens, in- consumption and lung ventilation. tance of respiratory turbinates, the cluding the theropod Naiwtyrannus, Endothermy is a highly specialized scroll-Uke structures in the nasal cavi- via computed tomography (CT), we physiological strategy, whose evolu- ties of all terrestrial birds and mam- could find no evidence of respiratory tionary history, until recently, was mals. Because turbinates reduce res- turbinates. In all dinosaur specimens elusive: no fossilized structures could piratory water and heat loss, they are the nasal passages are surprisingly unambiguously and exclusively prove tightly linked to high rates of lung narrow, with little room for an elabo- endothermy. For example, one might ventilation in these terrestrial en- rate complex of respiratory think that skeletal growth rates would dotherms. In contrast, aU living ecto- turbinates, and proportionately near- be higher for an endothermic animal therms lack respiratory turbinates. ly identical to those of extant ec- than for an ectothermic, or cold- Thus the study of turbinates can totherms. The CT scans also revealed blooded, one. Perhaps, too, the high- open a window onto the metabolism that most of the space in the animals' er growth rates would become appar- of dinosaurs and their close relatives, snouts was taken up by large, air- ent in the bone microstructure. But the earliest birds. fiUed nasal sinuses, which do not both those tests are inconclusive, and, Turbinates are delicate, and so they function in respiration. in any case, those features are not themselves are often not preserved in Together, those findings constitute causally linked to the metabolic rates fossUs. But their existence can be in- strong evidence that dinosaurs and ' 'Warm-blooded' By Mary Higby Schweitzer When I was growing up, paleon- costs? Second, how—since no one tologists (and virtually every- can take the temperatures of extinct one else) regarded dinosaurs as slow- animals—can paleontologists tell moving, stupid, ill-adapted reptiles—in what kind of metabolism was at short, ectothermic, or "cold-blooded." work in the dinosaurs? Now aU that has changed: the dino- Natural selection favors new saurs' ancestors may have been cold- adaptations if, by reducing an ani- blooded, but most paleontologists mal's competition from other or- think that, over time, dinosaurs began ganisms for limited resources, or to exhibit traits that we link with by helping it better survive and higher metabolic rates. Today they are thrive in its environment, the ani- portrayed as Uthe, agile, intelligent ani- mal produces more offspring. Yet, mals, able to compete with the best in general, a warm-blooded ani- Albertosaurus fossil shows the dinosaur's head that mammals had to offer—and prob- mal requires about ten to twenty and necl< drawn downward over its bac/c. The ably win. The idea that metabolic rates times more food and oxygen (per pose IS struck when the muscles contract at death: the stronger muscles at the back of the changed over time in this group of an- unit weight, per unit time) than a neck—which hold the head upright in life—over- imals brings two basic questions to cold-blooded animal. Those re- come the weaker muscles at the front. The death mind: First, why might an animal Hn- quirements would seem too costly pose is characteristic of warm-blooded animals, eage adopt the strategy of warm- for warm-bloodedness to evolve such as birds and mammals. The fossil is in the bioodedness, given its steep energy throush natural selection. Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, Canada. 50 i NATUiL-M HISTORY May 2005 — Respiratory turbinates recycle heat and moisture during breathing, and so prevent excessive early birds lacked the high ventila- respiratory dehydration in endotherms. For example, in the chicken (right), cool, dry air (blue tion rates associated with en- arrow/s) enters the nose. As it passes through the complex of turbinates, it is heated and hu- dothermy. The modified, enlarged midified (red arrov\/s). When the bird exhales, most of the moisture condenses back onto the "modern" avian nasal cavities first turbinate surfaces. In contrast, modern ectotherms, such as crocodiles and lizards, lack respi- appear in certain Late Cretaceous ratory turbinates: their ventilation rates are so low that the amount of water lost through for endotherms have comparatively spa- birds, which suggests that endo- breathing is negligible. To make room the turbinates, cious nasal cavities (see inset at right). CT scans, however, indicate that dinosaurs such as thermy appeared relatively late in Nanotyrannus (left) have very narrow nasal passages (see inset at left), nearly identical to the evolution of birds. those of modern ectotherms. It therefore appears that dinosaurs, and even early birds, lacked The metaboHc status of the dino- respiratory turbinates, and that their lung ventilation rates and metabolic rates were not as saurs probably reveals less about their high as those of modern endotherms. Hfestyle than many investigators have supposed. For example, it would be even if they were fuUy ectothermic, home ranges, actively pursued and erroneous to conclude from their rel- there are large, tropical-latitude killed large prey, and, when cornered, atively low metaboHc rates that they lizards, such as the Komodo dragon, defended themselves fiercely. were sluggish herbivores or "sit-and- aUve today that demonstrate that ecto- John A. Ruben is professor and chair of wait" predators. Given the mild cU- thermy by no means implies sluggish- the zoology department at Oregon State dinosaurs possessed the mates of the Mesozoic, most dino- ness. Had University in CorvalUs. WillemJ. saurs almost certainly maintained a physiological capacities and predatory HiLLENlus is an associate professor in the constant body temperature, whether habits of the Komodo dragon, they biology department at the College of they were endothermic or not. And might well have maintained large Charleston in South Carolina. One plausible explanation is that increase in body temperature. Ever or feathers. Warm-blooded animals warm-bloodedness reduced compe- so slowly, the animals in the lineage are the only terrestrial creatures that tition. If an animal's metabolic rate might approach what biologists con- live in large herds or flocks or that was just a little bit higher than that sider full-blown endothermy. migrate long distances. of its competitors, maybe it could The second question is slightly All those traits occur in dinosaurs. be active for just a little bit longer, more complicated. By studying living More precisely, some traits (upright or could move a little bit faster. animals, however, we can answer a posture) occur in all dinosaurs; other Maybe it could forage an hour earli- great many questions about the traits (feathers) occur only in some. er or an hour later than its competi- metabolic rates of extinct animals. Dinosaurs may not have been as friUy tors, or move a little farther from Dinosaurs had many characteristics warm-blooded as birds or people are, home to find food and water. that today occur only in warm- but all the evidence suggests their Maybe, with extra speed, it could blooded species. Only warm-blood- metabolic rates were substantially hunt prey more effectively. Those ed animals become obligate bipeds higher than those of living crocodiles, advantages would not require a great animals that must walk on two legs. lizards, snakes, and turtles. increase in body temperature ( half a Only warm-blooded animals have degree might suffice). But the bene- upright posture: legs positioned di- Mary Higby Schh'^itzer is an fits rectly their bodies, rather than might be enough, statistically under assistant professor ofpaleontology in the speaking, to pass on a higher metab- splayed to the sides, as in lizards. On- department of marine, earth and atmospheric olism to offspring. Other factors ly warm-blooded animals have an in- sciences at North Carolina State University might then favor yet another slight sulating body covering, such as hair in Raleigh. tvlay 2005 natur.'^l history 51 — Were Dinosaurs the Victims w BUTTING HEADS OF A Single Catastrophe? Yes, and an Asteroid Did the Deed. By David E. Fastovsky The idea that a single, spectacular, years after the event, paleontologists boundary. In fact, every published, catastrophic event—an asteroid cannot resolve time spans of less quantitative, field-based, stratigraphi- impact-—at the end of the Cretaceous than tens of thousands of years: cally refined study addressing this period, 65 milUon years ago, obhter- whether the extinction took a question has concluded that dinosaur ated aU the nonbird dinosaurs (as well minute or many thousands of years diversity was unchanged up to the as many other organisms) is a simple, may never be known. Still, 10,000- K/T boundary: the final extinction attractive scenario. But is it more ac- year timescales rule out events that was thus geologically instantaneous. curately described as simplistic^ Since lasted millions of years, and those When it comes to the ecology of not all life was wiped off our planet, include a whole class of gradual, survival, paleontologists are in re- there must have been winners as well earthbound processes. freshing agreement: your chances of as losers in the Cretaceous endgame. hi three separate studies in western surviving were pretty good if you Surely survival occurred for better North America (the only place where were small and cold-blooded (cor- reasons than a mere roll of the cos- these issues have been studied), the di- rectly termed ectothermic). But your mic dice! versity of dinosaur fossils was carefully best bet was to be aquatic. Yet in the past fifteen years it has recorded, meter by meter, through At first blush, those attributes become clear that the extinction of rocks that record the Cretaceous-Ter- might not seem the ideal armament the dinosaurs was geologically in- tiary (K/T) boundary. In each case, against incoming asteroids. But they stantaneous. Geological instantane- paleontologists failed to identify any do seem to have been keys to sur- ity, however, is an inexact quantity. decrease in dinosaur diversity in the vival. Although the exact effects of From a vantage point of 65 million 2 miUion years or so preceding the large-body impacts on Earth remain No, It Only Finished Them Off. ByJ. David Archibald Some 65 million years ago, Mur- which animals survived and which cent study in North Dakota noted phy's Law appHed—almost did not. Only western North Ameri- little or no change in the vertebrate everything that could have gone ca, though, preserves a reasonably fauna throughout the thickness of wrong did: A huge bolide, or aster- continuous fossil record of the land the HeU Creek Formation. Those oid, struck Earth. Globally, the seas and freshwater vertebrates for the last data were cited to argue that a receded. Fissures on the Indian sub- 10 miUion years of the Cretaceous bolide inipact must have suddenly continent spewed forth thousands of and on through the Cretaceous-Ter- terminated the nonbird dinosaurs at cubic kilometers of material. AU tiary (K/T) boundary. In those last the top of this formation. three events took place in rapid suc- 10 miUion years of the Cretaceous, Yet in the uppermost five meters cession, toward the end of the Creta- but weU before the K/T-boundary of the formation only two dinosaurs ceous period. Each of them is events, the most recent compilations could be identified weU enough to thought to have been the largest show an unequivocal decUne in the specify their generic name. What event of its kind in the past 250 mil- diversity of dinosaur species. In fact, happened to the other eighteen or so lion years, and each is thought to before the time of the boundaiy is nonbird dinosaur species present in have played a role in the demise of reached, between one-third and one- the HeU Creek Formation? No one the nonbird dinosaurs. Each event half of aU dinosaur species—mostly knows whether they survived to the left obvious physical and chemical such relatively common groups as the time of the boundary or became ex- proof of its occurrence in the rock duck-biUed and horned dinosaurs tinct thousands of years before it. record. That much is clear. But how had already disappeared. Apart from the problems of de- can paleontologists measure the ef- The analysis of the final million tecting rates of dinosaur extinction, fects of such events on the creatures years of the Cretaceous is more we can examine the pattern of total living at that time? problematic, because the precision vertebrate extinction. Of 107 species The most powerful method is sim- required is far greater than is dis- of vertebrates known froin Hell ply to read, in the fossil record. cernible in the fossil record. A re- Creek, about half had disappeared 52 NATURAL HISTORY May i 2005 uncertain, there is a general consen- which tend to feed on detritus may David E. Fastovsky is a professor in the sus that such impacts probably have have been protected. On land, department ofgeosdences at tiie University of Riiode Island. two kinds of dire consequences: dust, many Cretaceous mammals were smoke, and debris in the atmosphere likely part of detritus-based blocking sunlight for several months, food chains. Furthermore, p 3,000 -r-Q> 64.2 and an instantaneous pulse of thermal many were small enough to energy igniting global fires. [See have lived in burrows (as "Loading the Cannon," by Charles Liu, many sm^all mammals do to- -64.7 page day), and so they could have 65.0 58.] 