Quotes and information not specifically referenced here are drawn mainly from a series of interviews conducted between July 2012 and August 2013, and also from earlier research for ‘Once were dinosaurs’, a feature story published in Cosmos magazine in February 2010.
Before we begin
p. xviii The quote from Colin Tudge comes from his 2009 book The Bird: A natural history of who birds are, where they came from, and how they live, New York: Crown.
p. xviii The estimate of 1850 total dinosaur species is from Steve C Wang & Peter Dodson (2006), ‘Estimating the diversity of dinosaurs’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 103, no. 37, pp. 13601–605, <www.pnas.org/content/103/37/13601.full>.
p. xx Information on Nyasasaurus is from Sterling J Nesbitt et al. (2012), ‘The oldest dinosaur? A Middle Triassic dinosauriform from Tanzania’, Biology Letters, vol. 9, no. 1, <rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/9/1/20120949>.
1 The missing link
p. 1 My reconstruction of the living Archaeopteryx comes from a variety of sources, namely, J Pickrell (2004), ‘Dinosaur-era bird could fly, brain study says’, National Geographic News, 4 August, <news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0804_040804_archaeopteryx.html>; N Longrich (2006), ‘Structure and function of hindlimb feathers in Archaeopteryx lithographica’, Paleobiology, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 417–31, <www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1666/04014.1>; (2013), AM Balanoff et al., ‘Evolutionary origins of the avian brain’, Nature, vol. 501, pp. 93–96, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v501/n7465/full/nature12424.html>; and (2013), ‘X-rays reveal new picture of “dinobird” plumage patterns’, media release, University of Manchester, 12 June, <www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=10202>.
p. 5 Pat Shipman’s description of Richard Owen is from her 1998 book Taking Wing: Archaeopteryx and the evolution of bird flight, New York: Simon & Schuster.
p. 5 Thor Hanson’s quote is from his 2012 book Feathers: The evolution of a natural miracle, New York: Basic Books.
p. 6 TH Huxley’s paper on Archaeopteryx and Compsognathus was (1868), ‘On the animals which are most nearly intermediate between birds and reptiles’, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 4, vol. 2, pp. 66–75.
p. 6 The Huxley quotes about the links between birds and reptiles come from his series of lectures for ‘working men’ delivered at the Royal School of Mines in 1876 and reprinted in (1902), ‘On the evidence as to the origin of existing vertebrate animal’, chapter 12 in M. Foster & E. Ray Lankester (eds), The Scientific Memoirs of Thomas Henry Huxley, vol. 4, London: Macmillan, pp. 163–87.
p. 7 Huxley’s comments about the ‘half-hatched chicken’ appeared in (1870), ‘Further evidence of the affinity between the dinosaurian reptiles and birds’, Proceedings of the Royal Geological Society, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 12–31.
p. 8 John Ostrom’s 1975 article is ‘Archaeopteryx’, Discovery, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 15–23.
p. 9 Kevin Padian’s comment is from Robert Sanders (2007), ‘Agonized pose tells of dinosaur death throes’, media release, University of California, Berkeley, 6 June, <www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/06/06_deaththroes.shtml>.
p. 11 Achim Reisdorf and Michael Wuttke’s 2012 paper on neck ligaments is ‘Re-evaluating Moodie’s opisthotonic-posture hypothesis in fossil vertebrates part I: Reptiles – The taphonomy of the bipedal dinosaurs Compsognathus longipes and Juravenator starki from the Solnhofen Archipelago (Jurassic, Germany)’, Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, vol. 92, no. 1, pp. 119–68, <link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12549-011-0068-y>.
p. 13 Alan Turner and Mark Norell’s comments about quill knobs on Velociraptor were reported in (2007), ‘Velociraptor had feathers’, media release, American Museum of Natural History, 20 September, <www.amnh.org/science/papers/velociraptor_feathers.php>.
p. 13 The New York Times article is John Noble Wilford (2005), ‘John H. Ostrom, influential paleontologist, is dead at 77’, New York Times, 21 July, <www.nytimes.com/2005/07/21/nyregion/21OSTROM.html>.
p. 15 John Long’s comments on Deinonychus and Velociraptor come from his 2008 book with Peter Schouten, Feathered Dinosaurs: The origin of birds, Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing.
2 A feathered revolution begins
p. 18 The quotes from Li Yinfang come from Dan Chinoy (2009), ‘Walking among dinosaurs’, China Daily, 24 November, <www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-11/24/content_9027450.htm>.
p. 21 The New York Times story on Sinosauropteryx is Malcolm W Browne (1997), ‘In China, a spectacular trove of dinosaur fossils is found’, New York Times, 25 April, <www.nytimes.com/1997/04/25/us/in-china-a-spectacular-troveof-dinosaur-fossils-is-found.html>.
p. 22 The Nature paper by Lawrence M Witmer was (2009), ‘Dinosaurs: fuzzy origins for feathers’, Nature, vol. 458, pp. 293–95, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v458/n7236/full/458293a.html>.
p. 26 The descriptions of Protarchaeopteryx and Caudipteryx appear in Philip J Currie, Mark A Norell & Ji Shuan (1998), ‘Two feathered dinosaurs from northeastern China’, Nature, vol. 393, pp. 753–61, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v393/n6687/full/393753a0.html>.
