Latest news with #Parasaurolophus
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Life-Sized Dinosaurs Overtake the Gardens and Trails of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
The Beasts are Back! 14 All-New Animatronic Dinosaurs Roam the Grounds of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center through August 17th A sense of scale. Austin, Texas, June 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fourteen life-sized and life-like animatronic dinosaurs are lurking in the gardens and trails of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center again this summer. Last year's Dinosaurs Around the World exhibition was so popular that the Wildflower Center is bringing in a new Dinos in the Wild exhibit conceptualized and created by Dino Don Lessem, world authority on dinosaurs, advisor to Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, author of multiple books and dinosaur excavator. The dinos are life-size, make noise and scientifically accurate. The limited-time outdoor exhibition features 10 different scenes and 14 different specimens, representing a variety of species from large to small, and including impressive dinosaurs like the ferocious and famed Tyrannosaurus rex, the cute and colorful Parasaurolophus and the fierce and horned Triceratops, among others. This family-friendly immersive exhibit appeals to dinosaur lovers of all ages and launches just in time for summer break and will last throughout summer. 'We're excited to welcome these prehistoric beasts to the Wildflower Center to spend the whole summer with us,' said Lee Clippard, Executive Director of the Wildflower Center. 'It's fun to see our native gardens come to life with amazing creatures that inhabited the planet millions of years ago.' The gardens and trails of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center are currently open for Summer Hours, from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. daily, and the exhibit is included with entry to the Center. #### For press inquiries, contact Scott Simons, Director of Marketing and Communications. Photos and videos: Click to View and Download About The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is the State Botanic Garden & Arboretum of Texas and welcomes more than 275,000 guests annually to its 284 acres of gardens, trails and exhibitions, thus fulfilling its mission of inspiring the conservation of native plants. As a fully self-funded unit of The University of Texas at Austin, the Wildflower Center's investments in science, conservation and education include a native seed bank, a comprehensive database of North American native plants, and research programs in collaboration with the University. The Center is the embodiment of Mrs. Johnson's environmental legacy. 'The environment is where we all meet, where we all have a mutual interest,' she said. 'It is the one thing all of us share. It is not only a mirror of ourselves, but a focusing lens on what we can become.' Attachment A sense of scale. CONTACT: Scott Simons Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center ssimons@ in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Time of India
28-04-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Did dinosaurs really roar? Experts share how the animals really sounded
Image credits: Canva The most common understanding that humans have of dinosaurs comes less from research and more from the cinematic world that has presented the gigantic animals as large ferocious, roaring creatures. Be it an adult or a kid, when one thinks of dinosaurs they imagine an image of a dinosaur from Jurassic Park and not one of a fossil. Since dinosaurs were mostly seen as attacking and roaring in the movie franchise, that is how most humans have presumed these ancient animals sounded. But, did you know it's not true? According to experts, dinosaurs seldom roared. According to the BBC, there is no one way the dinosaurs sounded. The animals evolved into different shapes and sizes thus communicating differently. In a study by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science , palaeontologists excavated a complete skull of a Parasaurolophus and used computer technology to simulate how the creature may have sounded. 'I would describe the sound as otherworldly. It sent chills through my spine, I remember,' said Tom Williamson to BBC. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Click Here - This Might Save You From Losing Money Expertinspector Click Here Undo Image credits: Canva As per a 2016 study published in the journal Evolution, scientists stated that rather than roaring, dinosaurs more likely made cooing or humming sounds similar to that of a pigeon or an ostrich. "To make any kind of sense of what nonavian dinosaurs sounded like, we need to understand how living birds vocalize," said Julia Clarke , a professor at the University of Texas's Jackson School of Geosciences and co-author of the study, in a press release. "This makes for a very different Jurassic world. Not only were dinosaurs feathered, but they may have had bulging necks and made booming, closed-mouth sounds." The team analysed the distribution of closed-mouth vocalization among archosaurs, a group that includes birds, crocodiles and dinosaurs to find out that 52 out of 208 investigated bird species have the vocal ability to make such sounds. Whether the ancestors of modern archosaurs actually used closed-mouth vocalization is still unknown. However, the fact that it's used by both birds and crocodiles, the two surviving groups of archosaurs, suggests that the behaviour can exist in a wide range of archosaur species, said Tobias Riede, a physiology professor at Illinois's Midwestern University and first author of the study. "The Jurassic Park films have got it wrong," said Clarke to BBC. "A lot of the early reconstructions of dinosaurs have been influenced by what we associate with scary noises today from large mammalian predators like lions. In the Jurassic Park movies, they did use some crocodilian vocalisations for the large dinosaurs, but on screen, the dinosaurs have their mouths open like a lion roaring. They wouldn't have done that, especially not just before attacking or eating their prey. Predators don't do that – it would advertise to others nearby that you have got a meal, and it would warn their prey they are there." The low-pitched sounds made by the dinosaurs may have been created by pushing the air into a pouch in the oesophagus, instead of exhaling it outside their beaks. Thus, the sound gets emitted from the skin of the neck, typically while attracting mates or defending territory.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Dinosaurs didn't roar like the movies; Here's how they really sounded
