San Antonio College Library

"The most massive land animals ever to have lived, sauropods roamed widely across the continents through most of the "Age of Dinosaurs" from about 220 to 65 million years ago. They grew to incredible sizes, giving rise to the question: Why were they so big? Early guesses suggested that they gained protection from predators by virtue of their size, which also allowed them to reach the tops of trees in order to eat leaves and conifer needles. More recent...

What do we know about dinosaurs, and how do we know it? How did dinosaurs grow, move, eat, and reproduce? Were they warm-blooded or cold-blooded? How intelligent were they? How are the various groups of dinosaurs related to each other, and to other kinds of living and extinct vertebrates? What can the study of dinosaurs tell us about the process of evolution? And why did typical dinosaurs become extinct?

"At stake in the "Science Wars" that have raged in academe and in the media is nothing less than the standing of science in our culture. One side argues that science is a "social construct," that it does not discover facts about the world, but rather constructs artifacts disguised as objective truths. For constructivists, "nature" and "reality" are simply what scientists agree to regard as natural or real, and the methods and standards of science...

In Dinosaurs of the East Coast David Weishampel and Luther Young restore East Coast dinosaurs to their rightful place on the paleontological map. They describe such dinosaurs as the plant-eating Astrodon johnstoni, similar to the Brachiosaurus, which browsed in a tropical Maryland jungle 100 million years ago. Other East Coast dinosaurs included a distant relative of Astrodon, Anchisaurus polyzelus, which lived in New England some 200 million years...

Using the motion picture Jurassic Park as a starting point, DeSalle and Lindley discuss how possible it would actually be to clone dinosaurs from DNA found in prehistoric blood and what problems might be encountered in creating a complete genetic blueprint, an egg, and a suitable habitat.

"Feathered Dinosaurs: The Origin of Birds dramatically brings to life all the known groups of dinosaurs that bore feathers. Peter Schouten, one of the world's most acclaimed natural history artists, has produced a series of 80 imaginative full-color life paintings of this fascinating extinct group by matching their peculiar physical traits with those of living creatures. These are the most accurate visual representations possible, based on existing...

"This illustrated volume is a journey through more than two centuries of remarkable discovery. Books on dinosaurs are usually arranged by classification or epoch, but this unique work tells the story chronologically, in order of the key finds that shaped our understanding and brought these creatures to life for the public. From the fragmentary remains of giant extinct animals found in the early 1800s, to the dinosaur wars in the American West to the...

This overview of dinosaur discoveries in Mexico synthesizes current information about the geography and environment of the region during the Mesozoic when it was the western margin of the ancient continent of Pangea. The book summarizes research on various groups, including turtles, lepidosauromorphs, plesiosaurs, crocodyliforms, pterosaurs, and last but not least, dinosaurs. In addition, chapters focus on trackways and other trace fossils and on...

The dinosaurs of eastern Iberia : a historical and geographical approach / ngel Galobart -- Paleontological discoveries and studies / ngel Galobart [and others] -- The geological context : the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous / Carlos de Santisteban and Andrs Santos-Cubedo -- The geological context : the Upper Cretaceous peninsula / Oriol Oms, Violeta Riera, and Carlos de Santisteban -- History and classification of dinosaurs / Bernat Vila, Josep...

"The last few years have witnessed an unparalleled rate of discoveries of early birds and their dinosaurian predecessors. Written by a recognised authority in the field, Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds provides a comprehensive summary of these discoveries and addresses the fascinating topic of how modern birds evolved from fearsome dinosaurs akin to the celebrated Velociraptor. The book focuses on an evolutionary approach...