* Astronomy

The question puzzles dinosaur experts.
Did hulking prehistoric creatures such as the tyrannosaurus rex or the brontosaurus ever roam the Quad-City region?

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Article: The age, fauna and palaeoenvironment of the Late Triassic fissure deposits of Tytherington, South Gloucestershire, UK
Authors: D. I. WHITESIDE and J. E. A. MARSHALL

Important vertebrate faunas occur in fissure deposits of Late TriassicJurassic age in SW Britain. Although the faunas are well described, their age and palaeoenvironment remain poorly understood. One such fissure system was documented in detail during quarrying operations at Tytherington and has yielded in situ palynomorphs that add much information concerning its age and palaeoenvironment. Significantly, the Tytherington fauna is of the sauropsid type that has generally been dated as Norian or pre-Penarth Group transgression and was also regarded as representing a distinct upland fauna. The palynomorphs, which include a significant marine component, demonstrate that the Tytherington Triassic fissures are infilled with Late Triassic (Rhaetian) sediments that match specific levels in the Westbury Formation. In addition, many of the Tytherington solutional fissures probably formed during the Rhaetian and are consistent with a fluctuating saline to freshwater environment. There is no prima facie evidence of solutional formation and infilling of the reptile-bearing deposits before the Rhaetian trangression. The fissure reptile fauna, which includes the early dinosaur Thecodontosaurus, inhabited a small fire-swept limestone island in the Rhaetian sea. The features of the herpetofauna are entirely consistent with this island model which has Quaternary analogues.

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The evidence that dinosaurs braved the coldand maybe scrunched through snow and slid on icechallenges what scientists know about how the animals survived. Although Rich wasn't the first to unearth polar dinosaurs, he and a few other palaeontologists are filling in the picture of how these animals lived and what their environments were like. Recent research might also shed light on two of the most disputed questions in palaeontology: Were dinosaurs warmblooded? And what killed them off?

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Dinosaurs bred as early as age eight, long before they reached adult size, fossil evidence suggests.
Although they were descended from reptiles, and evolved into birds, dinosaurs grew fast and bred young, much like the mammals of today.
Researchers at the University of California found hallmark "egg-making" tissue in two juvenile females.
They say early sexual maturity was needed for survival, so females could lay eggs before becoming prey.
Calcium-rich medullary bone, which, in birds, is used to produce egg shells, was found inside the fossilised shin-bones of two specimens: the meat-eating Allosaurus and the plant-eater Tenontosaurus.

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