The Dinosaurs Rediscovered: How a Scientific Revolution is Rewriting History - Hardcover

Michael J. Benton

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 050005200X ISBN 13: 9780500052006

Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2019

Synopsis

'If you want to know how we know what we know about dinosaurs, read this book!' Steve Brusatte

Giant sauropod dinosaur skeletons from Patagonia; dinosaurs with feathers from China; a tiny dinosaur tail in Burmese amber – complete down to every detail of its filament-like feathers, skin, bones and mummified muscles. Dinosaurs continue to regularly cause a media sensation. Remarkable new fossil finds are the lifeblood of modern palaeobiology, but it is the advances in technologies and methods that have allowed the revolution in the scope and confidence of the field. Over the past twenty years, the study of dinosaurs has become a true scientific discipline. New technologies have revealed secrets locked in the prehistoric bones in ways that nobody predicted – we can now work out the colour of dinosaurs, their bite forces, top speeds and even how they cared for their young.

The Dinosaurs Rediscovered gathers together all the latest palaeontological evidence and takes us behind the scenes on expeditions and in museum laboratories, tracing the transformation of dinosaur study from its roots in antiquated natural history to a highly technical, computational and indisputably scientific field today. Michael J. Benton explores what we know of the world of the dinosaurs, how dinosaur remains are found and excavated, and how palaeontologists read the details of the lives of dinosaurs from fossils – their colours, their growth, feeding and locomotion, how they grew from egg to adult, how they sensed the world, and even whether we will ever be able to bring them back to life. Dinosaurs are still very much a part of our world.

Table of Contents

Preface • 1. Origin of the Dinosaurs • 2. Making the Tree • 3. Digging Up Dinosaurs • 4. Breathing – Brains – Behaviour • 5. Jurassic Park • 6. From Baby to Giant • 7. How Did They Eat? • 8. How Did They Move and Run? • 9. Mass Extinction • 10. Afterword

About this title

About the Author

Michael Benton is a palaeontologist who has made fundamental contributions to understanding the history of life, particularly concerning how biodiversity changes through time. He has led in integrating data from living and fossil organisms to generate phylogenies ― solutions to the question of how major groups originated and diversified through time. This approach has revolutionised our understanding of major questions, including the relative roles of internal and external drivers on the history of life, whether diversity reaches saturation, the significance of mass extinctions, and how major clades radiate. A key theme is the Permo–Triassic mass extinction, the largest mass extinction of all time, which took place over 250 million years ago, where he investigates how life was able to recover from such a devastating event. Michael has written engaging books for children on the theme of dinosaurs, as well as a significant number of palaeontology textbooks for university students. He founded the MSc in Palaeobiology at Bristol in 1996, from which more than 450 students have graduated. He has supervised more than 70 PhD students.

From the Back Cover

Over the past twenty years, the study of dinosaurs has changed from natural history to a true scientific discipline. New technologies have revealed secrets locked in the prehistoric bones in ways that nobody predicted – we can now work out the colour of dinosaurs, their bite forces, top speeds, and even how they cared for their young. Remarkable new fossil finds, such as giant sauropod dinosaur skeletons from Patagonia, dinosaurs with feathers from China, and even a tiny dinosaur tail in Burmese amber – complete down to every detail of its filament-like feathers, skin, bones, and mummified tail muscles – have caused media sensations. New fossils are the lifeblood of modern palaeobiology of course, but it is the advances in technologies and methods that have allowed the revolution in the scope and confidence of the field.

Dinosaurs Rediscovered gathers together all the latest palaeontological evidence and takes us behind the scenes on the expeditions and in museum laboratories, tracing the transformation of dinosaur study from its roots in antiquated natural history to a highly technical, computational, and indisputably scientific field today. Benton explores what we know of the world of the dinosaurs, how dinosaur remains are found and excavated, and especially how palaeontologists read the details of the life of the dinosaurs from the fossils – their colours, their growth, feeding and locomotion, how they grew from egg to adult, how they sensed the world, and even whether we will ever be able to bring them back to life. Dinosaurs are still very much a part of our world.

Edition details

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 050005200X
• ISBN 13: 9780500052006
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336