2017 proved to be a whirlwind year for dinosaur lovers and paleontologists alike. The 10 fascinating new findings uncovered this year reshaped our view of these ancient giants, from tender T. rex courtship rituals to a revamped family tree that could overturn a century‑old classification.
10 Fascinating New Highlights of Dinosaur Science
10 T. Rex Was A Gentle Lover
A fresh investigation seeks to overturn the classic image of the terrifying Tyrannosaurus rex. Researchers from Carthage College in Wisconsin teamed up with scientists at Louisiana State University to portray T. rex as a surprisingly affectionate creature that engaged in delicate face‑rubbing as part of a pre‑copulatory play ritual.
Their hypothesis stems from a Montana discovery of a previously unknown tyrannosaur named Daspletosaurus horneri – literally “Horner’s frightful lizard.” This species, which roamed the Earth roughly 74 million years before the iconic T. rex, supplies crucial anatomical clues about the later giant.
Well‑preserved skulls of D. horneri, as well as other tyrannosaurs, reveal a mask of armor‑like scales covering the snout and jaws, pierced by countless tiny nerve openings called foramina. These foramina would have rendered the snout as sensitive to touch as a human fingertip.
Scientists argue that such a tactile muzzle would have been used to explore the environment and, during mating season, to gently rub snouts with a partner. The sensory network is supplied by the trigeminal nerve, a structure still important for touch in modern crocodiles and alligators.
9 A New Dinosaur Was So Weird That It Was Thought To Be A Hoax
When European naturalists first encountered the platypus in the late 1700s, many dismissed the bizarre creature as a hoax. A similar wave of disbelief greeted a 2017 discovery of a dinosaur that combined land‑and‑water habits in a single, odd package.
The new species, a close cousin of Velociraptor, lived about 75 million years ago and was christened Halszkaraptor escuilliei in honor of paleontologist Halszka Osmolska and fossil collector François Escuillie.
Its morphology was truly eccentric: about the size of a mallard, it sported razor‑sharp claws, a duck‑like snout, and a long swan‑shaped neck. While capable of sprinting on solid ground, its anatomy also bore hallmarks of amphibious life seen today in birds and reptiles.
Although its look and lifestyle set it apart, researchers are confident that Halszkaraptor escuilliei does not represent a direct bird ancestor but rather a distinct branch that will likely give rise to a new subfamily.
The fossil’s provenance added to the skepticism. Unearthed in Mongolia’s Ukhaa Tolgod region, the specimen vanished into the black‑market trade before eventually reaching Escuillie. To confirm its authenticity, scientists employed a synchrotron particle accelerator to scan the rock‑embedded remains, verifying that every bone belonged to a single animal.
8 Eater Turned Vegetarian During Adulthood
Numerous animals undergo dramatic shifts in form or habit as they mature, but no reptile—living or extinct—has been shown to swap its diet from carnivorous to herbivorous. In 2017, a team from Beijing’s Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology unveiled exactly such a transformation in the dinosaur Limusaurus.
Limusaurus, a diminutive biped that roamed the planet roughly 160 million years ago, was born with a set of dozens of tiny, one‑centimetre teeth. As the juveniles grew, they began shedding these teeth, and by the time they reached full maturity, the entire dentition had vanished.
The researchers examined 19 specimens spanning six age brackets, documenting not only the loss of teeth but also a staggering 77 additional anatomical tweaks over the animal’s lifespan, including alterations to skull shape and proportions.
One of the most striking changes was the upper jawbone bending downward to form a beak‑like structure, perfectly suited for cropping plant material. Adult Limusaurus also ingested stones, akin to modern birds that use gastroliths to grind food in their gizzards.
Scientists propose that this ontogenetic diet shift allowed adults to avoid competing with younger individuals for the same prey, thereby reducing intraspecific competition for resources.
7 Dino Hips Bring End To Common Species
A staple of North American dinosaur collections—formerly identified as Troodon formosus—has been knocked off the roster. Fresh research shows that specimens lumped under this name actually belong to at least two distinct genera.
