A feathered dinosaur reconstructed beside a layered rock exposure

English palaeontological atlas

Life’s history, written in stone

Explore dinosaurs through fossils, anatomy, measurements and the evidence behind each scientific reconstruction.

5
pages in English
2
dinosaur profiles
1
interactive guide

How to read the site

A fossil is evidence. A living animal is a reconstruction.

Palaeontology joins incomplete bones, geological context and comparisons with living animals. Strong conclusions use several independent lines of evidence. Details such as colour, sound and social behaviour often remain much less certain.

1

Start with the specimen

Which bones, tracks or traces were actually found?

2

Name the method

Length and mass depend on reconstruction and modelling choices.

3

Keep the range

A defensible interval is usually more useful than a dramatic single number.

4

Mark the unknowns

Missing evidence is not permission to fill gaps with certainty.