p. 28 The quotes from Alan Feduccia appear in Pat Shipman’s 1998 book Taking Wing: Archaeopteryx and the evolution of bird flight, New York: Simon & Schuster.
p. 30 The quote from Xu Xing to the film crew at the Sonidosaurus dig site are from David Cyranoski (2007), ‘Giant bird-like dinosaur found’, Nature News, 13 June, <www.nature.com/news/2007/070611/full/news070611-9.html>.
p. 40 The description by Url Lanham comes from his 2012 book The Bone Hunters: The heroic age of paleontology in the American West, New York: Dover Publications.
p. 40 Charles Darwin’s letter to Marsh can be read at ‘A Yale tale: Darwin’s letter to O.C. Marsh’, Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, <archive.peabody.yale.edu/exhibits/fossils/history>.
p. 40 The James Penick quote comes from his 1971 paper ‘Professor Cope vs. Professor Marsh’, American Heritage, vol. 22, no. 5, August, pp. 5–13.
p. 42 Tom Huntington’s American History article is (1998), ‘The great feud’, American History, August, <www.historynet.com/the-great-feud-august-98-american-history-feature.htm>.
p. 42 OC Marsh’s description of Pterodactylus oweni is (1871), ‘Note on a new and gigantic species of Pterodactyle’, American Journal of Science, series 3, vol. 1, no. 6, pp. 447–59.
p. 45 The Mark Jaffe quote comes from his 2000 book The Gilded Dinosaur: The fossil war between E.D. Cope and O.C. Marsh and the rise of American science, New York: Crown.
p. 46 The ‘smash-and-grab’ comment is from David Rains Wallace (1999), The Bonehunters’ Revenge: Dinosaurs, greed, and the greatest scientific feud of the gilded age, Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
p. 46 The comments from Mike Benton concerning the ‘bone wars’ come from his 2008 paper ‘Fossil quality and naming dinosaurs’, Biology Letters, vol. 4, pp. 729–32, <rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/4/6/729.full>.
4 From dinosaur to bird
p. 47 Mark Norell and Xu Xing’s 2004 description of Mei long is ‘A new troodontid dinosaur from China with avian-like sleeping posture’, Nature, vol. 431, pp. 838–41, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v431/n7010/abs/nature02898.html>.
p. 48 The second Mei long specimen is reported in Chunling Gao et al. (2012), ‘A second soundly sleeping dragon: new anatomical details of the Chinese troodontid Mei long with implications for phylogeny and taphonomy’, PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 9, e45203, <www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0045203>.
p. 48 Colin Tudge’s comment on Mei long comes from his 2009 book The Bird: A natural history of who birds are, where they came from, and how they live, New York: Crown.
p. 50 The analysis of pneumatisation in Aerosteon riocoloradensis is reported in Paul Sereno et al. (2008), ‘Evidence for avian intrathoracic air sacs in a new predatory dinosaur from Argentina’, PLoS ONE, vol. 3, no. 9, e3303, <www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0003303>.
p. 51 Uncinate processes are reported in Velociraptor and Archaeopteryx in Jonathan R Codd et al. (2008), ‘Avian-like breathing mechanics in maniraptoran dinosaurs’, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, vol. 275, no. 1631, pp. 157–61, <rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/275/1631/157>.
p. 52 The 2001 paper by Kevin Padian and other experts was ‘Dinosaurian growth rates and bird origins’, Nature, vol. 412, pp. 405–408, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v412/n6845/full/412405a0.html>.
p. 52 The find of baby dinosaur bones in Lufeng is announced in Lanna Crucefix (2013), ‘Oldest dinosaur bonebed reveals embryo development’, media release, University of Toronto, 10 April, <news.utoronto.ca/oldestdinosaur-bonebed-reveals-embryo-development>.
p. 53 The Michael Novacek quote regarding warm-bloodedness comes from the 2012 AMNH video ‘Dinosaurs explained’, American Museum of Natural History, <www.amnh.org/explore/amnh.tv/%28watch%29/dinosaurs-explained/were-dinosaurs-warm-blooded/%28p%29/1>.
p. 57 Clark and Xu’s study of Limusaurus is Xu Xing et al. (2009), ‘A Jurassic ceratosaur from China helps clarify avian digital homologies’, Nature, vol. 459, pp. 940–44, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v459/n7249/full/nature08124.html>.
p. 57 Xu’s comments to Nature about Limusaurus are in Matt Kaplan (2009), ‘Dinosaur’s digits show how birds got wings’, Nature News, 17 June, <www.nature.com/news/2009/090617/full/news.2009.577.html>.
p. 58 The 2009 study of hummingbird genome size is T Ryan Gregory et al. (2009), ‘The smallest avian genomes are found in hummingbirds’, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, vol. 276, no. 1674, pp. 3753–57, <rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2009/08/05/rspb.2009.1004.full>.
p. 60 The study of disease evidence in T. rex jaws is Ewan DS Wolff et al. (2009), ‘Common avian infection plagued the tyrant dinosaurs’, PLoS ONE, vol. 4, no. 9, e7288, <www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007288>.
p. 61 The information on the discovery of Sue comes from (n.d.), ‘Sue at the Field Museum’, Field Museum, <archive.fieldmuseum.org/sue/-index>.
