The little dinosaurs of Ghost Ranch
By: Edwin H. Colbert.
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 250
Subjects: Coelophysis -- Arizona.
First sentence: At the beginning of the summer of 1947 I was in the Southwest to search for fossils.
Description: One of the strangest mysteries of the ancient past lies within a quarry in the American Southwest and concerns Coelophysis Bauri (Seel-O-Fise-Iss Bow-Ree), a carnivorous dinosaur that was no bigger than a large dog. More than a thousand fossilized remains of this animal have been found in a small area, and evidence suggests ten times that number may still be buried there. Why did so many of these little dinosaurs die in one place?

Renowned paleontologist Edwin H. Colbert takes readers on a marvelous journey to search for answers in The Little Dinosaurs of Ghost Ranch. Colbert details the excavations that began nearly fifty years ago at Ghost Ranch, the quarry in Northern New Mexico where these fossils were discovered, and the 200-million-year-old prehistory of Coelophysis Bauri, an early predecessor of the giant dinosaurs with which most of us are familiar.

Numerous photographs and illustrations, accompanied by George Colbert's detailed maps, chronicle the quest for the truth about Coelophysis. A color insert features the handsome panoramic paintings of Margaret Colbert, giving readers an excellent visual approximation of the prehistoric world.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [229]-237) and index.
Table of contents: label: ONE
title: The Discovery
pagenum: 1; label: TWO
title: Plans, Preparations, and Some Thoughts
pagenum: 22; label: THREE
title: Digging Them Out
pagenum: 40; label: FOUR
title: Bringing Them to Light
pagenum: 70; label: FIVE
title: Bones and History
pagenum: 86; label: SIX
title: The Quarry Revealed; or, What Killed the Dinosaurs?
pagenum: 99; label: SEVEN
title: The Elegant Ancestor
pagenum: 111; label: EIGHT
title: The Life of an Early Dinosaur
pagenum: 142; label: NINE
title: Roots and Relatives
pagenum: 162; label: TEN
title: Contemporaries and Competitors
pagenum: 190; label: ELEVEN
title: Equatorial New Mexico
pagenum: 209; label: TWELVE
title: An End and a Beginning
pagenum: 221