Riley Black

Riley Black

 

Riley Black is the author of The Last Days of the Dinosaurs and many other books. She is a science correspondent for Smithsonian magazine covering fossils and natural history, and she writes about the prehistoric past for a variety of publications. 

Illustration of a Velafrons, a hadrosaur whose name means "sailed forehead."

Chew on This: Powerful Jaws Fueled a Jurassic Herbivore Boom

Teeth, not flowers, might be the key to the duckbills’ success

Giant sauropods' feet didn't just leave footprints for future paleontologists to find, but changed landscapes entirely.

Dinosaurs Literally Reshaped The Planet

Dinos didn't just leave behind footprints and fossil bones—they also changed the landscapes in which they lived

Illustration of Gualicho shinyae hunting with its jaws, not arms.

Arm Day at the Gym Apparently Not a Thing for Newly Found, Tiny-Armed Dino

Turns out <i>T. rex</i> doesn’t have a copyright on those adorably awkward, itty-bitty arms

Portrait of paleontologist Mary Anning and her trusty assistant, Tray.

These Paleo Pets Made Fossil Hunting Less Lonely

In the solitary hunt for bones, furry companions provide company, act as field assistants and sometimes even make the ultimate sacrifice

You'll never guess how researchers found this fossil of the petite terrestrial crocodile Hoplosuchus kayi.

These Are Some of the Weirdest Ways Paleontologists Find Fossils

Sometimes you pee on them, sometimes you’re just trying to get away from other paleontologists. Here are the discovery stories scientists won’t tell you

Pie chart showing the number of times ankylosaur fought a particular foe.

Sadly, “Ankylosaur Fight Club” Is Probably Wishful Thinking

Ornate armor may have had more to do with communication than combat

A reconstruction of Fruitachampsa, a Jurassic-era crocodile discovered in the Fruita Paleo Area and named in 2011. Small animals like Fruitachampsa help paleontologists reconstruct what life was really like in the Jurassic period.

In This Jurassic Boneyard, It's Not Size That Counts

A rich cache of fossils in Colorado is valuable not for the big dino bones but the relatively tiny fossils that are still being dug up.

Little penguins are the only penguins now found in Australia.

Australia Used to be a Haven for Giant Penguins

A single species, the little penguin, is left on Aussie shores today

An artists' rendering of Machairoceratops cronusi, or "bent sword face." Machairoceratops was found in 77-million-year-old rock in southern Utah.

Two New Discoveries Add to a Horned Dino Revolution

Twenty years ago, there were about 23 horned dinosaurs. Today, the count has more than tripled

Atopodentatus used its odd-shaped head to vacuum up food from the sea floor hundreds of millions of years ago.

Weirdo Ancient Marine Reptile Had a Vacuum-Shaped Head

Animal probably slurped up plant material from the seafloor

Woolly mammoths were mixing it up with other mammoths in North America, new research shows.

North American Mammoths May Have Been a Single Species

Woolly mammoths and other varieties may have been intermingling, DNA analyses show

The footprints of ankylosaurs and other 122-million-year-old dinosaurs are preserved outside Moab, Utah.

Paleontologists Unveil Dinosaur Stomping Ground in Utah

Visitors can view ghostly footprints that record prehistoric steps in pale blue stone

T. rex had tiny arms. But that’s no reason to mock the dinosaur.

Stop Making Fun of Tyrannosaurs’ Tiny Arms

The stubby limbs may seem out of place, but they may have been key to the <i>T. rex’s</i> terrifying bite

When Dinosaurs Roamed the (Not Yet) Petrified Forest

Recent surprise discoveries at the national park have prompted a complete rethinking about the creatures of the Jurassic Era

An artist's rendering shows what a Tully Monster might have looked like 300 million years ago.

What Is a Tully Monster? Scientists Finally Think They Know

The oddball fossil that puzzled experts for almost 60 years is probably an ancient fish akin to today's bloodsucking lampreys

A reconstruction of the horse-sized tyrannosaur Timurlengia euotica, named for the charismatic Central Asian ruler Tamerlane, shows the species' long, slender legs, large head and teeth built sharp like a steak knife.

The Discovery of a Tiny Tyrannosaur Adds New Insight Into the Origins of T. Rex

The horse-sized dino species had smarts and a keen sense of smell, setting the stage for the evolution of the enormous predator

The skeleton of a Steller's sea cow hangs in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

“Mermaid Ivory” Stirs Controversy Over How Extinct Species Are Studied

The carved bones of marine mammals highlight the squishy regulations around their trade and what that means for science

At 122 feet long, The Titanosaur has to poke its tiny head out of the entryway to fit in the exhibit hall.

Here's How You Squeeze the Biggest Dinosaur Into a New York City Museum

A team of specialists had to get creative to mount a towering Titanosaur inside the American Museum of Natural History

A Hoplophoneus pseudo-cat skull in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Utah.

The Dakota Badlands Used to Host Sabertoothed Pseudo-Cat Battles

The region was once home to a plethora of catlike creatures called nimravids, and fossils show they were an especially fractious breed

The Verreaux's sifaka is one of the unique mammals found only on Madagascar.

Tiny Fossils Reveal the Rise of Mammals on Madagascar

Recent finds are helping paleontologists piece together what happened after dinosaurs vanished from the island

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