p. 61 The New York Times quote appeared in Malcolm W Browne (1996), ‘Fetching T. rex fossil may fetch $1 million plus, expert says, New York Times, 16 November, <www.nytimes.com/1996/11/16/us/fetching-t-rex-fossil-mayfetch-1-million-plus-expert-says.html>.
p. 62 The study suggesting dinosaur lice is Vincent S Smith (2011), ‘Multiple lineages of lice pass through the K–Pg boundary’, Biology Letters, doi: rsbl.2011.0105v1-rsbl20110105, <rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/04/01/rsbl.2011.0105.full>.
p. 62 The announcement of a Sinocalliopteryx fossil with remains of other animals in its gut is Lida Xing et al. (2012), ‘Abdominal contents from two large Early Cretaceous compsognathids (Dinosauria: Theropoda) demonstrate feeding on confuciusornithids and dromaeosaurids’, PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 8, e44012, <www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0044012>.
p. 64 The Evolution study of Microraptor is Lida Xing et al. (2013), ‘Piscivory in the feathered dinosaur Microraptor’, Evolution, vol. 67, no. 8, pp. 2441–45, <onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evo.12119/full>.
p. 64 Eric Snively is quoted in (2013), ‘Allosaurus fed more like a falcon than a crocodile, new study finds’, media release, Ohio University, 21 May, <www.ohio.edu/compass/stories/12-13/5/allosaurus-story.cfm>.
p. 65 The suggestion that Sinornithosaurus may have been venomous was reported in Enpu Gong et al. (2010), ‘The birdlike raptor Sinornithosaurus was venomous’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 107, no. 2, pp. 766–68, <www.pnas.org/content/107/2/766.full>.
p. 65 The Paläontologische Zeitschrift article refuting the suggestion that Sinornithosaurus was venomous is Federico A Gianechini et al. (2010), ‘A reassessment of the purported venom delivery system of the bird-like raptor Sinornithosaurus’, Paläontologische Zeitschrift, vol. 85, no. 1, pp. 103–107, <link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12542-010-0074-9>.
5 Fake fossils
p. 66 The notorious National Geographic article on Archaeoraptor liaoningensis was Christopher P Sloan (1999), ‘Feathers for T. rex?’, National Geographic, vol. 196, no. 5, pp. 98–107.
p. 67 The quotes from Mark Norell come from his 2005 book with Mick Ellison, Unearthing the Dragon: The great feathered dinosaur discovery, New York: Pi Press.
p. 68 Lawrence M Witmer’s description of Liaoning and its fossils appears in his 2009 paper ‘Dinosaurs: fuzzy origins for feathers’, Nature, vol. 458, pp. 293–95, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v458/n7236/full/458293a.html>.
p. 72 Xiaoming Wang’s 2013 PNAS opinion piece was ‘Mortgaging the future of Chinese paleontology’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 110, no. 9, p. 3201, <www.pnas.org/content/110/9/3201.full>.
p. 73 The investigative report published in Science is Richard Stone (2010), ‘Altering the past: China’s faked fossils problem’, Science, vol. 330, no. 6012, pp. 1740–41, <www.sciencemag.org/content/330/6012/1740.short>.
p. 75 The China Daily report about reclaimed fossils is Wang Qian (2010), ‘Clampdown on fossil smuggling’, China Daily, 25 November, <www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-11/25/content_11605554.htm>.
p. 75 Mark Norell’s letter regarding the Mongolian Tarbosaurus bataar fossil is reproduced at ‘Provenance of Mongolia Tarbosaurus being auctioned’, Dinosaur Mailing List, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 18 May, <dml.cmnh.org/2012May/msg00133.html>.
p. 76 Mongolian president Elbegdorj Tsakhia’s statement is quoted in Larry Neumeister (2012), ‘Government in NY seizes “Ty” the dinosaur’, Associated Press, 22 June, <bigstory.ap.org/article/government-ny-seizesty-dinosaur>.
p. 77 Phil Currie’s 2012 column was ‘Fossil bounty hunters’ days may be numbered’, New Scientist, 19 June, <www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428690.200-fossil-bounty-hunters-days-may-be-numbered.html>.
p. 78 The 2014 seizure of a Tarbosaurus skull in Wyoming is reported in W Parry (2014), ‘Bad to the bone: dealer pleads guilty in fossil smuggling scheme’, Livescience, 7 January, <www.livescience.com/42374-dinosaur-fossilsmuggling.html>.
p. 79 The report on the internal National Geographic investigation appeared as Lewis M Simons (2000), ‘Archaeoraptor fossil trail’, National Geographic, vol.198, no. 4, pp. 128–32.
p. 80 The findings regarding the forgery of Archaeoraptor from 88 different pieces appear in Timothy Rowe et al. (2001), ‘Forensic palaeontology: the Archaeoraptor forgery’, Nature, vol. 410, pp. 539–40, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v410/n6828/full/410539b0.html>.
p. 81 The discovery of Microraptor is reported in Xu Xing et al. (2000), ‘The smallest known non-avian theropod dinosaur’, Nature, vol. 408, pp. 705–708, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v408/n6813/full/408705a0.html>.
p. 81 The discovery of Yanornis is reported in Zhou Zhonghe et al. (2002), ‘Archaeoraptor’s better half’, Nature, vol. 420, p. 285, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v420/n6913/abs/420285a.html>.
