Follow along as research scientist Adrienne Mayor searches for the origins of the mythical griffin - could such a creature be based in reality? While studying the classics in Greece, Adrienne came across accounts of an ancient creature, sometimes called bird-monster, griffin, or minotaur. Adrienne travels from Greece to the Gobi Desert in search of where an ancient race of fair-haired and pale nomadic horsemen called the Scythians hid their gold - gold that was rumored to be guarded by griffins.

The fascinating story of how the fossils of dinosaurs, mammoths, and other extinct animals influenced some of the most spectacular creatures of classical mythology Griffins, Centaurs, Cyclopes, and Giants—these fabulous creatures of classical mythology continue to live in the modern imagination through the vivid accounts that have come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Romans. But what if these beings were more than merely fictions? What if monstrous creatures once roamed the earth in the very places where their legends first arose? This is the arresting and original thesis that Adrienne Mayor explores in The First Fossil Hunters. Through careful research and meticulous documentation, she convincingly shows that many of the giants and monsters of myth did have a basis in fact—in the enormous bones of long-extinct species that were once abundant in the lands of the Greeks and Romans. As Mayor shows, the Greeks and Romans were well aware that a different breed of creatures once inhabited their lands. They frequently encountered the fossilized bones of these primeval beings, and they developed sophisticated concepts to explain the fossil evidence, concepts that were expressed in mythological stories. The legend of the gold-guarding griffin, for example, sprang from tales first told by Scythian gold-miners, who, passing through the Gobi Desert at the foot of the Altai Mountains, encountered the skeletons of Protoceratops and other dinosaurs that littered the ground. Like their modern counterparts, the ancient fossil hunters collected and measured impressive petrified remains and displayed them in temples and museums; they attempted to reconstruct the appearance of these prehistoric creatures and to explain their extinction. Long thought to be fantasy, the remarkably detailed and perceptive Greek and Roman accounts of giant bone finds were actually based on solid paleontological facts. By reading these neglected narratives for the first time in the light of modern scientific discoveries, Adrienne Mayor illuminates a lost world of ancient paleontology.

Collects writings by experts in paleontology, from John Horner on dinosaur families to Robert Bakker on the latest wave of fossil discoveries.

Oliver wants the stegosaurus to be named the state fossil of Colorado, but getting a new law passed is going to take a lot of work and a little bit of luck Oliver Dibbs already had his moment in the spotlight when he saved the local prairie dog habitat from destruction. When he convinces his class to try to get the stegosaurus declared the state fossil of Colorado, Ollie is ready to be famous again. He can just imagine his name splashed across the front page of the newspaper. But it turns out that convincing the government to name a new state symbol takes a little more work than he thought. Especially when the class bully, Lester Philpott, will do anything to sabotage Ollie’s plans. Ollie is determined to accomplish his goal. The stegosaurus deserves its day in the sun, and Ollie and his friends are going to help it get there—no matter what setbacks they encounter along the way!

"Simple step-by-step directions, along with useful tips and hints, make drawing dinosaurs easy and fun!"--Publisher.

What would happen if you showed a T-Rex a book? Well, she wouldn't know what to do with it . . . would she? A madcap, super silly adventure story rooted in the transformative power of books, created by incredible new picture-book duo Rashmi Sirdeshpande and Diane Ewen

Discusses the latest information available on dinosaurs, much of it learned from fossils found at Dinosaur National Monument.