FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXAMINES NEW BREED OF DINOSAUR RESEARCHERS

WASHINGTON, DC (Feb. 27, 2003)—Step aside, bone diggers and fossil hunters, a new generation of scientists is heading into the lab rather than the field to bring dinosaurs back to life. They are using computer modeling, live animals, CT scans, even forensic medicine, to help figure out how dinosaurs functioned and behaved.

In the cover story of the March 2003 issue of National Geographic magazine, writer Joel Achenbach explains how an increasing number of paleontologists are looking for novel ways to study dinosaurs. Instead of spending the summer with a spade and shovel in a badlands bone bed, they might be releasing pigeons into a wind tunnel to analyze the evolution of flight, coaxing a turkey to run across various surfaces to help explain different dinosaur footprints, or pivoting digital bones on a computer screen.

These new scientists are tackling difficult questions: Were dinosaurs fleet of foot or ponderous? What did they eat? Did they hunt or migrate in packs? Did they parent their young? How fast did they grow, and how old did they get? How did one group of these creatures develop the ability to fly?

The new dinosaur researchers, a diverse bunch emerging from the fields of evolutionary biology, biomechanics, botany and physiology, believe the truth about dinosaurs and dinosaur behavior won't be uncovered with bones alone. Using tools such as computers, x-rays and electron microscopes, they construct dinosaur models, examine fossilized dino feces, even dissect cadavers of animals such as rhinos, manatees and ostriches to find anatomical similarities to dinosaurs in order to reconstruct soft tissues in the prehistoric beasts.

Dinosaur fans are insatiable for information, and the new generation of scientists wants to put a constraint on all the hypotheses flying around. "For 20 years … we've made hypotheses based on very little evidence. Now we're sitting down, we're saying, 'We've got all these ideas, are they real?'" says legendary fossil hunter Jack Horner.

"Science requires data. Science requires that ideas be subjected to tests," writes Achenbach. "And paleontology—if the new generation has its way—will be seen as a no-nonsense field, a hard science, in addition to being a thrilling subject built around the bones of large, scary animals."

Gregory Erickson, a biology professor at Florida State University, is one of several new-generation paleontologists profiled in the National Geographic story. An expert on the bite and feeding habits of Tyrannosaurus rex, Erickson spent part of last summer poking a bite-force measuring device into the mouths of wild alligators to help him estimate the biting strength of dinosaurs.

Paleontologist Lawrence Witmer from Ohio University, Athens, also featured in the story, reconstructs soft tissue in dinosaur heads. He recently caused a stir when, after months of studying the relative positions of noses and nostrils on modern animals, he declared that modern artistic renditions of dinosaurs incorrectly placed their nostrils too high on their heads. They should be low on the nose, near the mouth, where they would heighten the animal's ability to nuzzle objects and decide whether they were potential dinner fare.

Whether researchers are in the field or in the lab, dinosaur research "is still exciting, because what we don't know about dinosaurs is far more than what we know," writes Achenbach. "No matter how you practice it—with shovels or computer programs, with fossils or rhino heads from a freezer—this is still a new and evolving science. We've just scratched the surface."

CONTACT: Ellen Siskind
+1 202 857 7001
esiskind@ngs.org