6 The evolution of feathers
p. 83 The description of Epidexipteryx hui appeared in Zhang Fucheng et al. (2008), ‘A bizarre Jurassic maniraptoran from China with elongate ribbon-like feathers’, Nature, vol. 455, pp. 1105–108, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7216/full/nature07447.html>.
p. 84 John Long’s speculations as to the functions of feathers appear in his 2008 book with Peter Schouten, Feathered Dinosaurs: The origin of birds, Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing.
p. 85 Kevin Padian’s discussion of Sinosauropteryx is (1998), ‘When is a bird not a bird?’, Nature, vol. 393, pp. 729–30, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v393/n6687/full/393729a0.html>.
p. 88 The Similicaudipteryx research reported in Nature in 2010 is Xu Xing et al. (2010), ‘Exceptional dinosaur fossils show ontogenetic development of early feathers’, Nature, vol. 464, pp. 1338–41, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7293/full/nature08965.html>.
p. 88 Xu Xing’s comment regarding baby Similicaudipteryx flight feathers appeared in Janet Fang (2010), ‘Dinosaurs outgrow their baby feathers’, Nature News, 28 April, <www.nature.com/news/2010/100428/full/news.2010.208.html>.
p. 89 Darla Zelenitsky’s research regarding moulting in Ornithomimus was reported in Darla K Zelenitsky et al. (2012), ‘Feathered non-avian dinosaurs from North America provide insight into wing origins’, Science, vol. 338, no. 6106, pp. 510–14, <www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6106/510>.
p. 89 The quote from Darla Zelenitsky regarding the first feathered dinosaurs from the western hemisphere comes from (2012), ‘Canadian researchers discover fossils of first feathered dinosaurs from North America’, media release, University of Calgary, 25 October, <www.ucalgary.ca/news/releases/october2012/first_feathered_dinosaurs>.
p. 91 The discovery of Yutyrannus huali was announced in Xu Xing et al. (2012), ‘A gigantic feathered dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China’, Nature, vol. 484, pp. 92–95, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v484/n7392/full/nature10906.html>.
p. 92 Colin Tudge’s contention that adult T. rex were feathered appears in his 2009 book The Bird: A natural history of who birds are, where they came from, and how they live, New York: Crown.
p. 93 The discovery of Sciurumimus was reported in Oliver WM Rauhut et al. (2012), ‘Exceptionally preserved juvenile megalosauroid theropod dinosaur with filamentous integument from the Late Jurassic of Germany’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 109, no. 29, pp. 11746–51, <www.pnas.org/content/109/29/11746>.
p. 93 Oliver Rauhut’s comments on Sciurumimus appear in (2012), ‘Newly discovered dinosaur implies greater prevalence of feathers’, media release, American Museum of Natural History, 2 July, <www.amnh.org/science/papers/feathers.php>.
p. 94 The study published in 2014 by Paul Barrett and David Evans of whether feathers occurred in other ornithischians is previewed in Matt Kaplan (2013), ‘Feathers were the exception rather than the rule for dinosaurs’, Nature News, 27 December, <www.nature.com/news/feathers-were-theexception-rather-than-the-rule-for-dinosaurs-1.14379>.
p. 95 Dave Hone’s comments about dinosaurs and feathers appeared in his blog in 2013, ‘Feathered everything: just how many dinosaurs had feathers?’, ‘Lost worlds’, The Guardian, 10 June, <www.theguardian.com/science/lost-worlds/2013/jun/10/dinosaurs-fossils>.
p. 97 Alfred Russel Wallace’s comments on the origin of feathers appeared in Harold Begbie (1910), ‘New thoughts on evolution: views of Professor Alfred Russel Wallace, O.M., F.R.S.’, Daily Chronicle, 3 and 4 November, see <people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S746.htm>.
p. 98 The story of Richard Prum’s hearing loss is retold in C Shufro (2011), ‘The bird-filled world of Richard Prum’, Yale Alumni Magazine, vol. 75, no. 2, November/December, <www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3318?page=1>.
p. 100 The Scientific American article by Richard Prum and Alan Brush is (2003), ‘Which came first, the feather or the bird?’, Scientific American, March.
p. 102 The paper describing the feathers found in Canadian amber is Ryan C McKellar et al. (2011), ‘A diverse assemblage of Late Cretaceous dinosaur and bird feathers from Canadian amber’, Science, vol. 333, no. 6049, pp. 1619–22, <www.sciencemag.org/content/333/6049/1619>.
p. 103 Mark Norell’s commentary on the Canadian amber is (2011), ‘Fossilized feathers’, Science, vol. 333, no. 6049, pp. 1590–91, <www.sciencemag.org/content/333/6049/1590>.