2,000- For both those effects, being been protected from the small, ectothermic, and aquatic may thermal pulse. Finally, in the have been the secret to survival. For face of a global heat pulse as long as sunlight was blocked, and fires, small size and 1,000- photosynthesis would have ceased, aquatic refuge offered nearly Cretaceous reducing much of Earth's available ideal shelter in what had be- foodstuffs to detritus. Dinosaurs and come an inhospitable world. •y other organisms dependent on "pri- In short, the ecology of both mary production"—fresh plants and winners and losers reflects 66.5 meat—would have become effec- the imprint of the impact tively helpless. But aquatic animals. with surprising fidelity. Fossil Finds • Birds Bony fish, 9 Snakes, lizards sharks, rays @ Amphibians % Archosaurs Nonbird # Turtles ^ dinosaurs by the time corresponding to the fire, extended periods of darkness, Record of the distribution of fossil verte- excluding mammals, is K/T boundary. Of those extinc- sharp temperature increases, brates (colored dots), shown for rocks of the Ferris Formation, in tions, 75 percent are concentrated in tsunamis, and hurricanes. Other south-central Wyoming. The figure shows the just lizards, marsupials, suggested effects notably acid rain four groups: — approximately 1.5 million years before the sharks (and their relatives), and non- and a sharp drop in the tempera- Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) boundary, 65 million bird dinosaurs. The lizards may have ture—now seem extremely unlikely, years ago, and 800,000 years after it. The red faced habitat loss from increasing given the fossil record. The most horizontal line represents a layer of rock more than twenty-six feet thick that includes the rainfall in the Hell Creek region recent proposed consequence has boundary. Because that layer is largely devoid near the end of the Cretaceous. As been sudden infrared heating. That of fossils, the exact location of the K/T fell, explain large creatures sea levels the Bering land bridge might why boundary within those twenty-six feet is un- enabled the precursors of modern such as dinosaurs died, whereas certain. Nonbird dinosaurs disappear dramat- hoofed mammals to enter North smaller species survived by taking ically within the twenty-s/x-foot-thic/c layer. J. Lillegraven and J.J. America and outcompete other refuge in holes, crevices, or under a The data are from A. Eberle, Journal of Paleontology 73:691-710, mammals, notably the marsupials. thin layer of water. 1999; the figure is based on a graph in D.E. The sharks, too, lost their habitat as Whatever the results of the impact, Fastovsky and P. M. Sheehan, GSA Today the seas retreated. And the nonbird though, it only finished a job that 15:3, 4-10, 2005. dinosaurs? With the loss of inland earthbound factors had already be- seas, the low coastal plains, from gun. The dinosaurs and other verte- which almost all of the fossils of brate species had already become these animals are known, shrank and vulnerable to extinction. fragmented. Then the bolide struck Earth. is cu- J. David Archibald a professor and JVlany consequences of this impact rator in the department of biology at San have been proposed—global wild- Diego State University in California. May 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 53 How Did Dinosaurs BUTTING HEADS BEGIN TO FLY? Li^^it^^.E'iEii-j.JiZ. g'^V'^'^^ffiSStl From the Trees Down By Sankar Clmtterjee and R. Jack Teinpliii century-old controversy over contrast, a theropod struggling to- which provided insulation in the A whether avian flight began in ward flight directly from the ground cooler environment of the trees. the trees (trees-down theory) or on up, without any ghding stage, had Caudipteryx and Protarcliaeopteryx the ground (ground-up theory) final- gravity working against it. typify the next stage in the evolution ly appears to be settled. Hundreds of We developed a computer model of flight. Symmetrical contour feath- small, exquisitely preserved feathered to simulate the flight performance of ers on their hands and tails provided theropod dinosaurs were discovered these Chinese theropods and an early lift during parachuting, but ofl'ered just as they were some 125 milhon bird, Archaeopteryx. AH these animals little control over the flight stroke. years ago when they were smothered had acquired adaptations for Mkwraptor, which exemplifies the in the "Cretaceous Pompeii" of Chi- quadrupedal climbing similar to third stage of flight, was a gHder; its na. These fossUs show various transi- those of the modern young hoatzin, two sets of wings, one over the other, tional stages—from wingless, tree- a bird native to tropical South Amer- functioned much like the fixed wings dweUing theropods to fuUy winged, ica. They were small, with highly re- of a biplane. But the creatures most active flyers. curved claws; their fingers and toes unusual feature was a set of long, The central theme of the trees- were long for grasping bark; their asymmetric feathers with hooked down theory is that gravity was the wrist joints were swiveled so they barbs on its hind hmbs and foreUmbs. source of energy: a small climbing could flex their hands during climb- The leading edge of each long feather dinosaur first parachuted down, then ing; and their stiffened tails supported was narrovv'er than the traihng edge, began to stay aloft longer by gliding, them as they climbed upward. which helped streainline the body in and finally acquired powered flight. At first, small theropods such as flight, and the hooked, interlocking As those abilities developed, feathers Sinosmiropteryx invaded arboreal habi- barbs gave strength and flexibility to became larger and more specialized, tats to elude predators. Their bodies the feather and prevented air firom providing greater Hft and thrust. In were covered with downy feathers, passing through it in flight. mm From the Ground By Luis M. Chiappe Early on a Avindy December morning, slightly more than a hundred years ago, the Wright brothers' Flyer made a short takeoff run, then took to the air. The air- plane was aloft for only 120 feet, but the flight was epoch-making: the first time a powered, heavier-than-air fly- — — ing machine got off the ground to Primitive bird or a theropod dinosaur could have increased its thrust, or force in the direction of its run, by flapping its w/ings (a,b). The enhanced thrust would make a successful, controlled flight. have boosted its running speed and, at the same time, increased its lift, the up- More than 1 50 miUion years ward force created by the air moving across the wings. As lift increased, the earlier, another first took place in force between the bird's hind limbs and the ground would have been reduced aviation: a small dinosaur flapped its until It reached zero and the bird took off (d). The bird's center of gravity (red feathered arms as it ran, perhaps flee- crosshairs) would not move up or down until the bird left the ground, because the vertical components of all the forces would have remained in equilibrium. ing a predator. Slowly it rose above the ground, escaping its pursuer, and But new evidence has given fresh airborne "from the trees down," as then lived long enough pass its genes credibility to the idea that flight orig- their theropod forerunners mastered on to the next generation. The era of inated "from the ground up." tree-cHmbing, then parachuting and avian flight had begun. Since the late 1 800s, two antagonis- gliding, and finally powered flight. Making such a parallel between tic theories have competed to explain Others have countered that small the Wright Flyer and the first di- the onset of avian flight. Some investi- land-dwelling dinosaurs learned to fly nosaur flight may seem far-fetched. gators have argued that birds became without ever developing arboreal .NATURAL HISTORY May 2005 Such asymmetric feathers are essential for flight—and their presence in a fossil this old contradicts the ground- up theory: Microraptor had them even on its metatarsals, or "toes," Fossil of Microraptor (a) has preserved traces of the animal's feathers. The long digits and which would have made sharp claws of the fore- and hind limbs equipped the animal both for climbing trees and running on the ground perching in them. The long feathers on its wings and legs had evolved for flight: they were nearly impossible. Our asymmetric, with interlocking barbules (b); less developed feathers, such as the symmetric feathers with noninterlocking barbules (c), cannot sustain flight. The long flight feathers on analysis suggests that Micro- Microraptor's back legs limited its ability to run in preparation for takeoff; to launch its raptor held its hind legs flight, it would first have had to climb a tree and take off gliding, assisted by gravity. tucked under its body in a Z shape during ghdmg, which gave the powered flight, as its wings became flight, like aircraft evolution, went animal a configuration strikingly simi- even larger than those of Sinor- through a biplane stage before the lar to that of a biplane. nithosaurus. Archaeopteryx retained the monoplane was introduced. Siiiornithosaurus represents the hindlimb feathers of the gliders, but Sankar Chatterjee is the Paul fourth stage of flight. Its forewings the feathers were no'w much shorter, Wiitfield Horn Professor of Geology and were even larger than Microraptors, more like the "trousers" of modern curator ofpaleontology at the Museum of legs forming, in essence, a gliding mono- raptors that streamline the just Texas Tech University in Lubbock. R.jACK plane. The feathers on the metatarsals before an aerial attack or during a Templin is a retired aeronautical engineer, were lost on the back wings. flight with a captive prey. It is intrigu- formerly with the Canadian National Finally, Archaeopteryx achieved fuUy ing to contemplate that perhaps avian Research Council in Ottawa. habits: no trees were needed. The fact nests on the ground [see "Bringing Does aU this evidence prove con- birds their that gravity-aided flight seems easier Up Baby," by David J. Varricchio, page clusively that evolved to achieve than its opposite has always 30]. Some of them have been un- flight from the ground up? With lent a kind of intuitive advantage to earthed in dormant poses, indicating wing-assisted running the theropod the trees-down theory. Yet neither di- they also rested on the ground. forerunners of birds could have as- rect evidence of the hypothetical tree- Furthermore, these animals evolved cended inclines, including trees. But chmbing stage, nor convincing argu- the skeletal fi-amework necessary for if they did, why didn't they take ad- ments that the meat-eating precursors flapping their feathered forelimbs—the vantage of that more protective envi- of birds developed speciaUzed adapta- functional precursors of powered ronment when they were nesting or tions for climbing or gliding, have flight. Fossils spanning the evolution- resting—that is, when they were ever materialized. ary transition from theropod to bird most vulnerable to predators? In contrast, the fossil record makes also detail how the wings of these ani- Theories about the origin of flight it clear that theropod dinosaurs lived mals became larger as their bodies be- will continue to be conjectural. Yet a terrestrial existence. Their long came smaller. Aerodynamic studies aerodynamics, the potential for loco- legs and short toes were well suited have documented how, by flapping motion, and the documented habits for running. Fossils of bipedal, bird- their wings, the animals could have of birds' predecessors aU make the like dinosaurs such as the parrot- boosted their running speed. Taken ground-up hypothesis the less con- headed oviraptorids, the lightly built together, the evidence suggests that flicted of the two conjectures. troodontids, and the sickle-toed flight could have evolved as a by-prod- LviS M. Chiappe is curator and chairman dromeosaurids have been discovered uct of wing-assisted running in ani- of the department of vertebrate paleontology in positions that indicate they were mals that were becoixung lighter even at the Natural History Museum of Los brooding their eggs, but always in as their wings were becoming bigger. Angeles County. May 2005 natural history 55 ' . Tales from the Badlands By Adrienne Mayor Y^ W *-«arM-, I** '^?jS" ::,rl? m:• 4' '^'/U : rV : j^-2^i«& .^i. »^^<^^^,^' - v^-- ^'M " i.