Troodon formosus was first described over a century and a half ago in Montana and later reported from locales stretching from Mexico to Alaska, making it the most frequently recovered troodontid. However, a team at the University of Alberta re‑examined the material and uncovered inconsistencies.
Graduate researcher Aaron van der Reest discovered an exceptionally preserved troodontid pelvis in Alberta’s Dinosaur Provincial Park that displayed striking differences from previously known specimens. Comparative analysis led to the dismissal of Troodon formosus as a valid taxon, resurrecting the name Stenonychosaurus inequalis and introducing a brand‑new species, Latenivenatrix mcmasterae.
This taxonomic reshuffle carries major implications: the two newly recognized species are currently based on only a handful of fossils from Alberta, but the widespread fossils once assigned to Troodon across North America may now be split among several new taxa, opening the door for further discoveries.
6 A New Species Is Hailed As ‘Biggest Dinosaur’
The coveted title of “largest dinosaur” continues to spark fierce debate, as size remains a perennial fascination for the public. Because complete skeletons are rare, each new discovery can shift the scale‑race. In 2015, Dreadnoughtus stirred the conversation, and in 2017 another heavyweight entered the arena.
Enter Patagotitan mayorum, a titanic sauropod unearthed in Argentina’s Patagonian region. Like its fellow titanosaurs, Patagotitan belonged to the long‑necked, massive herbivorous group that dominated the Jurassic and Cretaceous landscapes.
The Argentine find comprises fossils from six individual animals, dated to roughly 100 million years ago. Scientists estimate Patagotitan’s mass at about 69 metric tons, its length at 37 metres (≈ 122 feet), and its height at 6 metres (≈ 20 feet).
Although these numbers firmly place Patagotitan among the giants, its status as the ultimate record‑holder remains contested. Paleontologist Kristi Curry Rodgers notes that the bones exhibit signs of incomplete growth, hinting that even larger specimens may yet be discovered.
5 Some Dinosaurs Incubated Their Eggs Like Birds
Even after decades of intensive study, the reproductive habits of dinosaurs still hold many secrets. A 2017 collaboration between French and Chinese scientists shed fresh light on how certain theropods tended to their eggs, revealing that some species literally sat on their clutches like modern birds.
The focus of the study was the oviraptorosaurs—a feathered clade of maniraptoran dinosaurs famously dubbed the ‘chicken from hell.’ Early finds showed these creatures perched over nests, leading to the mistaken belief that they were egg‑thieves.
Subsequent analyses suggested that oviraptorosaurs were, in fact, caring parents incubating their own offspring. The new research bolsters this view by demonstrating that the dinosaurs employed a brooding strategy akin to avian incubation.
The Franco‑Chinese team pioneered a technique to infer the incubation temperature by measuring the oxygen‑isotope composition of 70‑million‑year‑old fossilized eggs that still contained embryonic material. Their results indicated a steady temperature range of 35–40 °C (95–104 °F), matching the thermal profile of contemporary bird nests.
Beyond the specific findings, the methodological breakthrough promises broader applications, allowing paleontologists to reconstruct nesting behaviours across diverse dinosaur groups. While massive sauropods likely relied on external heat sources to avoid crushing their eggs, smaller theropods could have comfortably perched atop them.
4 Dinosaur Extinction Was Very Improbable
The most legendary mass‑extinction event in Earth’s history unfolded 66 million years ago, ending the reign of the non‑avian dinosaurs and eradicating roughly three‑quarters of all plant and animal species.
While several competing theories exist, the prevailing consensus attributes the catastrophe to a colossal asteroid or comet that slammed into the Yucatán Peninsula, creating the Chicxulub crater. A 2017 study from Tohoku University in Japan proposes that the disaster’s global impact was far from inevitable.
The impact hurled massive quantities of soot into the atmosphere, igniting a cascade of climate upheavals that decimated ecosystems worldwide. Yet, the researchers calculated that only about 13 percent of Earth’s surface contains enough hydrocarbon deposits to generate the soot load necessary for a Cretaceous‑Paleogene‑scale extinction.