7 The struggle to the skies
p. 109 Alan Turner’s findings on dinosaur downsizing are outlined in (2012), ‘Dinosaur fossil showing early signs of miniaturization necessary for flight found by AMNH paleontologists’, media release, American Museum of Natural History, 6 September, <www.amnh.org/science/papers/mahakala.php>.
p. 109 The 2007 Science paper from Alan Turner on dinosaur size is Alan H Turner et al. (2007), ‘A basal dromaeosaurid and size evolution preceding avian flight’, Science, vol. 317, no. 5843, pp. 1378–81, <www.sciencemag.org/content/317/5843/1378.full?sid=8b3b43c1-aeea-4e4e-9bc4-e45a61d5e00c>.
p. 110 The theory of ‘stability flapping’ appears in Denver W Fowler et al. (2011), ‘The predatory ecology of Deinonychus and the origin of flapping in birds’, PLoS ONE, vol. 6, no. 12, e28964, <www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0028964>.
p. 111 Thor Hanson’s comments on the evolution of flight appear in his 2012 book Feathers: The evolution of a natural miracle, New York: Basic Books.
p. 113 The description of Anchiornis huxleyi appears in Hu Dongyu et al. (2009), ‘A pre-Archaeopteryx troodontid theropod from China with long feathers on the metatarsus’, Nature, vol. 461, pp. 640–43, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7264/full/nature08322.html>.
p. 113 The Science paper about hind-limb feathers is Xiaoting Zheng et al. (2013), ‘Hind wings in basal birds and the evolution of leg feathers’, Science, vol. 339, no. 6125, pp. 1309–12, <www.sciencemag.org/content/339/6125/1309>.
p. 115 The Richard Dawkins quote is from his 2006 book The God Delusion, Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
p. 115 Ken Dial’s comments on the evolution of flight appear in Cary Shimek (2008), ‘Unlocking the secrets of flight: UM releases new theory of bird evolution’, Vision, University of Montana, <www2.umt.edu/urelations/vision/2008/SecretsofFlight.html>.
p. 116 Nina Schaller’s research on ostrich running mechanics is outlined in (2010), ‘Feathered friends: ostriches provide clues to dinosaur movement’, media release, Society for Experimental Biology, 2 July, <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100630213614.htm>.
8 Sex for T. rex
p. 120 The paper on Oviraptor brooding its young was Mark A Norell (1995), ‘A nesting dinosaur’, Nature, vol. 378, pp. 774–76, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v378/n6559/pdf/378774a0.pdf>.
p. 120 Mark Norell and David Weishampel’s comments to the Philadelphia Inquirer were reported in Mark Jaffe (1995), ‘Fossil shows that dinosaur selflessly tended its nest’, Philadelphia Inquirer, 21 December, <articles.philly.com/1995-12-21/news/25668282_1_oviraptor-fossilized-eggs-mark-norell>.
p. 121 Mary Schweitzer and Jack Horner’s paper on medullary bone in dinosaurs is Mary H Schweitzer et al. (2005), Gender-specific reproductive tissue in ratites and Tyrannosaurus rex, Science, vol. 308, no. 5727, pp. 1456–60, <www.sciencemag.org/content/308/5727/1456.short>.
p. 122 The eggs found by researchers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona were reported in Nieves López-Martínez & Enric Vicens (2012), ‘A new peculiar dinosaur egg, Sankofa pyrenaica oogen. nov. oosp. nov. from the Upper Cretaceous coastal deposits of the Aren Formation, south-central Pyrenees, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain’, Palaeontology, volume 55, no. 2, pp. 325–39, <onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01114.x/full>.
p. 128 Paul Else’s comments on possible dinosaur lactation appear in his 2013 paper, ‘Dinosaur lactation?’, Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 216, pp. 347–51, <jeb.biologists.org/content/216/3/347>.
p. 130 John Long’s Dawn of the Deed: The prehistoric origins of sex was published in Chicago by the University of Chicago Press in 2012. The quote about eversible penises also comes from this book.
p. 131 Kenneth Carpenter’s comments on sexing T. rex appear in his 1999 book Eggs, Nests, and Baby Dinosaurs: A look at dinosaur reproduction, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
9 Colouring in the dinosaurs
p. 133 The research on the colours of ichthyosaurs and mosasaurs is presented in Lindgren, J et al. (2014), ‘Skin pigmentation provides evidence of convergent melanism in extinct marine reptiles’, Nature, doi:10.1038/ nature12899, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12899.html>.
p. 134 The quote from Lindgren was reported in (2014), ‘Unique fossil pigments found’, media release, Lund University, 9 January, <www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24890&news_item=6120>.
p. 135 The Daily Mail article on Sinosauropteryx is David Derbyshire (2010), ‘Oh no, it’s ginger-saurus! For first time scientists uncover colour of dinosaur and it was … a red-head’, Daily Mail, 29 January, <www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1246535/Dinosaurs-colour-discovered-time--GINGER.html>.
p. 138 Maria McNamara’s comments to Nature appeared in Ed Yong (2013), ‘Dustup over dinosaurs’ true colours’, Nature News, 27 March, <www.nature.com/news/dust-up-over-dinosaurs-true-colours-1.12674>.
p. 141 Mark Norell talks about birds and colour in the 2012 AMNH video ‘Dinosaurs explained’, American Museum of Natural History, <www.amnh.org/explore/amnh.tv/%28watch%29/dinosaurs-explained/were-dinosaurs-warm-blooded/%28p%29/1>.
p. 141 Phil Currie talks about feathers as display structures in his 2000 article ‘Feathered dinosaurs’, in Gregory S. Paul (ed.), The Scientific American Book of Dinosaurs, New York: Byron Preiss Visual Publications and Scientific American, pp. 183–89.
p. 145 Carl Diegert’s comments on dinosaur ear bones were reported in (1997), ‘Scientists use digital paleontology to produce voice of Parasaurolophus dinosaur’, media release, Sandia National Laboratories, 5 December, see <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1997/12/971210064258.htm>.
p. 146 Phil Senter’s paper discussing dinosaurs’ lack of a syrinx was (2008), ‘Voices of the past: a review of Paleozoic and Mesozoic animal sound’, Historical Biology, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 255–87, <www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08912960903033327 - .UY8uwcqLHUE>.
p. 146 The use of dinosaur tails to make whip-like noises is suggested in Nathan P Myhrvold & Philip J Currie (1997), ‘Supersonic sauropods? Tail dynamics in the diplodocids’, Paleobiology, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 393–409, <www.psjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1666/0094-8373-23.4.393>.