<^ h''/' > ^<'* -5 1 '-"^fy* mim& . t¥ k'^^ In art and oral legends, Native Americans recorded their encounters with dinosaur fossils. Zuni Pueblo, in New Mexico, may be the had Uved many years among the Zuni, learned their oldest continuously occupied community language, and been adopted into the tribe. The priests in the United States. The town of less than explained that all kinds of beings were changed to 7,000 is the cultural center of a tribe that can trace stone when the earth was young. Thus "it happens its roots back for millennia, a culture informed that we find, here and there throughout the world, through and through by the volcanic mountains and their forms, sometimes large like the beings them- deeply eroded canyons of the dramatic landforms all selves, sometimes shriveled and distorted," the priests around. The Zuni story of the creation of the world told Gushing. "And we often see aniong the rocks reflects those surroundings. the forms of many beings that Hve no longer, which In Zuni myth, before humans were fiiUy formed, shows us that all was different in 'the days ofthe new.' they Uved underground, in the dark. When they fi- nally emerged to the surface through a series of cav- The only other vehicle 1 saw erns, they had to shield their eyes, which, like an on the long dirt road to the owl's, were unused to dayhght. The world had been Hell Greek field camp was a dusty covered with water; it was damp and wracked by pickup truck carrying a Triccmtops earthquakes. The humans lived on an island sur- skuU encased in plaster. I was on rounded by water, preyed upon by strange monsters my way, seven summers ago, to vis- that rose up from the deep. it a new excavation site in the bad- Two mythical brothers, twin children of the Sun, lands of eastern Montana. John R. realized that the world needed to be dried out and ("Jack") Horner, ofMontana State soUdified lest the humans succumb to the monsters. University—Bozeman, and his Wielding a magic shield, a rainbow, and arrows of team were searching for dinosaur cosirdc Hghtning, the two ignited a tremendous con- bones in the same landscape where Petroglyph at Cub Creek, near rich flagration. The fire raged over the face of the earth, the fossil hunter Barnum Brown bone beds and fossil trad "magic breath of prey" that had made them power- hiUs, scrabbled down clay cliffs, and walked along dry ful, and they became we-ma-we, or fetishes, helpers alkali washes, scanning constantly for bits ofbone and that would serve people instead of devouring them. tooth, until every canteen was empty. Everyone in our \n 1881 the ethnologist Frank Hamilton Gushing group found at least one piece of dinosaur bone or heard this ancient epic recited by Zuni priests. He tooth. Among the prospectors was Joseph Johnston, Native American petroglyph, or rock carving, was made by chipping away the dark, weathered surface of a sandstone boulder in Petrified Forest National Park, New Mexico. Believed to be between 650 and 1 ,000 years old, the image appears to show an enormous bird that has seized a person. Great birds of prey, such as giant condors and teratorns, may have once co-existed with people in the region, but legends about the great birds were most likely sparked by the discovery of their fossils or mummified remains. In other locales, dinosaur tracks and the bones of pterosaurs—the large flying reptiles that were contemporaries of the dinosaurs—may have helped confirm belief in the gigantic Thunderbird, which wielded lightning. May 2005 NATUllAL HISTORY 57 " . the director ofjiimssic Park III (Horner was the pale- tinct mammals. In addition, many Native Ameri- ontological consultant for the movie series). Johnston can groups have migrated far from their original pulled from his pocket a five-inch-long, black fang, homelands or been displaced from them; the cre- the point and serrated edges still razor sharp. It was so ation myths their forebears carried with them may not accord with the new surroundings. But many examples of fossil legends survive, such "We often see among the rocks theforms of as the epic Zuni tale recorded by Gushing. Some of the traditional concepts even anticipate modern the- many beings that live no longer. ories of geologic ages and ancient life-forms, telling of the relations among species, changes over time, obviously the tooth ofa terrible predator that we were and great extinctions in the deep past. all struck silent by the reahty of dinosaurs. Around the campfire that night, as we watched In the northeastern U.S., the fossils of Pleistocene the black skies for fallmg stars and satellites, the talk mastodons, oversize buffalo and bears, and even drifted to the people who had known these fossil- rare dinosaur bones were the inspiration for exciting rich badlands better than anyone else ever would: tales of giant creatures among the Iroquois, Delaware the Blackfeet, Crow, and Sioux. Long before the ar- (Lenape), and other Indian nations. Fossilized foot- rival of Europeans, Native Americans had been the prints of dinosaurs, known to the Iroquois as uki first to experience the thrill of discovery that we had prints, also drew intense interest. {Uki refers to the felt today. powers of the sky, such as thunder and lightning). Suddenly we all were wondering out loud: What A legend recounted by Richard G. Adams, a did Native Americans think of these bizarre skeletons Delaware born in 1864, attempted to explain the mysteriously turned to stone? presence of dinosaur footprints embedded in rock. How did they explain the "When the world was young," wrote Adams, bones, claws, and teeth of gi- there lived in this country many huge Monsters, some gantic creatures that no one who dwelt in the sea, some who roved over the land, and had ever seen alive? Did they some who lived on land and in the water. The grandfa- speculate about what could ther of these Monsters was greater than them all . . . and have destroyed such monsters? preyed upon every living creature . . . and he was a ter- Growing up in South Dakota, ror to all living things. I had read Sioux myths about Thunderbirds fighting Water When this stupendous monster crossed the moun- Monsters. Now I was curious tains, Adams added, "He made tracks on the stones, to know whether those stories and in many places his tracks can be found today." had been woven around the The Delaware legend accounts for observed fossil Three-toed dmosaur footprint is high- skeletons ofdinosaurs and oth- evidence, most hkely the tracks left by extinct thero- lighted in Arizona stone after a rain. er giant reptiles that people had pod dinosaurs (theropods are a group that includes Historical records show that Native observed weathering out of such carnivores as T. rex as weB as modern-day birds) Americans often commented on the re- the badlands. The questions Giant theropod tracks abound in Maryland, NewJer- semblance between such tracks and kept in tent late sey, eastern Pennsylvania. I visited local those of birds. Current paleontological me awake my and When thinking is that the living birds are a into the night, and by morn- dinosaur museums on my travels between 1998 and branch of an important group of bipedal ing I had decided to learn 2004, 1 was amused to notice how much the Delaware dinosaurs known as the theropods. about the paleontological vision ofthe "greatest monster that terrorized all oth- knowledge of the First Amer- er creatures," written sometime between 1887 and icans. My goal became to recover, from their oral leg- 1905, resembles this typical description fi-om a small- ends, as many details as possible about their early fos- town dinosaur display: "65 miUion years ago Hved the sil discoveries and insights. greatest, most powerful predator ever to walk the Of course, many fantastic creatures of myth are Earth. The great Tyraimosaunis rex feared nothing." purely imaginary or symbolic, and their origins and meaning may have nothing to do with paleontol- Few dinosaur skeletons, however, are preserved ogy. It's also true that as information is passed down in the eastern half of the U.S. or on the West over generations and across cultures, important de- Goast. In other regions, however—the arid South- tails can be garbled, misinterpreted, or omitted. Old west (New Mexico and Arizona), the Great Basin traditions may even become intertwined with new (Utah and Nevada), the Rocky Mountains of Gol- layers ofmodern knowledge about dinosaurs or ex- orado, and the badlands of Montana and the Dako- — Members of the Hopi Snake Society, photographed in the early years of the twentieth century, perform a ritual rain dance, invoking the assistance of a kachina, or deified ancestral spirit. One of the emblems on their kilts bears a striking resemblance to a fossil dinosaur track, such as the one in the photograph on the opposite page. The Hopi may have attributed the track to the kachina. tas—dinosaur fossils are abundant. There mountain animal Hkeness. As Cushing had noted, the heart and building and the deposit of sediments favored the breath—the soul—of every once-dangerous preda- preservation of Triassicjurassic, and Cretaceous fos- tor or monster remained in its ti'e-iiia-we, or fetish, sils, and the fossil beds have been uplifted and then even though its body had been turned to stone. Such dramatically carved and eroded by water and wind. predator fetishes were used mostly as hunting In Cretaceous times, between 145 million and 65 charms, because the breath of a predator, derived million years ago, the lands ofthe Southwest lay along from its heart, was believed to be the force that over- the fluctuating western shore of a shallow inland sea powered the hearts of game animals. that bisected North America. Stone ammonites, When the elders among the Zuni spoke of find- clams, fish, oysters, and other marine fossils bear ing the forms of many beings no longer alive silent witness to those ancient times. The flooded "sometimes large like the beings themselves"—they land in the Zuni creation myth shows the Zuni rec- were describing the skeletons of dinosaurs and oth- ognized that a sea had once covered their desert. Vol- er extinct creatures. Fossil skeletons may have been canic evidence, such as burned rocks and hardened the original we-ma-we, but claws, teeth, and smaller lava flows—and perhaps even an oral tradition ofeye- fossil bones, along with animal-shaped concretions, witness accounts of eruptions—supported another were more easily carried as amulets. Recent Zuni part of the Zuni creation myth: that a great confla- carvers, aware of the connections between fossils and gration had dried out the young earth, enabUng hu- fetishes, have even begun to make small fetishes in man beings to survive. the shapes of dinosaurs. Modern Zuni fetishes, small carved stone animals with inlaid hearts, are well-known tourist com- The Navajo ofNew Mexico and Arizona are close modities. But traditionally, the most valued person- neighbors of the Zuni and share some similar al fetishes were small rocks or fossils that resembled legends. Yet, as many paleontologists have noted, they some animal form. Most treasured of all were the shun fossils because of their connection with death. ones that needed little or no carving to bring out the In the 1930s, during the construction of a dam on May 2005 natural histoky 59 .:;^..^^. .:-^..^..-^r^-.v.-r»«^^...^ their reservation, Navajo workers refused to contin- dinosaurs and other species are conspicuous in the ue after enormous bones were exposed by the horse- desert. Water monsters, born of rock in the first drawn scrapers. "Chindee," they whispered. "Ghost." world, were also subdued by the Monster Slayers Around the same time, the geologist Baylor Brooks but were allowed to Hve because they promised to learned from some Navajo that the bones ofimmense keep springs and rivers flowing. Like the water mon- dinosaurs and marine reptiles were considered to be sters of many other Native American myths, they the remains of the monster Yeitso. The giant's ghost were imagined to have peculiar, elongated bodies was said to haunt the bone beds. and horns like a buffalo's. In Navajo creation myth, the present world emerged out of a series of past worlds—the num- Footprints in stone are plentiful in the Southwest ber varies—that were destroyed long ago. People es- and the Great Basin, and they, too, have attracted caped from each world, bringing a token from the the attention of many Native American tribes for previous era. The earher worlds, wet and muddy, centuries. The three-toed tracks of extinct thero- were dominated by monsters, which had been cre- pods bear a striking resemblance to those of their ated before people were and which pursued them living relatives, the birds. A dinosaur trackway near as prey. Salvation came, in the Navajo myth, when Cameron, Arizona, for instance, was known to the the Sun gave special lightning bolts to the twin sons Navajo as the Place with Bird Tracks. Representa- 1> H W Qfei O r-^-^f W e o & o a Sketch of a water monster, known as Tenocouny or Zemoguani, was made by the Kiowa artist Siiverhorn ca. 1891-94. The tribe, which inhabited the southern Plains, would have encountered the shells and other fossils of marine creatures, evidence that in ages past the region was flooded by a sea. Among the most impressive fossils that erode out of the landscape are those of mosasaurs—sinuous, toothed, predatory reptiles that grew thirty or more feet long. ofChanging Woman, enabling them to become the tions both ofbirds and of three-toed dinosaur tracks heroic Monster Slayers. sometimes occur in ancient rock carvings or rock The first, most dreaded monster overcome by the paintings that are near dinosaur trackways. twins was Yeitso. The bones of the monster were all For example, near a track site at Flag Point, Ver- around: large fossils of dinosaurs or marine reptiles, mihon Cliffs, in the Grand Staircase—Escalante Na- as well as immense petrified logs (which can re- tional Monument, Utah, are several representations semble bones). Yeitso was also described as covered of birds, painted onto the rock near what looks like with flinty scales, an image that recalls the distinc- an image of the footprint of a three-toed dinosaur. tive remains of Triassic amphibians, phytosaurs, and Tracks whose fossil name is Eiibroiites (precisely armored dinosaurs covered with bony scales or which dinosaur made them is not known) are promi- scutes. And indeed, like the dinosaur bones and pet- nent in the area, and so the footprint image is prob- rified logs, fossilized scutes or plates of armored ably a rendering of such a track. The rock paintings . ^^^^'^^•"•"' ^j^gg^^^^^^Mgggjgiggg^^ .ya'i«;-//vj«-r?'a?a>ia;;-.:.'