Had the projectile struck elsewhere, the resulting environmental fallout would have been markedly milder, potentially sparing many lineages. In such an alternate timeline, dinosaurs might have survived the event, and mammals may never have risen to dominance.
3 New Species Was Misidentified As Archaeopteryx
Since its inaugural discovery 150 years ago, Archaeopteryx has occupied a starring role as the quintessential transitional fossil, linking dinosaurs and birds. Only twelve specimens have ever been catalogued, yet a 2017 analysis argues that one of these historic fossils actually belongs to a completely distinct species.
The specimen in question, unearthed in the 1970s and housed at the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the Netherlands, earned the moniker “Haarlem specimen.” Compared with other Archaeopteryx finds, it is relatively incomplete and suffers from poor preservation.
Nevertheless, a fresh re‑examination uncovered enough morphological differences to separate it from Archaeopteryx. Discrepancies in bone proportions and the presence of paired furrows on the phalanges more closely resemble anchiornithids such as Anchiornis and Eosinopteryx.
These traits, combined with its geographic outlier status—far beyond the Chinese Jurassic formations that host all other anchiornithids—led researchers to name the animal Ostromia crassipes. The authors suggest that its wide distribution may have been achieved through flight, potentially reshaping our understanding of early avian dispersal.
2 Teleocrater Changes The Early History Of Dinosaurs
Although the fossil now known as Teleocrater was first uncovered in 1933, it remained a mystery until 2017 when paleontologist Sterling Nesbitt finally described it in a peer‑reviewed journal. The specimen had long been under the stewardship of British researcher Alan Charig, who mentioned the name Teleocrater rhadinus in his 1956 doctoral dissertation but never published formal findings.
Charig’s tight‑lipped approach—allowing only a select few to examine the bones—sparked speculation that even he was uncertain about the animal’s true identity. In 2015, Nesbitt’s team recovered three additional Teleocrater specimens, paving the way for a comprehensive description two years later.
Morphologically, Teleocrater looks nothing out of the ordinary: a two‑metre‑long carnivore with sharp teeth, bearing a striking resemblance to a modern monitor lizard. Yet, its significance lies in the clues it offers about the early diversification of archosaurs.
At the dawn of the Triassic, archosaurs split into two major branches—Pseudosuchia (the crocodile line) and Avemetatarsalia (the bird line). The fossil record from this pivotal interval is notoriously sparse, leaving many evolutionary questions unanswered.
Teleocrater is firmly placed within the avemetatarsalian lineage, suggesting it lived shortly after the split. Though not a direct dinosaur ancestor, it represents the oldest known cousin of dinosaurs, bridging a crucial gap in our knowledge.
What makes Teleocrater especially intriguing is its blend of crocodilian‑like traits, contrasting with earlier avemetatarsalians such as Lagerpeton, which were small, bipedal runners. This mosaic of features indicates that bird‑like characteristics evolved gradually over a far longer timespan than previously believed, and ongoing study of Teleocrater promises to further rewrite the early chapters of dinosaur evolution.
1 New Model Aims To Completely Rewrite The Dinosaur Family Tree
While Teleocrater’s revelations already challenge conventional views of early dinosaur evolution, a bold new framework from the University of Cambridge seeks to overturn the very foundation of dinosaur classification. The proposal aims to replace the long‑standing division into Ornithischia and Saurischia, a scheme first introduced by Harry Seeley over a century ago.
The Cambridge team harnessed computer simulations to evaluate 450 anatomical characters across 75 dinosaur taxa, grouping species based on shared traits rather than solely on hip morphology. This exhaustive analysis generated tens of thousands of potential phylogenies, from which the 80 most plausible scenarios were merged into a consensus tree.
The resulting model not only repositions many groups that were once thought to be close relatives onto entirely separate branches, but also pushes back the earliest appearance of dinosaurs by roughly ten million years and into the northern hemisphere. As a consequence, the new tree has sparked vigorous debate within the paleontological community, and its ultimate acceptance remains to be seen.