10 Back from the dead
p. 151 The study of the shelf life of DNA was Morten E Allentoft et al. (2012), ‘The half-life of DNA in bone: measuring decay kinetics in 158 dated fossils’, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, vol. 279, no. 1748, pp. 4724–33, <rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2012/10/05/rspb.2012.1745.full>.
p. 152 Scott D Sampson’s Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil threads in the web of life was published in Berkeley by the University of California Press in 2009.
p. 154 The 2009 paper positing that Dracorex hogwartsia is actually a juvenile Pachycephalosaurus is John R Horner & Mark B Goodwin (2009), ‘Extreme cranial ontogeny in the Upper Cretaceous dinosaur Pachycephalosaurus, PLoS ONE, vol. 4, no. 10, e7626, <www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007626>.
p. 154 Mark Goodwin’s comments to reporters appeared in Robert Sanders (2009), ‘New analyses of dinosaur growth may wipe out one-third of species’, media release, University of California, Berkeley, 30 October, <www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/10/30_dino_demise.shtml>.
p. 156 Mark Ferguson’s comments on hen’s teeth were reported in (2006), ‘Hens’ teeth not so rare after all’, media release, University of Manchester, 22 February, see <www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-02/uom-htn022206.php>.
p. 157 The quote from Jack Horner on ‘building a dinosaur’ come from his 2009 book with James Gorman, How to Build a Dinosaur: Extinction doesn’t have to be forever, New York: Dutton.
11 The survival game
p. 163 The size and force of the dinosaur-destroying ‘comet’ is estimated by Walter Alvarez in his 1997 book T. rex and the Crater of Doom, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
p. 164 Walter Alvarez’s description of the impact of the comet on the United States and Mexico also appears in his 1997 book T. rex and the Crater of Doom, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
p. 165 Richard Cowen’s comments on the impact appear in his 2000 book History of Life, 3rd edn, Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Science.
p. 166 The study proposing a link between the solar system’s passage through the Milky Way and the extinction of the dinosaurs is Dorminey, B (2008), ‘Bouncing solar system killed the dinosaurs’, Cosmos, 8 May, <www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/bouncing-solar-system-killed-dinosaurs>.
p. 167 The Alvarezes’ paper on iridium levels is Luis W Alvarez et al. (1980), ‘Extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction’, Science, vol. 208. no. 4448, pp. 1095–108, <www.sciencemag.org/content/208/4448/1095>.
p. 170 Discrepancies between dating methods are discussed in JE Fassett et al. (2011), ‘Direct U–Pb dating of Cretaceous and Paleocene dinosaur bones, San Juan Basin, New Mexico’, Geology, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 159–62, <geology.gsapubs.org/content/39/2/159.abstract?ijkey=547f7b2ffdc038117ebbd8575a04a957e2db6af4&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha>.
p. 172 Some of Dave Hone’s comments on bird survival appeared on his blog in 2013, ‘How to survive mass extinction’, ‘Lost worlds’, The Guardian, 20 September, <www.theguardian.com/science/lost-worlds/2012/sep/20/dinosaurs-fossils>.
p. 173 The 2009 study suggesting birds had the edge over dinosaurs due to their larger brains is Angela C Milner & Stig A Walsh (2009), ‘Avian brain evolution: new data from Palaeogene birds (Lower Eocene) from England’, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 155, no. 1, pp. 198–219, <onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00443.x/full>.
The descriptions and/or announcements of the listed species appear in the papers noted below.
p. 177 Anchiornis huxleyi: Hu Dongyu et al. (2009), ‘A pre-Archaeopteryx troodontid theropod from China with long feathers on the metatarsus’, Nature, vol. 461, pp. 640–43, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7264/full/nature08322.html>.
p. 177 Anzu wyliei: MC Lamanna et al. (2014), ‘A new large-bodied oviraptorosaurian theropod dinosaur from the latest Cretaceous of western North America’, PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 3, e92022, <www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0092022>.
p. 178 Archaeopteryx lithographica: Angela Milner (n.d.), ‘Archaeopteryx lithographica’, Natural History Museum, <www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-theday/evolution/archaeopteryx-lithographica>.
p. 178 Aurornis xui: Pascal Godefroit et al. (2013), ‘A Jurassic avialan dinosaur from China resolves the early phylogenetic history of birds’, Nature, doi:10.1038/ nature12168, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12168.html>.
p. 178 Avimimus portentosus: Sergei M Kurzanov (1981), ‘An unusual theropod from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia (fossil vertebrates of Mongolia)’, Transactions of the Joint Soviet–Mongolian Paleontological Expedition, vol. 15, pp. 39–49.