. are attributed to artists of the Anasazi culture, who mammal-Uke creatures that lived underwater. The made them sometime between A.D. 1000 and 1200. description was probably based on the bones and Perhaps even older are rock carvings at Cub tusks of mammoths and mastodons that eroded out Creek, in Dinosaur National Monument, Utah. of lakes and rivers. In the mid- 1700s, however, some One set of petroglyphs depicts Hzards carved in var- bands of Sioux acquired horses and began to move ious sizes, some as long as six feet, approaching a west, into what is now North and South Dakota, human figure only about a foot tall [see photograph on page 57]. The carvings have been attributed to the Fremont culture, which flourished between A.D. The Navajo refused to work on 700 and 1200. In Arizona, members of the Hopi Snake Society a dam after enormous hones were incorporated three-toed tracks into the kUts worn in exposed. ^^Ghost," they whispered. the traditional snake dance. This rimal is performed with live rattlesnakes, because the snakes are supposed to relay the need for rain to the proper kachina, or Nebraska, and eastern Wyoming and Montana. As ancestral spirit. The rain-making spirit is envisioned they migrated into the badlands of the Dakotas, they as a giant underground serpent called Palulukon. Ar- began to encounter the fossil skeletons of large ma- tifacts and photographs show that the design on the rine reptiles. And with those encounters, the west- kilts has been in use for at least a cenmry, and it can- ern Sioux came to visualize the Unktehi as immense not be known for certain what inspired them. The reptiles or serpents with legs, though the creatures design has sometimes been said to represent duck or retained their horns. Interestingly, a sketch by the frog prints, but bears a striking resemblance to di- late-nineteenth-century Kiowa artist Silverhorn de- nosaur tracks. According to one account, recorded in picts a mythical Plains water monster as a long, scaly the early 1960s, the large, three-toed fossil tracks im- serpent with a toothy crocodilian head, much like pressed in local rocks were beUeved to have been made the skuU of a mosasaur, but topped with branching by the kachina who sends the rain. Interestingly, the antlers [see iUustration on opposite page] tracks are most noticeable after they become filled The Unktehi's foes were the Wakinyan, or Thun- with rainwater. [See photographs on pages 58—59.] derbirds. In the Great Lakes region the extinct in- spiration for the Thunderbirds could have included The inland sea that covered Kansas and Nebraska giant condors and Ice Age teratorns, with wingspans during the Cretaceous period kept those lands of twelve to seventeen feet (memories of the living off limits to dinosaurs. But within the Niobrara For- animals could even have been preserved in some oral mation, which forms chalk blufis along the Solomon traditions). Sioux who traveled in the Dakotas and and Smoky Hill rivers in Kansas, are the petrified re- Nebraska, hovi^ever, Avould have encountered Pter- mains of a variety of marine creatures. Skeletons of anodon and Hesperornis fossils. Legends of enormous enormous eel-Uke mosasaurs, long-necked plesio- birds in the badlands could also have grown out of saurs, and huge sea turtles inhabit the chalk, along encounters with the remains of Diatryma, a preda- with palin-size shark teeth and countless seashells. tory flightless bird of the Eocene epoch (between The Yale paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh, who ex- 56 miUion and 34 million years ago). plored the Smoky HiU River drainage in the 1 870s, Of course, no one can ever be sure just what role discovered Pteranodon skeletons with wingspans of the remains of extinct winged or beaked creatures twenty feet, the first flying reptiles known in the New might have played in creating the mythology. Much World, as well as the fossils of giant diving birds. of the lore about Thunderbirds—that they wielded But as with the dinosaur discoveries elsewhere in lightning bolts, for instance—was the product of the Americas, indigenous people were on the ground storytelling imagination. But the task ofmining tales first. Many stories in the Great Plains tell of battles and myths for these and other links to the physical between sky or thunder beings and water monsters. fossils is far from complete. Although soine legends With the striking remains of giant creatures lying all may have been irretrievably lost, others may be about, it seems only a short imaginative step to the recorded in obscure documents or stiU survive as idea ofsuch a primal conflict. Skeletons ofthe toothed oral traditions, to be shared when someone asks the Hesperornis, a great diving bird, have even been found right questions. D inside skeletons of Cretaceous water monsters. When the Sioux resided in the Great Lakes area, This article was adapted from Adrienne Mayor's book Fossil in what is now Minnesota, they described the an- Legends of the First Americans, wliich is being published this cient beings they called Unktehi as large, horned. month by Princeton University Press. t/ay 2005 NATURAL HISTOHY 61 REVIEWS A Dinosaur Lover's Bookshelf With so much out there, how is a dinophile to choose? By Thomas R. Holtz Jr. persistent problem for the di- Luckily, there are signposts that point were feathered. Depicting a Troodon or nosaur fan, and no less for the to the titles you can trust. The most sig- a Velodmptor without feathers, there- A parents thereof, is the search nificant discovery in dinosaur paleon- fore, would simply be antiscientific. for the perfect dinosaur book. What tology in recent decades, for example, Paleoart is, admittedly, a difficult en- the reader is looking for is a work that is that birds are the direct descendants terprise: after all, its subject matter is is textuaUy and visually ac- long dead, and science can curate, up to date, and never expect to know very comprehensive. much about the creatures' The trouble is, no di- external surfaces or, for that nosaur book is going to get matter, any of their other it all right, or have all the perishable features. Never- latest information. Dino- theless, there is one invio- any^^^^^ur picturS . saur paleontology, like any late rule ofdinosaur restora- - other growing science, is a books have more tion: if the known fossil rapidly evolving field—as in common with medieval "^j^ skeleton conflicts with the the articles in this issue, and shape ofthe reconstruction, the current dinosaur exhi- bestiaries than with science, i the reconstruction must be bition at the American Mu- wrong. That rule gives the seum of Natural History, casual reader at least a fight- can attest. Investigators are ing chance ofseparating the describing new species all wheat from the chafi: dis- '-''M^. the time; a total of more tinguishing books that de- irai^-&»i than fifty new species of pict restorations consistent Mesozoic dinosaurs were named in of dinosaurs—in other words, follow- with fossil specimens from books that 2003 and 2004 alone. New techniques ing modern conventions of classifica- have more in common with medieval of analysis are continually uncovering tion, birds are the only living members bestiaries, conjured from rumor and previously unrecognized details about of Dinosauria. A good book will rec- imagination alone. One reliable clue the internal anatomy and growth pat- ognize this discovery. that a book belongs to the former group terns of dinosaurs. And finds of spec- Another indicator that a work on is the inclusion of drawings or pho- tacularly well-preserved specimens are dinosaurs is reliable and modern is the tographs ofthe fossil skeletons on which revealing unknown and unsuspected way it treats the question of scaly skin. the restorations are based. features of species first described many Until the late 1990s it would have been years ago: long tail quills on the horned acceptable, at least within permissibly The popularity ofdinosaurs, partic- dinosaur Psittacosaiinis, for instance, cautious bounds, to depict the hides of ularly among children, tends to were never dreamed of until a speci- deinonychosaurs (the "raptor" dino- make people forget that paleontology is men clearly showing that feature was saurs, small to medium-size bipedal a science. It's obvious when you think unearthed recently in China. predators such as Trcodon and Vcloci- about it that understanding the research What all this means is that important raptor) as scaly. But recent finds in in the field requires a substantial amount descriptive details in dinosaur studies northeastern China, coupled with im- ofbackground knowledge. But, equally can change in less time than it takes to proved knowledge about the evolu- obviously, most ofthe people who pro- get a book from its author's hands onto tionary relations between advanced duce movies, TV documentaries, and the shelves of a bookshop. What is a carnivorous dinosaurs and birds, popular books about dinosaurs do not discerning reader to do? demonstrate that deinonychosaurs have such specialized knowledge. That 6.2 NATUF.-\i_ HISTORY May 2005 I line ofthinking leads to a few more clues that explain how paleontologists dis- dino books are excellent examples of for choosing a dinosaur book: What is cover fossils, interpret anatomy, and that genre, the selections that fol- the expertise of the author? What sub- frame hypotheses about evolution and low—which range from books for the ject is the focus of the text? behavior. Check to see whether the very young to volumes for profes- The discriminating reader will look artist has sought to make a lifelike sionals in the field—comprise a vari- for a book written either by, or at least restoration, based on a collaboration ety of fresh approaches to the study in collaboration with, a paleontologist. with a scientist. of the "fearfully great lizards." That isn't to say that paleontologists al- Most ofall, look for some hints about While I'm on the subject ofthe work ways provide the most accurate or most what is not known. A good book will of scientists in the field, a disclaimer is entertaining information. But ifyou or explain that some of the most promi- in order. The world of dinosaur pa- your offspring are keen to fmd out nent physical details of a picture—the leontology is not only fast changing, but about dinosaur science, you'll be bet- color of a dinosaur's scales or feathers, also rather small. There are only a hun- ter off relying on expert knowledge, or for instance, not to mention many as- dred or so of us dinosaur paleontolo- at least on well-informed opinion. pects of dinosaur behavior—cannot be gists, and the community ofpaleoartists Ofcourse, children love to master the confirmed in the fossil record. Does the is even smaller. Together we represent a bUzzard of available trivial tacts about book make it clear that such things are close-knit community. So I want to dinosaurs—their height and weight, the stiU matters of pure speculation? make it clear to the reader that I have pronunciation of their names—and Although few books will meet all previously worked, and am currently pubHshers exploit that hunger for sur- those standards, many of those men- working, with some ofthe scientists, au- face knowledge. But paleontologists tioned below deal at least in part with thors, and artists represented in the know that, ultimately, the science of the analytical side of paleontology. In books reviewed, and have written chap- dinosaurs is all about methodology. The selecting them, I've avoided coffee- ters, in fact, for two of the volumes dis- subject matter of the best dinosaur table varieties with the format "dino- cussed below: Dinosaurs: the Science Be- books will foUow suit. Look for texts saurs from A to Z." Although some liiud the Stones and Tlie Diiiosmiria. For Young Readers the more subdued paleoartists working Dinosaurs! by Robert T. Bakker; iUus- Dino Dung: The Scoop on Fossil Feces, today. Unlike the images of artists such trated by Luis V Rey (Random House, by Karen Chin and Tliom Hohnes; ilhis- as Luis V Rey and Michael W Skrep- 2005; $8.99} trated by Karen Carr (Random House Step nick, Carr's dinosaurs don't seem to be Into Reading, 2005; $3.99) hurrying off somewhere; they're just This book combines causally going about the business of the talents oftwo of In the past several years the Step Into contributing to the fossil-fecal record. the more imagina- Reading imprint has released a Chin and Thom Holmes, a sci- tive (some might number of children's ence writer, also tell the tale ofhow say "controver- books about speci- coprolite studies began: how, in sial") workers in fic subtopics in dino- the early 1800s, the English vicar dinosaur studies. saur studies, written I, and paleontologist William Robert Bakker, whose cur- by subject experts. Pre- Buckland discovered fossilized riculum includes stints at both Harvard vious works include the hyena dung in Britain, then car- and Yale, as well as the Tate Geologi- paleontologist Robert ried out comparative analyses of cal Museum in Casper, Wyoming, was T. Bakker's fresh droppings from zoo-kept the enfant terrible of the dinosaur re- Maximum , Triceratops, and my own hyenas. Chin and Holmes go naissance in the 1970s, when his re- T. rex: Hunter or Scav- _ _ on to tell us how feces can be search, combined