Obscure Dinosaur Facts

A blog by paleoartist Clara Takahashi

Post list

Anatomy AquaticReptiles Biology Biome Cetacea Dinosauria Evolution Extinction FamilyOverview GeologicTime Humans Inktober Literature Math Miscellaneous Paleoart Photography Physics Profile Pseudosuchia Pterosauria Rationality Science SpeculativeEvolution Synapsida Taphonomy Taxonomy Tips

Anatomy

Wing Anatomy — November 18, 2020

AquaticReptiles

Aquatic Reptiles: An Overview — November 13, 2019

Biology

Pregnancy Brain: What You Should Know Before You Sign Up — March 30, 2025
Biology of the Bird Brain — November 30, 2022
A Little More Biochemistry — November 2, 2022
The Physics of Lilliputians, Part 2 — August 24, 2022
A Little Biochemistry — September 8, 2021
Thermoregulation — August 25, 2021
The Evolution of Beauty — July 28, 2021
Everyday Biology — May 19, 2021
The Physics of Giants and Lilliputians — December 30, 2020
Niche Partitioning — October 21, 2020
Pregnancy Is Super Weird — August 12, 2020
Abiogenesis: The RNA World Hypothesis — February 19, 2020

Biome

Paleo Biome Profile #3: The Messel Pit — July 14, 2021
Paleo Biome Profile #2: The Chinle Formation — December 2, 2020
Paleo Biome Profile #1: The Yixian Formation — July 22, 2020

Cetacea

Some Creative Writing — February 24, 2021
Whale Evolution — February 19, 2020

Dinosauria

Dinosaur Photography #14: Birds of France — May 24, 2025
Rate My Dino 4: Royal Tyrrell Museum, Part 2 — September 22, 2024
Rate My Dino 4: Royal Tyrrell Museum, Part 1 — September 4, 2024
Dinosaur Photography #13: The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill — April 3, 2024
Human-Bird Symbiosis — February 7, 2024
Dinosaur Photography #12: Portugal Birds — November 8, 2023
Book Review: Jurassic Park — September 6, 2023
Rate My Dino 3: Smithsonian Museum of Natural History — August 2, 2023
What It's Like To Own A Dinosaur — June 7, 2023
Dinosaur Photography 11: Hawai'i Birds — May 1, 2023
Dinosaur Photography 10: Florida Winter Birds — December 29, 2022
Biology of the Bird Brain — November 30, 2022
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #14: Mbiresaurus and the most ancient dinosaurs — October 17, 2022
Dinosaur Photography 9: Florida Birds — October 5, 2022
Dinosaur Photography 8: Boston Birds — July 27, 2022
Rate My Dino 2: Harvard Museum of Natural History — July 13, 2022
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #13: Tarbosaurus — June 8, 2022
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #12: The Largest Non-Gravisaurian Dinosaurs — May 12, 2022
Breaking News: Spinosaur Swimming and Sauropod Sails — April 27, 2022
Dinosaur Photography 7: Denver Birds — April 13, 2022
Rate My Dino: Denver Museum of Nature and Science — March 16, 2022
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #11: Two Fun New Ankylosaurs — January 5, 2022
How Birds Eat (Part 2) — December 1, 2021
How Birds Eat (Part 1) — November 17, 2021
Book Review: The Dinosaur Heresies — November 3, 2021
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #10: Giant Flightless Birds — October 6, 2021
Thermoregulation — August 25, 2021
Dinosaur Photography 6: New York Birds — June 2, 2021
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #9: Shuvuuia — June 2, 2021
The Paleontological Merits of Fossil Pokémon — May 5, 2021
Building A Coin-Operated Crow Feeder (Part 2) — April 21, 2021
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #8: Diplodocus and a selection of sauropods — April 7, 2021
Some Creative Writing — February 24, 2021
Dinosaur Photography 5: Landbirds of California — February 10, 2021
Building A Coin-Operated Crow Feeder (Part 1) — December 23, 2020
Dinosaur Photography 4: More California Waterbirds — December 16, 2020
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #7: the paradoxical Chilesaurus — December 9, 2020
Dinosaur Photography 3: Waterbirds of California — October 28, 2020
Dinosaur Photography 2: Mountain Birds of California — September 23, 2020
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #6: Psittacosaurus — September 2, 2020
Dinosaur Photography: Neighborhood Birds — August 19, 2020
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #5: Kulindadromeus — August 2, 2020
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #4: Halszkaraptor — July 20, 2020
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #3: Majungasaurus — February 19, 2020
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #2: Timurlengia and Friends — October 10, 2019
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #1: Anzu — September 24, 2019
What Color Were Dinosaurs? — September 14, 2019
The Dinosaur Family: An Overview — September 11, 2019
Dinosaur Word Roots: What's In A Name? — September 5, 2019
"Brontosaurus Isn't Real?" — August 31, 2019

