Reuters Science News Summary
Following is a summary of current science news briefs.
Fossil reveals Cretaceous drama of a croc attack on a flying reptile
About 76 million years ago, a juvenile of one of the largest flying creatures in Earth's history, called Cryodrakon boreas, walked along a riverbank on a lush coastal plain and lowered its toothless beak to take a drink, unaware of danger lurking at the water's edge. Suddenly, a large croc surged out of the water in an ambush and sank its teeth into the Cryodrakon's neck. That was life - and death - in the Cretaceous Period in the Canadian province of Alberta. Scientists have unearthed in the badlands of Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park the fossilized neck bone of a young Cryodrakon, a type of flying reptile called a pterosaur, that may have died in just such a scenario.
Where did dinosaurs first evolve? Scientists have an answer
Dinosaurs long dominated Earth's land ecosystems with a multitude of forms including plant-eating giants like Argentinosaurus, meat-eating brutes like Tyrannosaurus and weirdos like Therizinosaurus, with its Freddy Krueger-like claws. But the origin of dinosaurs - precisely when and where they first appeared - remains a bit of a puzzle. Researchers are now proposing a surprising location for the birthplace of dinosaurs, based on the locations of the currently oldest-known dinosaur fossils, the evolutionary relationships among these early forms and Earth's geography during the Triassic Period.