(WHTM) — No human has ever heard a dinosaur's roar, so most people believe the iconic film series Jurassic Park and Jurassic World correctly depict how they communicated. However, according to experts, most dinosaurs sounded completely different than how they were portrayed in the movies. BBC says there is no simple answer to what dinosaurs sounded like, as they evolved into countless shapes and sizes, but scientists have used fossils to reconstruct vocal organs to recreate how they could have sounded. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now In one study conducted by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, paleontologists dug up a nearly complete skull of a Parasaurolophus and used computer technology to simulate how the creature sounded. To listen to how the creature may have sounded, click here. 'I would describe the sound as otherworldly,' Tom Williamson told BBC, who was one of those who worked on the dig and is now curator of palaeontology at the museum. 'It sent chills through my spine, I remember.' In an interview with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, paleontologist Dr. Julia Clarke of the University of Texas explained that instead of open-mouthed roars, scientists theorize that many dinosaurs may have produced closed-mouth vocalizations. 'Animals produce closed-mouth vocalizations by inflating their esophagus (the tube that connects the throat and stomach) or tracheal pouches (pouches on their windpipe) while keeping their mouth closed, producing something comparable to a low-pitched swooshing, growling, or cooing sound,' said Dr. Clarke. According to Vox, the most notable dinosaur sounds from the Jurassic Park series were mainly constructed using combinations of different types of mammal sounds, including tigers, lions, koalas, donkeys, dolphins, and elephants. Dr. Clarke adds that T-Rexes did not typically open their mouths and roar like the movies depicted. 'The Jurassic Park films have got it wrong,' said Dr. Clarke in another interview with BBC. 'A lot of the early reconstructions of dinosaurs have been influenced by what we associate with scary noises today from large mammalian predators like lions. In the Jurassic Park movies, they did use some crocodilian vocalisations for the large dinosaurs, but on screen, the dinosaurs have their mouths open like a lion roaring. They wouldn't have done that, especially not just before attacking or eating their prey. Predators don't do that – it would advertise to others nearby that you have got a meal, and it would warn their prey they are there.' Jurassic World: Rebirth is expected to release on July 2, 2025. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Jurassic dinosaur fossil extracted from cliff in Scottish island
A FOSSIL first spotted in a Scottish island over 50 years ago has finally been extracted from the base of the cliff where it was found and, following analysis, formally identified as a Jurassic dinosaur. The fossil was first discovered in Skye in 1973, making it Scotland's earliest recorded dinosaur find. It was not fully identified at the time and remained uncollected until a team led by Dr Elsa Panciroli returned in 2018 to the location near Elgol, in the south of the island, to undertake a challenging extraction from the rock. READ MORE: While the Elgol dinosaur is preserved only in fragments compared to some specimens found elsewhere, researchers have identified part of the spine, ribs and hip bones, making it the most complete dinosaur skeleton found to date in Scotland. Close study of these bones has led researchers to believe that it is an ornithopod dinosaur, a group of which includes notable later dinosaurs such as Iguanodon, Parasaurolophus and Edmontosaurus. The Elgol dinosaur dates to around 166 million years ago, in the Middle Jurassic, making it one of the earliest known ornithipod body fossils, as that group of dinosaurs became far more prominent in the later Cretaceous period. Analysis of the bone structure indicates that the animal, which would have been roughly the size of a pony, was at least 8 years old. The new description of the Elgol dinosaur is published in the Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. (Image: Neil Hanna) Lead author, Dr Elsa Panciroli (above), the NERC independent research fellow at National Museums Scotland said: 'This was a really challenging extraction, in fact we'd previously felt it was too difficult to collect the fossil, but I thought it was really important to study it. I was able to persuade the team to give it a try. It took a lot of hard work from a lot of people, but we did it: finally we can confirm and publish Scotland's first recorded and most complete dinosaur, and that makes it all worthwhile.' The difficult excavation was made possible with the support of a specialist team from Research Casting International, based in Canada. A local crew from Elgol's Bella Jane Boat Trips piloted the rigid inflatable boat and dinghy to the shore at the foot of the cliff, where the specimen was loaded and taken back to port. Dr Stig Walsh from National Museums Scotland added: 'This is a wonderful addition to the rapidly growing set of Jurassic finds from the Isle of Skye which are enabling us to learn more and more about the rich ecosystem of the time. We've known there were dinosaurs there for a while, most obviously from the famous footprints at An Corran, Brother's Point and Duntulm and from individual bones, but it's exciting to see a more complete, if still partial, skeleton. We're delighted to add it to the other amazing finds now in the National Collection'. Other recent Jurassic discoveries from Skye include the description of adult and juvenile mammals of the same species, Krusatodon, which revealed that these mammals grew more slowly than mammals today, and the world's largest Jurassic pterosaur fossil, Dearc sgiathanach.
