Most Dinosaurs Remain Undiscovered

Posted on September 5, 2006  Comments (4)

Dinosaurs remain to be discovered (bozos broke link so I deleted it – poor usability)

Peter Dodson of the University of Pennsylvania and Steve Wang of Swarthmore College estimate that 71 percent of all dinosaur genera — groups of dinosaur species — have yet to be discovered.

“It’s a safe bet that a child born today could expect a very fruitful career in dinosaur paleontology,” Dodson said in a statement.

The estimates are based on the rates of discovery — about 10 to 20 annually — and the recent increase in finds of fossils in China, Mongolia and South America.

Vast Majority of Dinosaurs Still to Be Found, Scientists Say, National Geographic:

The pair predicts that scientists will eventually discover 1,844 dinosaur genera in total—at least 1,300 more than the 527 recognized today from remains other than isolated teeth.

What’s more, the duo believes that 75 percent of these dinos will be discovered within the next 60 to 100 years and 90 percent within 100 to 140 years, based on an analysis of historical discovery patterns.

4 Responses to “Most Dinosaurs Remain Undiscovered”

  1. CuriousCat: Giant Duck-Billed Dinosaur Discovered in Mexico
    February 12th, 2008 @ 7:12 pm

    “The discovery of the 72-million-year-old fossil adds to the rich gallery of dinosaurs that scientists now know lived in western North America during the latter part of the dinosaur era…”

  2. Curious Cat: 2,000 Species New to Science from One Island
    December 4th, 2008 @ 2:20 pm

    In five months, they collected 10,000 species. Some 2,000 of these may be new to science…

  3. Friday Fun: Dinosaur and Kids » Curious Cat Science Blog
    April 15th, 2011 @ 8:03 am

    Just a fun video for this Friday, showing a visit by a puppet dinosaur to a Australian school…

  4. Nigersaurus » Curious Cat Science Blog
    September 24th, 2011 @ 9:12 am

    The Nigersaurus was discover in what is now the Sahara Desert in Niger. When the Nigersaurus was roaming the area, 110 million years ago, the climate was a Mesozoic forest…

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