with similar studies ''^' enger? The most recent of preserved, and what kinds of in- by his colleagues, laid to rest the mid- them, and a splendid point formation can be retrieved from these century vision of dinosaurs as inept, of entry for the ten-year-old in all of often-overlooked, and generally un- maladapted failures. Rey's dinosaur re- us, is Dino Dung, an up-to-date book derappreciated, leftovers of the an- constructions (digitally superimposed I on dinosaur paleontology. cient world. Chin's presentations at for this book onto scenic background Karen Chin, a paleontologist and technical conferences are notorious photographs) are so briUiantly colored the co-author of this newest member for including at least one bad pun, and they are almost garish, and the figures of the series, is the leading expert on she doesn't disappoint her fans here: are probably the most dynamically dinosaur coprolites, or fossiUzed feces. one chapter is titled, "The Scat with posed of any in the tradition of pale- Karen Carr, the illustrator, is one of Nine Lives." oart. Yet despite the bold effects, the May 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 63 — results are surprisingly mainstream, in tographs from the field and from mu- the best sense ofthe word. That is to say, seum exhibits, support the brief ac- few dinosaur paleontologists today counts ofthe various species, their prob- would find the information and recon- able habits, and the way paleontologists structions in Dinosaurs! at aD unreason- have appUed the available fossil evidence. able (except perhaps for the imaginative For Intermediate Readers colors). If you are looking for a short, colorful, easy-to-read overview of the The Dinosaur Library, by Thorn Hohnes new understanding of dinosaurian di- and Laurie Holmes, ilhistrated by Michael versity, this book wiU serve as an excel- William Skrepnick (Enslow Publishers, lent introduction for young readers. Inc.; $26.60 each) Armored, Plated, and Bone-Headed I Like Dinosaurs! by Michael W. Dinosaurs (2002) Skrepiiick, a series for childreu ages six Baby Dinosaurs: Eggs, Nests, and Re- through eight (Enslow PubUshers, Inc., cent Discoveries (2003) $2L26each) Gigantic Long-Necked Plant-Eating Diplodocus: Gigantic Long-Necked Dinosaurs (2001) Dinosaur (2005) Great Dinosaur Expeditions and Dis- Elevette^ has more choices in styles, finishes, Sinosauropteryx: Mysterious Feath- coveries (2003) options price levels. It also with and comes a ered Dinosaur ( to appear in June 2005) Feathered Dinosaurs (2002) parts warranty no one can beat. Call us today Triceratops: Mighty Three-Horned Horned Dinosaurs (2001) Dinosaur (2005) Meat-Eating Dinosaurs (2001) to learn more ||y|^|_||y|AjOR COMPANY OF AMERICA Tyrannosaurus rex: Fierce King of Peaceful Plant-Eating Dinosaurs V DEPT. 3 the Dinosaurs (2005) (2001) Prehistoric Flying Reptiles (2003) www.inclinator.com . 800-343-9007 Everything paleontologists about RESIDENTIAL ELEVATORS • WHEELCHAIR LIFTS DUMBWAITERS know dinosaurs is ultimately based on fossil This series occupies an intriguing liter- discoveries, a concept this new series ary niche between a primer for begin- conveys to children in a sparse but visu- ners and a book for adults. In some The ally inviting manner. Each volume fea- sense, the Holmeses, a husband-and- tures a single, famous dinosaur species wife team of natural history writers, Toughest have produced a collection of books that is more deserving ofthe name "en- Glue On cyclopedia" than many single-volume Planei ,_ texts in the A-to-Z format. Taken together, the books represent a relatively comprehensive survey of rtn the major groupings within the Dinosauria. Individual volumes also touch on some related issues, such as dinosaur nesting behavior and field paleontology. The taxonomic books—the ones focusing on particular dinosaur clades (groups ofspecies that include aU the de- scendants of one common ancestor) all share the same structure. An opening story focuses on the life of a particular (though often individual dinosaur. Introductory mat- with some ter discusses dinosaur origins and diver- mention of related forms). sity. Then several chapters cover the Michael Skrepnick provides a short pas- anatomy, physiology, and feeding habits sage about the scenes depicted—only of the group in question, and its proba- about thirty words per page. His paint- ble extinction scenario. For a series ings and drawings, combined with pho- aimed at young audiences, TIte Dinosaur 64 NATURAL HISTORY May 2005 ^"^ New from prompt "messy moulter" "government Thames & Hudson license necessaiy" Etymological read- ings of dinosaurs' genus names are also C K fl I. S S T R I M C ( B A H O C ( I E H A tl D * t W '. a source of unsuspected humor. Some are accurate derivations with humor- ous interpretations: Ornitholestes, liter- ally "bird robber," is so named "for a tendency to break into poultry farms." Others are amusingly skewed: Di- craeosaurus (properly "bifurcated lizard") has become "two-meat-tray lizard," in reference "to the amount of meat a hunter can expect to get I #ivolutio as his share of a carcass: this dinosaur is a popular diet item in Tanzania." The new edition includes many re- Library is unusual in including footnotes cently named species, and several of that refer to primary literature in the these are appropriately feathered. But, I field. The series also gives separate in general, the science in this book is Chris Stringer Peter chronological and geographic listings of vintage 1980s. Many illustrations (su- & Andrews important discoveries. perimposed onto photographs of con- A compelling, authoritative, temporary domestic settings) are re- superbly illustrated account Dinosaurs as Living Animals peated from the original edition. of the rise and eventual domination of our species How to Keep Dinosaurs, by Robert Mash Whereas Mash brings dinosaurs firom (Weideiifeld &Nicolson, 2003; $14.99) the ancient world into modern life, A selection of Discovery Channel and Scientific American book clubs A Field Guide to Dinosaurs tTlte Es- Henry Gee, a senior editor for paleon- sential Handbook for Travelers in the tology at the journal Nature, takes us 240 pages / 432 illus. Mesozoic, by Henry Gee, illustrated by back to the world ofthe Mesozoic. Gee's Luis VRey (Barron's, 2003; $24.95) work, perhaps not surprisingly, is far bet- ter informed than Mash's is about cur- These two books present rather differ- rent dinosaur research. And for Gee, ent takes on dinosaurs as Uving animals. dinosaurs also become jumping-off Mash, a zoologist who heads the biol- points for addressing such general bio- ogy department at a pres- logical issues as mating dis- tigious EngUsh secondary plays, growth patterns, school, has revised and and symbiotic relations. updated a highly amusing Luis Rey's illustrations book that first appeared in are done both in black- 1983. Adopting the con- and-white and in brilliant ceit that some dinosaur (sometimes Day-Glo) and reptile genera of the P colors. Particularly dra- ancient world are still with matic are his "fish-eye us. How to Keep Dinosaurs lens" paintings, which provides the would-be lead to some unfamiliar saurian-pet owner with (and sometimes disturb- Edited by Chris Scarre details ofhow to feed, house, raise, and ing) perspectives, even for familiar dino- A groundbreaking introductory train creatures as that range from the saurs such Diplodoais. world prehistory textbook diminutive pterosaur Ainirognatlnis to Gee warns that readers who believe that presents the vast panorama the enormous Brachiosaurus. what they see in his book do so at their of human social, cultural, and Icons at the entries for each animal own risk. And it's true that the casual economic development signal various aspects of dinosaur care in reader might not be certain how much over 3 million years amiably wacky ways: the diet icon begets of the information is based on new dis- 784 pages / 753 illus. "fussy eater," "will eat other pets"; be- coveries, how much on reasonable Wherever books are sold havior evokes "worryingly clever," "iffy speculation, and how much comes out with babies"; practical considerations of Gee's and Rey's fertile imaginations. ^^ Thames & Hudson thamesandhud50nusa.com May 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 65 Everything you always wanted to know about But aside from the bright palate and the These three volumes are the latest ad- MAMMALS odd perspectives, the expert quickly ditions to the Indiana University Press recognizes that Rey s drawings, at least, series Life ofthe Past, which aims to pub- are based on the latest paleontological hsh peer-reviewed scientific Hterature data, and are probably more accurate on various topics in paleontology. The than the typical popular images we're all series is intended to reach a wider read- accustomed to. Still, I wonder if some ership than the traditional scholarly readers think that the supposed Arctic journals do. carnivore Tyraiiiiosaunis hekamxac, for instance, is already known to science? The Dinosauria, Second Edition, edited by David B. Weishanipel, Peter Dodson, Transition to the Technical and Halska Osniolska (University of Cal- Dinosaurs: The Science Behind the ifornia Press, 2004; $95.00) Stories, edited by Judith G. Scotchinoor, Dale A. Springer, Brent H. Breitliaupt, Tlie Dinosauria is the primary profes- and Anthony R. Fiorilh (American Geo- sional reference for dinosaur paleontol- logical Institnte, 2002; $29.95) ogy. Well-worn copies of the first edi- tion, conceived in 1984 and pubUshed How do we know what we know about in 1990, stiU occupy the desks of cura- Providing a rare glimpse into the dinosaurs? In this book, dinosaur pale- tors, fossil preparators, graduate stu- habits and habitats of mammals in ontologists, geologists, and paleoartists dents, paleoartists, and professors, not to all fifty-six national parks, Mammak explain their work ^^ mention the shelves of university and ofthe National Parks captures the to a general, edu- museum libraries. wonder and beauty of our national cated audience. ^•*^ But the discipHne has grown sub- "icSd, treasures in vivid color photographs. Don't expect to '"^^-^iS^ stantially in the past fifteen years, and see lots of differ- the new Dinosauria is a more than ade- ent dinosaurs ^~*iW quate update of the original. The num- Walker's fully restored, ber of contributors has grov^^n from RNIVORES or an alphabet- twenty-three to forty-three; many were ., the World ical listing of still graduate students when the origi- major species. nal was first published. The new edi- But if you are tion also includes, significantly, a chap- %'' interested in such topics as ter on birds of the Mesozoic, thereby how dinosaur fossils are found and col- officially recognizing that Aves belongs lected, what fossil trackways can tell us to the larger grouping, Dinosauria. about dinosaur locomotion, hoAv evo- Comprising more than 800 pages, this lutionary interrelations of dinosaur work is the ultimate reference on dino- groups are reconstructed, or how sci- saurs, detailing the adaptations, anatomy, ence can infer various modes ofbehav- diversity, and inferred habits represented ior—this volume is an excellent gate- on the many branches of the dinosaur way to the primary technical literature. family tree. One long chapter examines occurrence of dinosaur fossils Technical Literature the (bones, eggs, and footprints) around the Feathered Dragons: Studies in theTran- globe. Concluding chapters discuss top- sitionfrom Dinosaurs to Birds, edited by ics such as dinosaur physiology and ex- From the dwarf mongoose to the Philip J. Currie, Eva B. Koppelhus, Mar- tinction. The massive bibliography is the polar bear, carnivores are at once tin A. Sliugar, and Joanna L. Wright most comprehensive single source of respected and misunderstood, (Indiana Lhivcrsity Press, 2004; $49.95) guidance to the professional dinosaur lit- invoking both fear and curiosity in The Carnivorous Dinosaurs, edited by erature ever pubHshed. humans. This comprehensive guide, Kenneth Carpenter (Indiana University So this book is a must for the serious featuring 225 illustrations, covers the Press, to appear in July 2005; $49.95) student of dinosaur research. But un- world's eight terrestrial families of Tliunder-Lizards:TlteSauropodomorph less you have already mastered verte- carnivores. Dinosaurs, edited by Virginia Tidwell and brate anatomy, Mesozoic stratigraphy, Kenneth Carpenter (Indiana University and phylogenetic analysis, it's probably The Jckns Hopkins Press, to appear in July 2005; $59.95) not the place to begin. D University Press 1-800-5.