Sky News
06-03-2025
- Science
- Sky News
Elgol dinosaur fossil found in 1973 finally extracted from base of cliff on Isle of Skye
A Jurassic dinosaur fossil that was first spotted more than 50 years ago has been extracted from the base of a cliff on Skye and formally identified. The fossil was discovered near to Elgol in 1973 and is Scotland's earliest recorded dinosaur find. National Museums Scotland (NMS) said it remained uncollected until a team led by Dr Elsa Panciroli returned in 2018. Known as the Elgol dinosaur, the fossil is preserved in fragments, but experts have identified part of the spine, ribs and hipbones - making it the most complete dinosaur skeleton found to date in Scotland. Bone analysis has led researchers to believe it is an ornithopod dinosaur, a group which includes notable later dinosaurs such as Iguanodon, Parasaurolophus and Edmontosaurus. It is believed to date from around 166 million years ago, in the Middle Jurassic, making it one of the oldest known ornithopod body fossils, from a group of dinosaurs that became far more prominent in the later Cretaceous period. Dinosaur finds are rare in Scotland and much of the rock that is exposed at the surface across the country is not from the period when the animals ruled the earth - the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, jointly known as the Mesozoic era. Dinosaur finds are more common in southern England where more of the exposed rock is geologically newer. Analysis of the bone structure indicates the Elgol dinosaur, which would have been roughly the size of a pony, was at least eight years old. The new description of the dinosaur is published in the Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Lead author Dr Panciroli, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) independent research fellow at NMS, said: "This was a really challenging extraction. "In fact, we'd previously felt it was too difficult to collect the fossil, but I thought it was really important to study it. "I was able to persuade the team to give it a try. It took a lot of hard work from a lot of people, but we did it: finally we can confirm and publish Scotland's first recorded and most complete dinosaur, and that makes it all worthwhile." The excavation was made possible with the support of a specialist team from Research Casting International, based in Canada, while a crew from Elgol's Bella Jane Boat Trips piloted the rigid inflatable boat and dinghy to the shore at the foot of the cliff, where the specimen was loaded and taken back to port. Other Jurassic discoveries from Skye include descriptions of adult and juvenile mammals of the same species, Krusatodon, which revealed the animals grew more slowly than the mammals of today, and the world's largest Jurassic pterosaur (flying reptile) fossil, Dearc sgiathanach. Hundreds of dinosaur tracks have also been discovered across Skye in recent years. Dr Stig Walsh, from NMS, said: "This is a wonderful addition to the rapidly growing set of Jurassic finds from the Isle of Skye which are enabling us to learn more and more about the rich ecosystem of the time. "We've known there were dinosaurs there for a while, most obviously from the famous footprints at An Corran, Brother's Point and Duntulm and from individual bones, but it's exciting to see a more complete, if still partial, skeleton. "We're delighted to add it to the other amazing finds now in the national collection." The earliest scientifically described dinosaur find in the UK was in Oxfordshire in the mid to late 17th century - a now-lost piece of bone from the Megalosaurus. But it wasn't until the early 19th century that after another find from the same animal in the same area, the Megalosaurus was the first dinosaur to be named, according to the Oxford Museum of Natural History.
