Digging for Bird-Dinosaurs

The extinction of dinosaurs some sixty-five million years ago is one of the greatest biological catastrophes in the history of our planet.

Yet in recent years, paleontologists have turned up increasing evidence that ancestors of one group of dinosaurs still fly among us: birds. Join Cathy Forster, one of the few female paleontologists working today, on an expedition to Madagascar in search of clues to the mystery of bird evolution.

Author and photographer Nic Bishop follows the expedition across the sunbaked hills of Berivotra, where hundred-degree heat and persistent winds scour an ancient Late Cretaceous riverbed.

In the quarry, the research team jackets each fragile bone in protective burlap and plaster. Every delicate fragment from this remote riverbed provides an essential clue to how prehistoric theropods took to the air.
Hands-On Science: Step inside the university research lab where preparator Virginia Heisey uses fine dental tools and microscopes to painstakingly separate fragile bone fragments from dense sandstone blocks.Fieldwork Adventure: Experience daily life at the remote Berivotra field camp, from evening soccer games with local Malagasy children to meals of rice and beans eaten under starlight.Also by This Author: The Secrets of Animal Flight.