p. 178 Beipiaosaurus inexpectus: Xu Xing et al. (1999), ‘A therizinosauroid dinosaur with integumentary structures from China’, Nature, vol. 399, pp. 350–54, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v399/n6734/abs/399350a0.html>.
p. 179 Caudipteryx zoui: Ji Qiang (1998), ‘Two feathered dinosaurs from northeastern China’, Nature, vol. 393, pp. 753–61, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v393/n6687/full/393753a0.html>.
p. 179 Caudipteryx dongi: Zhong-he Zhouh & Xiao-Lin Wang (2000), ‘A new species of Caudipteryx from the Yixian Formation of Liaoning, Northeast China’, Vertebrata PalAsiatica, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 111–27, <www.ivpp.ac.cn/qt/papers/201206/P020120604544997033912.pdf>.
p. 179 Citipati osmolskae: James M Clark et al. (2001), ‘Two new oviraptorids (Theropoda: Oviraptorosauria), Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation, Ukhaa Tolgod, Mongolia’, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 209–13, <www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1671/0272-4634%282001%29021%5B0209%3ATNOTOU%5D2.0.CO%3B2>.
p. 180 Concavenator corcovatus: Francisco Ortega et al. (2010), ‘A bizarre, humped Carcharodontosauria (Theropoda) from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain’, Nature, vol. 467, pp. 203–206, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v467/n7312/full/nature09181.html>.
p. 180 Conchoraptor gracilis: Rinchen Barsbold (1986), ‘Raubdinosaurier Oviraptoren’, in EI Vorobeva (ed.), Gerpetologicheskie issledovaniya v Mongolskoi Narodnoi Respublike, Moscow: Academy of Sciences, pp. 210–23.
p. 180 Dilong paradoxus: Xu Xing et al. (2004), ‘Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids’, Nature, vol. 431, pp. 680–84, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v431/n7009/full/nature02855.html>.
p. 180 Eosinopteryx brevipenna: Pascal Godefroit et al. (2012), ‘Reduced plumage and flight ability of a new Jurassic paravian theropod from China’, Nature Communications, vol. 4, article no. 1394, <www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n1/full/ncomms2389.html>.
p. 181 Epidexipteryx hui: Zhang Fucheng et al. (2008), ‘A bizarre Jurassic maniraptoran from China with elongate ribbon-like feathers’, Nature, vol. 455, pp. 1105–108, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7216/full/nature07447.html>.
p. 181 Gigantoraptor erlianensis: Xu Xing (2007), ‘A gigantic bird-like dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of China’, Nature, vol. 447, pp. 844–47, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v447/n7146/full/nature05849.html>.
p. 182 Jianchangosaurus yixianensis: Hanyong Pu et al. (2013), ‘An unusual basal therizinosaur dinosaur with an ornithischian dental arrangement from Northeastern China’, PLoS ONE, vol. 8, no. 5, e63423, <www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0063423>.
p. 182 Jinfengopteryx elegans: Ji Qiang et al. (2005), ‘First avialan bird from China (Jinfengopteryx elegans gen. et sp. nov.)’, Geological Bulletin of China, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 197–210, see <caod.oriprobe.com/articles/8775970/First_avialian_ bird_from_China_Jinfengopteryx_elegans_gen__et_sp__nov_.htm>.
p. 182 Juravenator starki: Ursula B Göhlich & Luis M Chiappe (2006), ‘A new carnivorous dinosaur from the Late Jurassic Solnhofen archipelago’, Nature, vol. 440, pp. 329–32, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7082/abs/nature04579.html>.
p. 182 Microraptor zhaoianus: Xu Xing et al. (2000), ‘The smallest known non-avian theropod dinosaur’, Nature, vol. 408, pp. 705–708, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v408/n6813/abs/408705a0.html>.
p. 183 Ningyuansaurus wangi: Ji Qiang, Lü Jun-Chang, Wei Xue-Fang & Wang Xu-Ri (2012), ‘A new oviraptorosaur from the Yixian Formation of Jianchang, Western Liaoning Province, China’, Geological Bulletin of China, vol. 31, no. 12, pp. 2102–107, see <caod.oriprobe.com/articles/31641141/A_new_oviraptorosaur_from_the_Yixian_Formation_of_.htm>.
p. 183 Nomingia gobiensis: Rinchen Barsbold et al. (2000), ‘A new oviraptorosaur (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from Mongolia: the first dinosaur with a pygostyle’, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 97–106, <www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app45-097.html>.
p. 183 Ornithomimus edmontonicus: Darla K Zelenitsky et al. (2012), ‘Feathered non-avian dinosaurs from North America provide insight into wing origins’, Science, vol. 338, no. 6106, pp. 510–14, <www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6106/510>.
p. 184 Oviraptor philoceratops: Henry Fairfield Osborn (1924), ‘Three new Theropoda, Protoceratops zone, central Mongolia’, American Museum Novitates, no. 144, pp. 1–12, <digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/3223>.
p. 184 Pedopenna daohugouensis: Xu Xing & Zhang Fucheng (2005), ‘A new maniraptoran dinosaur from China with long feathers on the metatarsus’, Naturwissenschaften, vol. 92, no. 4, pp. 173–77, <link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00114-004-0604-y>.