Evolution

How the White Man Got His Power: A Geographical-Anthropological Just-So Story — May 1, 2024
Prehistoric Beast Profile #3: Ghost Lineages — September 21, 2022
The Evolution of Beauty — July 28, 2021
Some Strange Paleo Concepts You Probably Haven't Heard Of — November 11, 2020
Niche Partitioning — October 21, 2020
Why We Should Teach Natural History In Elementary School — October 7, 2020
Evolutionary Anachronisms — June 17, 2020
Abiogenesis: The RNA World Hypothesis — February 19, 2020
Whale Evolution — February 19, 2020
Mitochondrial Eve Is A Tautology — September 24, 2019
I Am A Fish (And So Are You) — September 6, 2019
Convergent Evolution — September 6, 2019
An Extremely Abridged (But Still Very Long) Trip Into Deep Time — September 5, 2019
What Makes A Mammal? — September 5, 2019

Extinction

The Story of the Aral Sea — February 1, 2023
Evolutionary Anachronisms — June 17, 2020

FamilyOverview

The Mammal Family: Into the Cenozoic — September 22, 2021
The Mammal Family: An Overview — November 4, 2020
The Croc Family: An Overview — July 9, 2020
Aquatic Reptiles: An Overview — November 13, 2019
The Pterosaur Family: An Overview — September 26, 2019
The Dinosaur Family: An Overview — September 11, 2019

GeologicTime

The Story of the Aral Sea — February 1, 2023
Radiometric Dating Explained — May 25, 2022
An Extremely Abridged (But Still Very Long) Trip Into Deep Time — September 5, 2019

Humans

Pregnancy Brain: What You Should Know Before You Sign Up — March 30, 2025
Book Review: Sapiens — January 26, 2025
So You Want To Be A Caveman — December 26, 2024
How the White Man Got His Power: A Geographical-Anthropological Just-So Story — May 1, 2024
Human-Bird Symbiosis — February 7, 2024
Mitochondrial Eve Is A Tautology — September 24, 2019

Inktober

Paleo Inktober 2021 — October 20, 2021
Mesozoic Inktober 2020 — September 30, 2020
Mesozoic Inktober 2019 — October 1, 2019

Literature

Book Review: Sapiens — January 26, 2025
Some Speculative Evolution — January 3, 2024
Even More Creative Writing — December 6, 2023
Book Review: Jurassic Park — September 6, 2023
Some More Creative Writing — June 22, 2022
Book Review: The Dinosaur Heresies — November 3, 2021
Walden: 19th Century Vanlife — June 30, 2021
Nonfiction Book Reviews — March 24, 2021
'All Todays' Explained — September 16, 2020
Paleontology Media Recommendations — November 16, 2019

Math

How to Write an Elo Calculator in a Spreadsheet Without Knowing How to Code — August 6, 2024
Radiometric Dating Explained — May 25, 2022
How To Use Bayes's Theorem In Real Life — January 27, 2021
Pregnancy Is Super Weird — August 12, 2020

