Stunningly intact dinosaur fossil found in Germany. Posted on behalf of Marian Turner.
The almost perfectly complete fossil of a young theropod dinosaur – including some preserved hair and skin* (see update below) – was unveiled yesterday by scientists from the Bavarian paleontological and geological collections (BSPG) in Munich, Germany. BSPG conservator Oliver Rauhut described it as the best preserved dinosaur skeleton to have ever been found in Europe. Strange Science: Dinosaurs and Dragons.
Despised in the West and revered in the East, dragons have a long history in human mythology. How did the myth start? No one knows the exact answer, but some myths may have been inspired by living reptiles, and some "dragon" bones probably belonged to animals long extinct — in some cases dinosaurs, in others, fossil mammals. Starting in the early 19th century, scientists began to find a new kind of monster, one that had gone extinct tens of millions of years before the first humans evolved. U-M team recovers ancient whale in Egyptian desert. Completed excavation of the skeleton of 18-meter long whale Basilosaurus isis in the Western Desert of Egypt as exhibited last week by University of Michigan and Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency paleontologists.
Photo: Philip GingerichUniversity of Michigan paleontologist Philip D. Gingerich and colleagues at the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) announced April 10 the successful excavation of an unusually complete and well-preserved skeleton of the 40 million-year-old fossil whale Basilosaurus isis.