^7-5487 " ww^v.press. jhu.edu 66 NATURAL HISTORY May 2005 nature.net NATURALIST AT LARGE For more mature dinosaur enthusi- (Continued Jiviii page 32) Dino Web Digs asts, especially the ones who enjoy the occasional fossil-hunting field trip, lated and essentially upright. The ani- "Dino Russ's Lair" (www.isgs.uiuc.edu/ mals crowd into a shallow bowl-shaped By Robert Anderson dinos/dinos_home.html) offers a wealth depression less than a yard across [see lower of useful tips and Web links. CUck on illustration on page 32]. The excellent Most children these days go the icon for "Dinosaur Sites to Visit." I preservation of the skeletons indicates through a "dinosaur phase," and learned, for example, that the Isle of that the animals were buried rapidly and my son was no exception. Before his Wight, in the English Channel, is the rules out the possibility that they were interest subsided, he'd consumed just best place to find dinosaur remains in somehow swept together by the ele- about everything he could get his hands Europe—a new species comes to light ments. But could such a large group have on about the geologic age of the dino- there roughly every three years. been a mother and her brood? saurs. He's moved on now, but every once in a while, I catch him pulling out Around the world, new dinosaur No one yet knows enough about one of his dinosaur tomes. It's a re- finds are cropping up all the time, Psittacosaiirns reproduction, such minder that our fascination with these and many innovative exhibits are as egg, clutch, and hatchUng size, to say animals never quite goes extinct. launched to showcase them. Opening for sure. If this dinosaur had small eggs, An enduring Internet favorite on the this month, for example, at the Amer- a brood of thirty-four may have been subject for both my son and me is the ican Museum of Natural History in a reasonable possibility. Yet several site of the Museum of Paleontology at New York City, is an exhibit that ad- other circumstances might account for the University of California, Berkeley dresses some ofthe most current think- the apparently large number ofyoung. (www.ucmp.berkeley.edu). From the ing about dinosaur biology. Check out Perhaps one male protected the eggs subtopics displayed on the home page one of the highUghts of the Web site laid by his multiple female partners. Or menu, select "paleoportal.org" to ac- (www.amnh.org/dinosaurs) by choosing perhaps the young from various fe- cess "The Paleontology Portal," which "Behind the Scenes Gallery" from the males were typically gathered after gathers many resources into a single in- yellow menu bar: you'll find out how hatching to form creches, requiring formational Web site. The subject head- museum preparators re-created the fewer adults to watch over them. ings on the left side of the page direct prehistoric environment of a forest in Psittacosaunis and Horner's Maiasain-a you to information about ancient fossil ancient China for a spectacular, 700- provide the best evidence to date for flora and fauna, cross-indexed for vari- square-foot walk-through diorama. the parental care of hatchlings and ous geologic time periods and for var- Budding paleontologists will natu- young among extinct dinosaurs. An- ious locations around the United States. rally be drawn to other inuseum Web other good candidate is Protoceratops, If you want to go directly to dino- sites. At the Smithsonian Institution's for which groups of small young have saurs, however, you can begin at a page National Museum ofNatural History in been found, but so far without an at- (www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/dino Washington, DC, curators have gone tending adult. AH three are herbivo- saur.html) that opens with an evocative to extraordinary lengths to modernize a rous dinosaurs. Although some extinct illustration by paleoartist Michael W. 7)'(ceratop5 skeleton (www.mnh.si.edu/high carnivorous theropods brooded their Skrepnick [see "A Dinosaur Lover's Book- light/triceratops). Scroll down the page eggs, as do their relatives the birds, shelf" page 62]. You'll also find some di- and click in the box beside "Scanning there is sparse evidence that such nosaur history in unusual formats at this the Bones" to access two brief but fas- theropods minded or fed their young. page. For example, scroll down to cinating QuickTime movies that re- It's conceivable that the contrast re- "UCMP Special Exhibit: Dilopho- create the animal's gait. flects a difference in the creatures' eco- saurus!" (or go to www.ucmp.berkeley. The way dinosaurs moved and be- logical niches. But with so little hard edu/dilophosaur/intro.html) to find a haved fascinates almost everyone, but evidence, it's better not to jump to any guided tour led by the late Sam Welles, the push to bring the creatures to Hfe has conclusions. the Berkeley paleontologist who was the come mainly from movies and TV pro- Paleontologists have learned that they first to discover a Dilophosaurus fossil. grams. At a Discovery Channel Web must take care to understand extinct If you're looking for a good site for page called "dinosaur guide" (dsc. disco species on their own terms. What no younger children, try "Zoom Dino- very.com/guides/dinosaur/dinosaur.html), one disputes, though, is that reproduc- saurs" (www.enchantedlearning.com/sub under the heading "Walking With tive strategies are direcdy Unked to evo- jects/dinosaurs), an online hypertext Dinosaurs" in the blue menu box, check lutionary success. Parental care in its var- book. The San Diego Natural History out "Dinos: How Do We Know?" ious forms may have been among the Museum also has an appeahng dinosaur key adaptations that enabled these re- page for kids, called "Dinosaur Dig" Robert Anderson is a freelance science markable species, now reduced to fos- (www.sdnhm.org/kids/dinosaur/index.html). writer living in Los Angeles. sils, to have prevailed for so long. D IVlay 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 67 OUT THERE remarkable feamre is a gargantuan im- pact crater on its surface, stretching some 280 miles across—more than three- Loading the Gannon quarters of the 330-mile diameter of Vesta itself Long ago, a massive collision with another large asteroid must have gouged out a huge part of Vesta. The How do asteroids from the belt between Jupiter liberated fragments, launched into solar and Mars get into near-Earth orbits? orbit, are called Vestoids. Planetary astronomers can infer an asteroid's origin by measuring the in- tensity of its reflected surdight; all ob- By Charles Liu jects that come from a common par- ent body tend to have the same min- eral makeup, and so their reflectivity is Sixty-five the same. Marchi and his associates million years ago measured the reflectivity of a number the Mesozoic era end- of NEOs across a range of visible and ed with a bang. An asteroid several infrared wavelengths, and they identi- miles across slammed into our planet, fied four NEOs in their sample that just off what is now the northern coast matched Vesta's visible-light reflectiv- of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The en- et or the ity remarkably well—Vestoids. ergy released by the collision—far Sun. When they greater than the combined explosive do, the larger body's power of all the nuclear warheads on gravity acts either Uke a sUng- Earth—caused a global environmental shot, swinging them around so fast catastrophe: firestorms, choking clouds, that they get flung out of their Earth- acid rain, and more. The impact coin- crossing orbits, or hke a vacuum clean- cided with a mass extinction that wiped er, dragging them to oblivion on the out the nonbird dinosaurs and led, surface of the larger body. All of the eventually, to the rise ofmammals as the NEOs around when the dinosaurs met dominant large fauna. their demise are probably long gone. Before that asteroid swung into But NEOs are stiU abundant, so how "death star" mode, it was the kind of does their population get replenished? body planetary astronomers would call According to the most widely accept- a near-Earth object, orNEO—a chunk ed hypothesis, most NEOs arrive in our of metal, rock, or ice orbiting the Sun, local neighborhood from the main as- whose orbit happens to intersect the teroid belt, a zone of rocky bodies be- orbit of Earth. Astronomers have al- tween the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. ready discovered more than 3,200 Now a research team led by Simone NEOs, 700 of which are more than a Marchi, an astronomer at the Universi- kilometer across—large enough to ty of Padua, Italy, has found supporting threaten humanity if just one made a evidence for that hypothesis. Vesta, the If they remain in their current or- direct hit. Perhaps thousands more third largest asteroid in the solar system, bits, the four Vestoid NEOs wiU nev- NEOs ofthat size remain undiscovered. lies in the main asteroid belt, nearly 130 er collide with our planet. As NEOs, None of the NEOs discovered so far million miles farther from the Sun than however, they are only one unpre- is predicted to hit Earth in the fore- Earth does. Yet fragments of Vesta have dictable gravitational slingshot away seeable future. Long-term, though, been found scattered throughout the from a collision course. What would even if astronomers plotted aU the or- solar system. Marchi's analysis shows happen if one of them hit Earth? H. bits NEOs are tracing today, they that among those fragments ofVesta are Jay Melosh, a planetary scientist at the couldn't predict all the potential large four NEOs, discovered in 2003. University of Arizona in Tucson, and impacts. That's because the orbits of Ross A. Beyer of the NASA Ames Re- the vast majority ofNEOs are unstable; Vesta itself was discovered 198 years search Center at Moffett Field, Cali- after a few millic>n years the objects ago by the German astronomer fornia, have created a user-friendly generally swoop in too close to a plan- Heinrich W M. Olbers. Perhaps its most Web page (www.lpl.arizona.edu/tekton/ NATURAL HISTORY May 2005 . — crater.html) that can estimate the results. er asteroid. Such random events, saurs—not to mention the danger they The largest ofthe four NEOs is about though, aren't very common; in fact, pose to our own civilization. But geo- 0.7 mile (1.1 kilometer) across and made among asteroids they are so unlikely that logic and fossil evidence suggests that, of sohd rock. Type in 1,100 meters on even in the brUions of years since the some 240 million years ago, an asteroid the Web site. In a head-on collision the beginning ofthe solar system they could collision much larger than the Yucatan NEO would hit Earth at around 38,000 not have given rise to the NEO popu- impact caused an even more devastat- miles an hour ( 1 7 kilometers a second) lation we observe today. ing extinction, which may have set the Type that in as well. The Web site then To account for the observations, plan- stage for the dinosaurs' rise to promi- calculates that the energy released on etary astronomers have proposed a nence. Biologically speaking, NEOs impact would equal some 5 million mechanism based on so-called orbital present just one more kind of evolu- Hiroshima-power atomic bombs, and resonances. When large numbers ofob- tionary crisis, or opportunity, that life leave an impact crater one and a half jects orbit together, they can create com- on Earth must face—and adapt to or times the size of New York City. For plex patterns of motion; the structure perish. Sooner or later another big in- comparison, the earthquake that caused within Saturn's rings is a good example. terplanetary cannonbaU will swing in- the horrific tsunami of December 26, According to Marchi, at least two or- to a coUision course with our home 2004, released only 0.5 percent the en- bital resonances funnel asteroids from planet. With adequate knowledge and ergy of such a devastating strike. the main asteroid belt into the inner so- preparation, we humans might be able lar system. So, more NEOs wiU prob- to deflect, divert, or destroy it—and So what made the four Vestoids leave ably be coming down the resonance dodge the evolutionary hammer blow the asteroid belt and swing in close pike, keeping the threat ofa catastrophic that dispatched our dinosaurian kin. enough to earn the name "near-Earth collision ahve for the foreseeable fiiture. Or not. object"? One possible mechanism is an- I suppose we dinophHes might curse Charles Liu is a professor ofastrophysics at the other variety gravitational of slingshot: near-Earth objects for what one of City University of Neif York and an associate a random close encounter with anoth- them did to end the reign of the dino- unth the American Museum of Natural History. THE SKY IN MAY By Joe Rao As May begins. Mercury is continuing to the left of the Moon. A far more tive to the bright stars Castor and Pol- the poor apparition it made in April, striking pairing comes on the morn- lux as the planet slowly tracks its way hanging low in the east at sunrise. Al- ing of the 31st, when Mars is situated eastward through the constellation though the planet brightens from mag- about one lunar diameter above the Gemini, the twins. nimde 0.2 to -0.4 in the first two weeks Moon's upper limb. of May, it rises only about forty-five The Moon wanes to last quarter on the minutes before the Sun. More souther- Jupiter dominates the evening sky from 1st at 2:24 A.M. and to new on the 8th ly viewers get a better apparition. its throne in the south at nightfall. Once at 4:45 a.m. It waxes to first quarter on Venus sets at dusk, Jupiter becomes the the 16th at 4:57 A.M. and to fiiU on the Venus has been lost in the Sun's glare brightest "star" in the sky. AH month 23rd at 4: 1 8 P.M . The Moon wanes again since early February, but this month long the giant planet hes within less to last quarter on the 30th at 7:47 A.M. the planet gradually returns to the than two degrees of the third-magni- On the night of May 23—24 a near- evening sky. You might catch sight of tude star Porrima, named in honor of ly full Moon occults, or hides, the rud- it as early as the 1st if you look above the Roman goddess ofprophecy, in the dy star Antares, as seen from North the west-northwestern horizon with constellation Virgo, the virgin. America. Along the West Coast, An- binoculars a few minutes after sunset. In 1718 two English astronomers, tares disappears behind the Moon's By late May Venus is setting more than James Bradley and James Pound, dis- bright Hmb within a few minutes of an hour after the Sun, but the planet is covered that Porrima is actually two 1 1 :53 P.M. Pacific dayUght time on May low in the twilight sky and hard to see. stars, each shining at magnitude 3.9 23 and remains hidden for about sev- making Porrima one of the earliest enty minutes. Along most of the east- Mars rises this month about three double stars to be discovered with a ern seaboard, Antares vanishes around hours before the Sun, give or take telescope. 