Miscellaneous

So You Want To Be A Caveman — December 26, 2024
The Color Wheel Is A Lie — November 3, 2024
Musical Scales — July 3, 2024
A Two Week Portrait Drawing Crash Course — March 6, 2024
Even More Creative Writing — December 6, 2023
Some More Creative Writing — June 22, 2022
The Time Traveller's Cookbook — March 30, 2022
The Upstairs/Downstairs Dichotomy — March 2, 2022
End Of Year Announcements — December 11, 2021
How Birds Eat (Part 2) — December 1, 2021
How Birds Eat (Part 1) — November 17, 2021
Walden: 19th Century Vanlife — June 30, 2021
Everyday Biology — May 19, 2021
The Paleontological Merits of Fossil Pokémon — May 5, 2021
Building A Coin-Operated Crow Feeder (Part 2) — April 21, 2021
Building A Coin-Operated Crow Feeder (Part 1) — December 23, 2020
The Appeal to Nature Fallacy — July 29, 2020
The Ultimate Triathlete: A Speculative Evolution Project — November 13, 2019
Dinosaur Portrayals In The Media — September 25, 2019
The Speculative Evolution of Monster Hunter — September 8, 2019

Paleoart

Spectember 2022 — September 7, 2022
Summer Art 2022 — August 10, 2022
Winter Art 2022 — March 2, 2022
Pocket Alphabestiary — February 2, 2022
Paleo Inktober 2021 — October 20, 2021
Summer Art 2021 — August 11, 2021
Winter Art — March 10, 2021
Fall Art — November 25, 2020
Mesozoic Inktober 2020 — September 30, 2020
'All Todays' Explained — September 16, 2020
Summer Art — August 5, 2020
How Accurate Can Paleoart Be? — July 31, 2020
May Art — May 23, 2020
April Art: Portraits and Gestures — April 18, 2020
Alphabestiary — March 23, 2020
March Art — March 23, 2020
February: More Art — February 18, 2020
Christmas Art Dump — December 29, 2019
To Fuzz or Not To Fuzz: A Guide to Archosaur Integument — November 16, 2019
Mesozoic Inktober 2019 — October 1, 2019

Photography

Dinosaur Photography #14: Birds of France — May 24, 2025
Dinosaur Photography #13: The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill — April 3, 2024
Dinosaur Photography #12: Portugal Birds — November 8, 2023
Dinosaur Photography 11: Hawai'i Birds — May 1, 2023
Dinosaur Photography 10: Florida Winter Birds — December 29, 2022
Dinosaur Photography 9: Florida Birds — October 5, 2022
Dinosaur Photography 8: Boston Birds — July 27, 2022
Dinosaur Photography 7: Denver Birds — April 13, 2022
Dinosaur Photography 6: New York Birds — June 2, 2021
Dinosaur Photography 5: Landbirds of California — February 10, 2021
Dinosaur Photography 4: More California Waterbirds — December 16, 2020
Dinosaur Photography 3: Waterbirds of California — October 28, 2020
Dinosaur Photography 2: Mountain Birds of California — September 23, 2020
Dinosaur Photography: Neighborhood Birds — August 19, 2020

Physics

The Color Wheel Is A Lie — November 3, 2024
Ancient Material Science — October 3, 2023
The Physics of Glass — April 5, 2023
The Physics of Lilliputians, Part 2 — August 24, 2022
The Physics of Giants and Lilliputians — December 30, 2020

Profile

Prehistoric Beast Profile #6: All the Permian Synapsids — April 21, 2025
Prehistoric Beast Profile #5: All The Funky Triassic Reptiles! — June 5, 2024
Prehistoric Beast Profile #4: Could Azhdarchids Really Do That? — July 5, 2023
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #14: Mbiresaurus and the most ancient dinosaurs — October 17, 2022
Prehistoric Beast Profile #3: Ghost Lineages — September 21, 2022
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #13: Tarbosaurus — June 8, 2022
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #12: The Largest Non-Gravisaurian Dinosaurs — May 12, 2022
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #11: Two Fun New Ankylosaurs — January 5, 2022
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #10: Giant Flightless Birds — October 6, 2021
Paleo Biome Profile #3: The Messel Pit — July 14, 2021
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #9: Shuvuuia — June 2, 2021
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #8: Diplodocus and a selection of sauropods — April 7, 2021
Prehistoric Beast Profile #2: Pterodaustro and other alternative pterosaurs — January 13, 2021
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #7: the paradoxical Chilesaurus — December 9, 2020
Paleo Biome Profile #2: The Chinle Formation — December 2, 2020
Prehistoric Beast Profile #1: Lystrosaurus, the Great Survivor — October 14, 2020
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #6: Psittacosaurus — September 2, 2020
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #5: Kulindadromeus — August 2, 2020
Paleo Biome Profile #1: The Yixian Formation — July 22, 2020
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #4: Halszkaraptor — July 20, 2020
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #3: Majungasaurus — February 19, 2020
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #2: Timurlengia and Friends — October 10, 2019
Obscure Dinosaur Profile #1: Anzu — September 24, 2019