p. 185 Pelecanimimus polyodon: Bernardino P Pérez-Moreno et al. (1994), ‘A unique multitoothed ornithomimosaur dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Spain’, Nature, vol. 370, pp. 363–67, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v370/n6488/abs/370363a0.html>.
p. 185 Protarchaeopteryx robusta: Ji Qiang & Ji Shuan (1997), ‘Protarchaeopterygid bird (Protarchaeopteryx gen. nov.) – fossil remains of archaeopterygids from China’, Geology in China, vol. 238, no. 3, pp. 38–41, see <caod.oriprobe.com/issues/123938/toc.htm>.
p. 185 Psittacosaurus mongoliensis: Henry Fairfield Osborn (1923), ‘Two Lower Cretaceous dinosaurs of Mongolia’, American Museum Novitates no. 95, pp. 1–10, <http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/3267>.
p. 186 Rahonavis ostromi: Catherine A Forster et al. (1998), ‘The theropod ancestry of birds: new evidence from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar’, Science, vol. 279, no. 5358, pp. 1915–19, <www.sciencemag.org/content/279/5358/1915>.
p. 186 Scansoriopteryx heilmanni: Stephen A Czerkas & Yuan Chongxi (2002), ‘An arboreal maniraptoran from northeast China’, in Stephen A Czerkas (ed.), Feathered Dinosaurs and the Origin of Flight, Blanding, Utah: The Dinosaur Museum, pp. 63–95, <www.dinosaur-museum.org/featheredinosaurs/arboreal_maniraptoran.pdf>.
p. 186 Sciurumimus albersdoerferi: Oliver WM Rauhut et al. (2012), ‘Exceptionally preserved juvenile megalosauroid theropod dinosaur with filamentous integument from the Late Jurassic of Germany’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 109, no. 29, pp. 11746–51, <www.pnas.org/content/109/29/11746>.
p. 187 Shuvuuia deserti: Luis M Chiappe et al. (1997), ‘The skull of a relative of the stem-group bird Mononykus’, Nature, vol. 392, pp. 275–78, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v392/n6673/abs/392275a0.html>.
p. 187 Similicaudipteryx yixianensis: Tao He et al. (1998), ‘A new genus and species of caudipterid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation of Western Liaoning, China’, Vertebrata PalAsiatica, vol. 46, no.3, pp. 178–89, <www.ivpp.cas.cn/cbw/gjzdwxb/xbwzxz/200811/W020090813369309786831.pdf>.
p. 188 Sinocalliopteryx gigas: Ji Shuan et al. (2007), ‘A new giant compsognathid dinosaur with long filamentous integuments from Lower Cretaceous of Northeastern China’, Acta Geologica Sinica, vol. 81, no. 1, pp. 8–15, <www.geojournals.cn/dzxben/ch/reader/view_abstract.aspx?file_no=20070106&flag=1>.
p. 188 Sinornithosaurus millenii: Xu Xing et al. (1999), ‘A dromaeosaurid dinosaur with a filamentous integument from the Yixian Formation of China’, Nature, vol. 401, pp. 262–66, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v401/n6750/abs/401262a0.html>.
p. 188 Sinosauropteryx prima: Chen Pei-Ji et al. (1998), ‘An exceptionally well-preserved theropod dinosaur from the Yixian Formation of China’, Nature, vol. 391, pp. 147–52, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v391/n6663/full/391147a0.html>.
p. 189 Tianyulong confuciusi: Zheng Xiao-Ting et al. (2009), ‘An Early Cretaceous heterodontosaurid dinosaur with filamentous integumentary structures’, Nature, vol. 458, pp. 333–36, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v458/n7236/full/nature07856.html>.
p. 189 Velociraptor mongoliensis: Henry Fairfield Osborn (1924), ‘Three new Theropoda, Protoceratops zone, central Mongolia’, American Museum Novitates, no. 144, pp. 1–12, <digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace/handle/2246/3223>.
p. 190 Xiaotingia zhengi: Xu Xing et al. (2011), ‘An Archaeopteryx-like theropod from China and the origin of Avialae’, Nature, vol. 475, pp. 465–70, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v475/n7357/full/nature10288.html>.
p. 190 Yixianosaurus longimanus: Xu Xing & Wang Xiao-Lin (2003), ‘A new maniraptoran from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of western Liaoning’, Vertebrata PalAsiatica, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 195–202, <www.ivpp.cas.cn/cbw/gjzdwxb/xbwzxz/200810/W020090813368479814753.pdf>.
p. 190 Yutyrannus huali: Xing Xu et al. (2012), ‘A gigantic feathered dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China’, Nature, vol. 484, pp. 92–95, <www.nature.com/nature/journal/v484/n7392/full/nature10906.html>.
Image section
p. 5 Handy pose: Andrew RC Milner et al. (2009), ‘Bird-like anatomy, posture, and behavior revealed by an Early Jurassic theropod dinosaur resting trace’, PLoS ONE, vol. 4, no. 3, e4591, <www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004591>.
p. 6 Wonder wings (image on page 7): David WE Hone et al. (2010), ‘The extent of the preserved feathers on the four-winged dinosaur Microraptor gui under ultraviolet light’, PLoS ONE, vol. 5, no. 2, e9223, <www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0009223>.
p. 9 Snack time: Lida Xing et al. (2012), ‘Abdominal contents from two large early cretaceous compsognathids’, PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 8, e44012, <www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0044012>.