4:22 A.M. on May 24 and reappears about twenty minutes, and brightens about an hour later. gradually from magnitude 0.6 to 0.3. Saturn appears high in the southwest- A crescent Moon visits Mars twice ern sky as darkness falls. Take note of Unless othenvisc noted, all times are east- during May. On the 2nd Mars is well how Saturn changes its position rela- ern daylight time. May 2005 NATURAL HISTORY 69 UNIVERSE (Continuedfrom page 28) influence of some undiscovered law of naUy collapses and explodes, it releas- birth ofa black hole. The telescope had physics, the only way to achieve the es stupendous quantities of matter and picked up the X-ray "afterglow" of a measured energy is to beam the total prodigious quantities of energy. The now-famous burst, GRB 970228. But output of the explosion in a narrow first assault of matter and energy the X rays were "redshifted." Turns out, ray—much the way all the hght from a punches through weak points in the this handy feature of light and the ex- flashlight bulb gets channeled by the shell of gas, enabling the succeeding panding universe enables astrophysi- flashlight's parabolic mirror into one matter and energy to funnel through cists to make a fairly accurate determi- strong, narrow beam. Pump a superno- that same point. Computer models of nation of distance. The afterglow of va's power through a narrow beam, and this complicated scenario suggest that GRB 970228, which reached Earth on anything in the beam's path will get the the weak points are typically just above February 28, 1997, was clearly coming full brunt of the explosive energy. the north and south poles of the orig- from halfway across the universe, bil- Meanwhile, whoever does not fall in the inal star. When seen from beyond the lions of light-years away.The following beam's path remains oblivious. The nar- shell, two powerful beams travel in op- yearBohdan Paczyriski, a Princeton as- rower the beam, the naore intense the posite directions, headed toward all trophysicist, coined the term "hyper- flux of its energy, and the fewer cosmic gamma-ray detectors (test-ban-treaty nova" to describe the source of such occupants will see it. detectors or othei-wise) that happen to bursts. Personally, I would have voted What gives rise to these laserlike lie in their path. for "super-duper supernova." beams of gamma rays? Consider the Adrian Melott, an astronomer at the original supermassive star. Not long University of Kansas, and an interdisci- Ahypernova is the one supernova in before its death from fuel starvation, pHnary crew ofcolleagues assert that the 100,000 that produces a gamma- the star jettisons its outer layers. It be- Ordovician extinction may well have ray burst, generating in a matter ofmo- comes cloaked in a vast, cloudy shell, been caused by a face-to-face encounter ments the same amount ofenergy as our possibly augmented by pockets of gas with a nearby gamma-ray burst. A quar- Sun would emit if it shone at its present left over from the cloud that original- ter of Earth's families of organisms per- output for a trillion years. Barring the ly spawned the star. When the star fi- ished at that time. And nobody has turned up evidence of a meteor impact contemporary with the event. When you're a hammer (as the Serious Sun Protection saying goes), all your problems look like nails. Ifyou're a meteorite ex- Thousands of dermatologists have pert pondering the sudden extinction recommended Solumbro. It is the of boatloads of species, you'll want to first line of clothing to meet published say an impact did it. 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At the Museum American Museum S Natural History ^ www.amnh.org Dinosaur Exhibition Sheds New Light on Old Bones Fantastic images of dinosaurs have captivated the pubhc's imagination for more than 150 years, from the bulky Iguanodon models created by Waterhouse Hawkins in 1853 to the computer ani- .^lu. i^i^i^i^'i^fffTTiiT mated Tyrannosaurus rex charging through Jurassic Park. On May 14, 2005, the American Museum of Natural History presents the next step in our understanding of these great beasts with the opening of the groundbreaking exhibition Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries. On J^'^J view through January 8, 2006, the exhibition reveals how current think- ^Stf^^s ing about dinosaur biology has changed dramatically over the past two decades and highlights ongoing )] cutting-edge research by Museum Jl^ft scientists and other leading paleon- tologists around the world. Dinosaurs This gleaming model of an Apatosaurus skeleton is a 3D realization presents the most up-to-date look at of computerized biomechainical studies. how scientists are reinterpreting the mysteries of dinosaurs—from their appearance and behavior videos offering behind-the-scenes glimpses of fieldwork and to the hotly debated theories of their extinction. discussions among leading scientists currently investigating "Dinosaurs presents us with an ideal opportunity to expand the mysteries of dinosaur biology. upon many of the dinosaur lifestyle topics that we introduced Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries is organized by in our renovated fossil halls on the Museum's fourth floor," the American Museum of Natural History in collaboration says Ellen V. Putter, President of the American Museum of with the following institutions to which the exhibition will Natural History. "Once again, the Museum is on the leading travel after it closes in New York: the Houston Museum of edge of presenting science to the public as we update them on Natural Science (March 3-July 30, 2006); the California the latest dinosaur research. After visitors see this exhibition, Academy of Sciences, San Prancisco (September 15, they will never think of dinosaurs in the same way again." 2006-Pebruary 4, 2007); The Field Museum, Chicago Dinosaurs features a wide range of fossil specimens and (March 30-September 3, 2007); and the North Carolina casts, including a full-size cast of a T. rex and numerous State Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh (October 26, recently discovered fossils of well-known prehistoric animals 2007-July 5, 2008). including Gorgosaurus, Triceratops, and Protoceratops. An "This exhibition illustrates how scientists are using new enormous immersive diorama—the most detailed re-creation ideas, new discoveries, and new technologies to revolutionize of a prehistoric environment ever attempted—depicting the our understanding of dinosaurs," says Mark A. Norell, cura- rich diversity of the Mesozoic forest in China will also be fea- tor of Dinosaurs and Curator and Chairman of the Division of tuied. The Museum is developing several interactive com- Paleontology. "Our work reaches across many disciplines in- puter simulations and animations, as well as a number of volving paleontologists, biomechanical engineers, paleo- botanists, and others to showcase how we go about recon- displays retrace the steps of indi- structing the mysterious hfe of dinosaurs." vidual dinosaurs across the face of the trackway. The exhibition is divided into several major sections: • A large "trophy wall" of mounted dinosaur skulls that Introduction: By viewing graphics and CT scans, visitors will illustrates the latest theories on see how the fossil of Bamhiraptorfeinbergi, the best-preserved the purposes of the unusual and most complete dromaeosaur yet found in North Amer- horns, frills, crests, and domes ica, provides new evidence for the evolutionary links between found on many dinosaur skulls. birds and dinosaurs. This section highlights the full range of these mysterious struc- How Dinosaurs Moved: In this section, the latest biomechan- tures, investigating whether they ical studies on dinosaur movement spring to life. Highlights were used for defense, mate include: recognition, or sexual selection. Beipiaosaurus model • A stunning 6o-foot-long model of an Apatosaurus skeleton in progress based on computer drawings and made of chrome in geo- Extinction: In this section, visitors metric arcs, stretching across the center of the exhibition. can explore the hard evidence behind theories on the factors • A full-size cast skeleton of a T. rex standing in a dynamic that ended the Age of Dinosaurs, including asteroid impact, pose and bearing down on visitors below, paired with a six- global climate change, and massive volcanic eruptions. A foot-long mechanical T. rex skeleton that illustrates the typ- newly discovered slab of sedimentary rock that shows a thin ical speed of a rampaging tyrannosaur. layer of iridium—a metallic element that marks the bound- ary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods—is believed The Liaoning Forest: Visitors can stroll back in time through to represent the remnants of an asteroid or comet that a 700-square-foot diorama depicting a 130-million-year-oId caused the extinction of 85 percent of all species on Earth forest that existed in what is now Liaoning, China, a province about 65 miUion years ago. that has yielded a rich diversity of well-preserved specimens. The exhibition ends with an intriguing conclusion—dino- saurs still walk among us, and more often fly above us, as birds. Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries and its accompanying education and public programs are made possible by Bank of America. Major funding has also been provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Endowment Fund. PROGRAMS SYMPOSIUM: Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries Saturday, 5/14 Learn about the cutting-edge research behind the exhibition at this scientific symposiiun—open to the public—with world- renowned paleontologists. Visit www.amnh.org for details. Walking with Dinosaurs An early study skeletal structure of dinosaur Sunday, 5/15, 22:00 noon-r.oo p.m. (For the whole family) John R. Hutchinson, University of London, turns his scien- This re-created forest is populated with relatives of some tific attention to the Tyrannosaurus rex. modern trees and more than 35 different species of scientifi- cally accurate, fleshed-out models of dinosaurs, reptiles, early Tracking Dinosaurs around the World birds, insects, and mammals. Sunday, ^/i^, i:]0-2:]o p.m. (For the wholefamily) Martin Lockley, University of Colorado at Denver, takes us How Dinosaurs Beliaved: This section demonstrates how sci- on a global tour of dinosaur trackways. entists use new approaches and technologies to unlock the secrets of dinosaur behavior. Highlights include: Casting Dino Tracks • A 15-by-io-foot re-creation of the famous Davenport Sunday, ^/22, 11:00 a.m.-i2:oo noon (Ages 5-7, each child with Ranch Trackway, a collection of sauropod dinosaur prints one adult) or 1:00-2:00 p.m. (Adults) unearthed in Texas by Museum scientists in the 1930s, Learn what dinosaur footprints tell us and create your own that shows visitors how recent analysis has uncovered new cast of one. information on dinosaur herding behavior. Special Hghting The contents of these paces are provided to Natural Hisropr by the American Museum of Natural History. )mm. . Museum Events American Museum S Natural History ^ www.amnh.org EXHIBITIONS The Butterfly Conservatory. GLOBAL WEEKENDS Totems to Turquoise: Native Tropical Butterflies Alive Asians in America: North American Jewelry Arts of in Winter Metaphors of Change the Northwest and Southwest Through May }0, 200^ Saturday and Sunday, Through July lo, 200j A return engagement of this ^/y and j/S, i.'oo-j.-jo p.m. This groundbreaking exhibition popular exhibition includes The Asian community is one celebrates the beauty, power, more than 500 live, free- of the fastest growing in the and symbolism of the magnifi- flying tropical butterflies in United States. This two-day cent tradition of Native Ameri- an enclosed habitat that program of art, film, panel dis- can arts, examining techniques, approximates their natural cussions, and dance and mu- materials, and styles that have environment. sical performances explores evolved over the past century the experience of Cambodian as Native American jewelers Exploring Bolivia's Biodiversity refugees and the larger immi- have transformed their tradi- Through August 8, 200^ grant perspective. tional craft into vital forms of These lush photographs of Global Weekends are made possible, in part, by The Coca-Cola Company, the City cultural and artistic expression. Bolivia take viewers on a of New York, and the New York City Council. Additional support has been PEOPLE ATTHEAMNH provided by the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc., the Tolan Family, The vibrantly colored biue-and-yellow and the family of Frederick H. Leonhardt. Kate Holmes, Biodiversity Specialist, macavK (Ara araraunaj lives through- out most ofthe Amazon basin. Center for Biodiversity and Conservation LECTURES Three years ago, having been offered a position at the journey through the mountain An Evening with American Museum of Natural History, Kate Holmes sat on landscapes of the Andes to Susan Orlean a beach on a remote island of Vanuatu, listening to a rooster the dense lowland tropical Thursday, ^/^, y:oo p.m. crow and thinking she would never hear such a sound in New forests of the Amazon and the Susan Orlean conducts a York City. Starting work at the Museum six months later, she dry forests of the Chaco. Cap- tour of the world via its discovered her Morningside Heights apartment building was tions in English and Spanish. subcultures. next door to a rooster breeder. This exhibition is made possible by Kate spent three years in Vanuatu, the generosity of the Arthur Ross a South Pacific archipelago, making a Foundation. Starry Nights documentary on women's roles in marine resource management. 