Pseudosuchia

Prehistoric Beast Profile #5: All The Funky Triassic Reptiles! — June 5, 2024
The Croc Family: An Overview — July 9, 2020

Pterosauria

Prehistoric Beast Profile #4: Could Azhdarchids Really Do That? — July 5, 2023
Prehistoric Beast Profile #2: Pterodaustro and other alternative pterosaurs — January 13, 2021
The Pterosaur Family: An Overview — September 26, 2019

Rationality

Bias In The Fossil Record — March 1, 2023
The Upstairs/Downstairs Dichotomy — March 2, 2022
How To Use Bayes's Theorem In Real Life — January 27, 2021
Why We Should Teach Natural History In Elementary School — October 7, 2020
The Appeal to Nature Fallacy — July 29, 2020

Science

Ancient Material Science — October 3, 2023
The Physics of Glass — April 5, 2023
Some Strange Paleo Concepts You Probably Haven't Heard Of — November 11, 2020
Paleontological Publications' Sesquipedalian Excesses Translated Ad Hoc Into Succinct Proxies for the Hoi Polloi: Or, Overly Complicated Language in Plain English — September 9, 2020
Scientific Methods Q&A — August 26, 2020

SpeculativeEvolution

Some Speculative Evolution — January 3, 2024
Spectember 2022 — September 7, 2022
The Ultimate Triathlete: A Speculative Evolution Project — November 13, 2019
The Speculative Evolution of Monster Hunter — September 8, 2019

Synapsida

Prehistoric Beast Profile #6: All the Permian Synapsids — April 21, 2025
The Mammal Family: Into the Cenozoic — September 22, 2021
The Mammal Family: An Overview — November 4, 2020
Prehistoric Beast Profile #1: Lystrosaurus, the Great Survivor — October 14, 2020

Taphonomy

Bias In The Fossil Record — March 1, 2023
Scientific Methods Q&A — August 26, 2020
What Color Were Dinosaurs? — September 14, 2019

Taxonomy

I Am A Fish (And So Are You) — September 6, 2019
Dinosaur Word Roots: What's In A Name? — September 5, 2019
What Makes A Mammal? — September 5, 2019
"Brontosaurus Isn't Real?" — August 31, 2019

Tips

Rate My Dino 4: Royal Tyrrell Museum, Part 2 — September 22, 2024
Rate My Dino 4: Royal Tyrrell Museum, Part 1 — September 4, 2024
How to Write an Elo Calculator in a Spreadsheet Without Knowing How to Code — August 6, 2024
Musical Scales — July 3, 2024
A Two Week Portrait Drawing Crash Course — March 6, 2024
Rate My Dino 3: Smithsonian Museum of Natural History — August 2, 2023
What It's Like To Own A Dinosaur — June 7, 2023
Rate My Dino 2: Harvard Museum of Natural History — July 13, 2022
The Time Traveller's Cookbook — March 30, 2022
Rate My Dino: Denver Museum of Nature and Science — March 16, 2022
Nonfiction Book Reviews — March 24, 2021
Wing Anatomy — November 18, 2020
Paleontological Publications' Sesquipedalian Excesses Translated Ad Hoc Into Succinct Proxies for the Hoi Polloi: Or, Overly Complicated Language in Plain English — September 9, 2020
How Accurate Can Paleoart Be? — July 31, 2020
Paleontology Media Recommendations — November 16, 2019
To Fuzz or Not To Fuzz: A Guide to Archosaur Integument — November 16, 2019
Dinosaur Portrayals In The Media — September 25, 2019