'As Sunscapes Live Jazz western approaches to conservation Through September 200^ 5, Rose Center move in, people start to forget about Special optical systems and FOR Earth and Space their traditional techniques. We tried Kate Holmes detectors capture the fiery Friday, to help people realize the value of these practices." images of the Sun's atmos- May 6 6:00 and y:jop.m. Her master's degree in biology, combined with this anthro- phere. This exhibition displays pological project, made her ideal for the CBC's Bahamas the most dramatic of these Houston Person Biocomplexity Project, which examines marine protected area images. Quartet networks. This project brings biological, socioeconomic, oceanographic, and other components to bear on local bio- Vital Variety: A Visual diversity recommendations, and was funded by the jaffe family Celebration of and the National Science Foundation. Invertebrate Biodiversity One of Kate's favorite experiences at the Museum was Ongoing contributing to the renovation of the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. Invertebrates, which play a "It was a tiny part of my job, but getting to see the results . . critical role in the survival of you back up and see this marvelous hall. It really is fantastic, humankind, are the subject of Starry Nights is made possible, in and to be a piece of that is really satisfying." these extraordinarily beautiful part, by Constellation NewEnergy. close-up photographs. ' . Out of Eden: An Odyssey of y.4^p.m. {Ages 8 and up) Ecological Invasion On the second Tuesday of INFORMATION Thursday, 5/19, y:oo p.m. each month, kids (and their Call 212-769-5100 or visit www.amnh.org. Alan Burdick considers what parents) can learn under is "natural." the stars of the Hayden TICKETS AND REGISTRATION Planetarium. Call 212-769-5200, Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m., FIELD TRIPS or visit WAWw.amnh.org. A service charge may apply New! Evening Bat Walks HAYDEN PLANETARIUM All programs are subject to change. in Central Park PROGRAMS Friday, 5/33, or Friday, TUESDAYS IN THE DOME AMNH eNotes delivers the latest information on Museum ^/20, yijop.m. Virtual Universe programs and events to you monthly via email. Visit A walk through Central Park The Closest Stars www.amnh.org to sign up today! with the New York Bat Croup. Tuesday, ^/}, G-.jo-y.^o p.m. The Backwaters of New York This Just In . . PLANETARIUM SHOWS LARGE-FORMAT FILMS Tuesday. ^/24, 6:oo-g:oo p.m. May's Hot Topics SonicVision LeFrak Theater A tour of geology and history Tuesday, 5/27, 6:30-y:3o p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, y.^o, Vikings along New York's waterways. 8:30, and g:3op.m. Discover the historical and Celestial Highlights Hypnotic visuals and technological achievements FAMILY AND Planetary Triple Play rhythms take viewers on CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS Tuesday, 5/33, G'.^o-y.jo p.m. a ride through fantastical Dr. Nebula's Laboratory: dreamspace. Science Theater LECTURES SonicVision is made possible by generous sponsorsliip and technology support Saturday, ^/i4, 2:oo-y.oo p.m. How Great Earthquakes from Sun Microsystems, Inc. {Forfamilies with children ages Change a Planet 4 and up) Monday, ^/i, y:)0 p.m. Passport to the Universe of this legendary society of Join Scooter to track Dr. With John E. Ebel, Boston Narrated by Tom Hanks seafaring explorers. Nebula's planetary vacation College. in our solar system. The Searchfor Life: Jane Goodall's Empire of the Stars Are We Alone? Wild Chimpanzees Space Explorers: Eclipses of Monday, ^/g, y:30 p.m. Narrated by Harrison Ford This breathtaking film takes the Sun and Moon With Arthur Miller, University visitors into the realm of our Made possible through the generous Tuesday, ^/lo, 4:30- College, London. support of Swiss Re. closest animal relatives. Become a Member of the n't Forget Mom! American Museum of Natural History As a Museum Member you will be among the first to delights for Mother's P embark on new journeys to explore the natural world K. Day includes a silk rfly purse; an and the cultures of humanity. You'll enjoy: mirror in a silk h, handcrafted |ia; note cards ' • butterfly images Unlimited free general Free subscription iduced from our admission to the Museum to Natural History took collection; and special exhibitions, magazine and to I box of four Rotunda, B candles, each and discounts on Space our newsletter "'-fd'iiped with a painted butterfly. Shows and IMAX® films Contact our Per- • Invitations to Members- sonal Shopper at 800-671-7035 or ' Discounts in the Museum only special events, shopper®amnh.org. Shop and restaurants and parties, and exhibition on program tickets previews ^^^ ' For further information, call 212-769-5606 WWW.AMNH.ORC or visit www.amnh.org/join. The contents of these paces are provided to Natural History by the American Museum of Natural History, —— ENDPAPER The Past Recaptured, Again By Carl Mehling come to expect stunned looks from visitors 1947. The American Museum excavated part of this I've when I lead behind-the-scenes tours of fossil stony cemetery of prehistoric beasts, and many of the collections at the American Museum of Natural fossils are still sequestered in our collections. History. Stored in the museum's division of paleon- tology are pries of specimens—^wrapped in their Nesbitt became passionate about these Late original protective shielding—that have never seen Triassic time travelers, and he was keen to start the light of day. Fossil hunters are constrained by liberating them. In my two-year tenure managing time, money, and luck. In the field those constraints the museum's library of reptiHan relics he has been often prompt paleontolo- the only one to open a gists to. "jacket" their most Ghost Ranch jacket, and promising stuff, for closer I was thrrUed to see some- inspection when time and one finally chipping away tools are available indoors. at the raspberry-yogurt- So they swaddle the fossil- colored stone. Within bearing blocks of rock in weeks, Nesbitt was rewrit- plaster and burlap for safe ing the Ghost Ranch story. transport home, a proce- He discovered complete dure that hasn't changed skeletons of two new much since the late 1800s. species of reptOes. Before I see a lot of these plas- Nesbitt's discoveries the ter-shrouded packages Ghost Ranch bone bed ranging from grapefr"uit size was thought to have re- to a two-ton tombstone corded a mass die-off of in the vertebrate paleontol- only one kind of dinosaur, ogy collections at the mu- the primitive meat-eater seum. Much of the material Coelophysis. Now, fifty- that has come into the mu- eight years after the initial seum in the past centuiy New Mexico dig, we real- has been cleaned of stone, ize that Ghost Ranch sedi- studied, and even displayed. ments hold the carcasses Ghost Ranch jacket, stored at the American Museum of Still, our storage areas re- of a diverse number of Natural History, was recently opened, and a new species Coelopliysis's main stuffed with jacketed of ancient reptile was discovered inside. contempo- fossils. Funding for expedi- raries as well. tions to exotic places is easier to secure than for the What other ghosts are haunting the burial grounds preparation of specimens. How many pulses quicken of museums, subject to academic priority and fund- at the prospect of paying for someone to sit alone for ing? We hope to find out—in effect, discovering weeks or months at a microscope, picking grains of them twice. Every year new jackets arrive in my de- sediment away from bone? Thus, our surplus. partment, most of them nowadays from Mongolia's Yet discoveries made from digging in old plaster or Gobi Desert, and join the queue. Sometimes I get a crumbUng crates are no less Ukely or less exciting than little sad when a plaster wall, just millimeters thick, the ones made poking around in some remote bad- barricades us fi'om ancient faces, but it usually just lands. This past year a graduate student named Ster- humbles me and teaches me patience. After all, when ling Nesbitt, fi-om Columbia University in New York some of our specimens haven't seen the sun for 220 City, validated that principle, when he came to our million years, what's a few more decades? collection with an interest in our jackets from Ghost Ranch. Ghost Ranch was, and still is, an unusually Carl Mehung manages part of the vertebrate paleontology rich bone bed that was discovered in New Mexico in collections at the American Museum of Natural History. 73 N.^T-. li.Al. ; HISTORY May 2005 EXPLOI?ER*GU!DE Up Close and Personal: ARCTIC ADVt-INTl'Kl.a Unforgettable Arctic Adventures - 3 Sailings: August 5 September 8, 2005 Natural history expeditions in Alaska's arctic wilderness. 'South & Central Amei;ica Travel Specialists C www.arcticwild.com 888-577-8203 800-344-6118 adventure-life.com GALAPAGOS ...The Trip of a Lifetime 'MMIMI Specializing tn comprehensive, professionally-led, .J363.7566 natural history and photo tours of the Galapagos Islands. Monthly departures 14-16 rf^ Crc^r -^i^tfKfvu-e Peirf>lc' •Antarctic • Galapagos on passenaer vachts. canada.com World's wildest ¥' > • places... 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AMAZONIA EXPEDITIONS 800-262-9669 www.perujungle.com A ^1 January April (continued) Baja Whale Watch Aboard Sea Lion— Red Sea Voyage Aboard Le Ponant— January 14-21, 2006 April 21 -May 6, 2006 Antarctica & South Georgia Aboard Polar Star Madagascar & Seychelles Aboard Hanseatic SPt^ Wolves & Wildlife of Yellowstone- January 23-January 29, 2006 The Galapagos Islands & Machu Picchu— May January 23-February 4, 2006 Tahiti & Marquesas Aboard Spirit of Journey Through the Trans-Caucasus: Oceanus — January 27-February 6, 2006 Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan— May 27- June 14, 2006 The Crimean Express: Russia, Belarus, February Moldova, and Ukraine By Private Rail— .\' May31-June 18,2006 New Zealand Aboard Spirit of Oceanus Southwest China's Minority Peoples: February 15-27, 2006 Xishuanbana to Shangri-la Southeast Asia Unveiled Alsace: Cruising the Rhine River by Luxury Private Barge March Cruising the Dalmatian Coast Aboard MYMonet Total Solar Eclipse over Egypt Aboard Snnboatn—U.ziQ\i 14-30, 2006 Africa Air Safari by Private Plane June Peoples of the Pacific Rim by Private Jet— Golden Ring of Russia Aboard Kazan^ March 29-April 20, 2006 The June 7-20, 2006 Ethnology & Cultural Traditions of Siberia, April Mongolia & Tuva— June 8-27, 2006 Family Galapagos Aboard Santa Cruz— Southern Africa aboard Rovos Rail— June 18-27, 2006 n - April 5-20, 2006 Family China— June 27 July 8, 2006 Family Greece Aboard Panorama— Japan Aboard Spirit of Oceanus — - April 9-23, 2006 June 27 July 8, 2006 Mysteries of the Azores Aboard Polar Star Alaska Aboard Seabird hiami 0-462-8687] L ' 1") '/.fiiilyii^ f'oluosirov Natural KiSTORY rJO s Preview Schedule Ki>"'" "5V June (continued) September (continued) m Bridging East and West: A World Leader m The Way of Chinese Philosophers, Monks, Symposium in the Baltic— and Poets June 29-July 10, 2006 Cultural , & Archaeological Treasures .of Miiij Safari Sketching for Families in Tanzania (I? ' /j,j! "Bulgaria , , I rani a: 'X July October Plateau -^- Spitsbergen & the Russian White Sea Aboard I The Silk Road by Private Train: From Beijing Hanseatic — July 25 - August 18, 2006 to Moscow^ October 3-24, 2006 I Antiquities of the Eastern Mediterranean August ' Aboard Le Levant— October 6-20, 2006 I Melanesia: Featuring Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu Aboard mTrans-Siberian Express: Russia by Private Train Clipper Odyssey October From Moscow to Vladivostok— — 18-November 2, 2006 August 7-24 2006 I Festivals of India Aboard Palace on Wheels t Featuring the Pushkar Camel Fair— Native American Cultures of the October 19-November Pacific Northwest 4, 2006 laccadh. ' '"" I Egypt & Jordan by Private Plane— Lost Cities of Central Asia: Archaeology in October 20- November 6, 2006 Uzbekistan &: Turkmenistan— August 31- I Great Trade Routes by Private — September 15, 2006 Jet October 30- November 16, 2006 I Polar Bear Watch on Canada's Hudson Bay— October 31 - November 5, 2006 September ,:^.,,, Earth Orbit 2006: Red Carpet Seminar on November 'iihili Planetary Science & Space Travel dates pending '"^^ Russian launch Archeology of Libya ^^•^^•f China & the Yangtze River Aboard President Day of the Dead Celebration in Oaxac^ m The Black Sea Aboard Le Levant— September 14-25, 2006 ''irfl'^ Cruising the Mighty Mekong Through December Vietnam & Cambodia — September 24- Family Antarctica Aboard Polar Star \.1r i^' October 10, 2006 oc Family Costa Rica "'uiagascar 2-769-5700 and reference code DtNH06 Seven figure service for six figure assets. 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