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Dinosaur Parents, Dinosaur Young: Uncovering the Mystery of Dinosaur Families
Is it possible that dinosaurs were good parents? For many years, scientists didn’t think so. Then an amazing discovery revealed that Maiasaura covered its nest with vegetation to keep its eggs warm. Another exciting find showed that Oviraptor sat on its nest just as birds do. Based on this and other new evidence, scientists now believe that many—if not most—dinosaurs may have cared for their young. Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld draws from the very latest findings to describe how scientists are continu-ally making new discoveries and drawing new conclusions about what life was like for dinosaurs and their young. The result is an exciting and accessible book, packed with beautiful, informative illustrations and photographs, that brings us closer than ever before to the truth about dinosaur families. Glossary, bibliography, index.
- GenresDinosaursPicture Books
64 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
5 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
183 books28 followersKathleen Weidner Zoehfeld is the award-winning author of more than sixty books for children, including DINOSAUR TRACKS, "a great choice for even the most discriminating dinophiles" (School Library Journal); DID DINOSAURS HAVE FEATHERS?, a Children's Book of the Month Club selection, described as "fascinating" by Kirkus Reviews; and DINOSAURS BIG AND SMALL, a 2003 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Book Award winner.
When she's not reading, researching, writing, or editing, Kathleen loves to spend her free time exploring, doing fieldwork, and preparing fossils for her local natural history museums.
When she's not reading, researching, writing, or editing, Kathleen loves to spend her free time exploring, doing fieldwork, and preparing fossils for her local natural history museums.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 18, 2025
Baby dinos for older kids (The OG was deleted, so here's a friend's review: www.amazon.com/review/R3991RUEE8QQ0Z/... ): 5/5
Short version: As far as I know, there aren't any popular adult books about baby dinos (book chapters, yes, but not whole books). Therefore, Zoehfeld's "Dinosaur Parents, Dinosaur Young: Uncovering the Mystery of Dinosaur Families" (henceforth DP) is 1) the best baby dino book for older kids, and 2) one of the best popular baby dino books period. I recommend reading DP in conjunction with other, more recent books (E.g. Holtz's "Dinosaurs" in general and Chapter 36 in particular).
Long version: Read on.
Many popular baby dino books are OK, but not great. There are 3 main reasons for why I think that is: 1) They're mixed bags in terms of paleoart (Quoting Miller: "I bought the book expecting a more technical discussion of the animals discussed therein[...]but was surprised to find beautiful paintings of questionably-restored dinosaurs"); 2) They're confusing messes in terms of organization; 3) They fail to cover many baby dino-related subjects and those that are covered are done so in an insufficient manner (I.e. Sometimes, they simplify things to the point of being meaningless; Other times, they're just plain wrong). In this review, I list the 3 main reasons why I think DP succeeds where said books fail.
1) DP is very well-illustrated: Shillinglaw should illustrate more dino books; His line drawings are THAT good (E.g. See the very cute Hypacrosaurus on the back cover); In fact, they remind me of McLoughlin's "Archosauria: A New Look at the Old Dinosaur", minus the "weird ideas about prehistoric animals" ( https://babbletrish.blogspot.com/2010... ). My only gripe is that Shillinglaw didn't do ALL the illustrations. Carrick's paintings are not that good (E.g. See the very derpy Maiasaura on the front cover).
2) DP is very well-organized: Chapters 1-6 begin with 1) a day-in-the-life story of an Oviraptor father, and 2) the history of dino science from the 1840s to the 1970s, continue with descriptions of "how scientists are continually making new discoveries and drawing new conclusions about what life was like for dinosaurs and their young", and end with the unsolved mysteries of "tyrannosaurs, stegosaurs, and the hundreds of other types of dinosaurs"; Said descriptions are arranged in roughly chronological order (I.e. First Maiasaura, then Hypacrosaurus, Drinker, and Troodon, and then Apatosaurus and Saltasaurus).
3) DP is very complete and in-depth: For one (in reference to "complete"), using Holtz's "Dinosaurs" as a guide, DP features representatives of 15 different dino groups; Compare that to the 6 different dino groups of Judge's "Born to Be Giants: How Baby Dinosaurs Grew to Rule the World"; For another (in reference to "in-depth"), see the Zoehfeld quote; Parents does more in 2 pages than Judge's book does in 4 pages. Chapter 4 is an especially good example of the latter because of the Orodromeus and Troodon story (I.e. "Another Mistake", which is often omitted from popular dino books; For more info about said story: https://web.archive.org/web/200406232... ).
Quoting Zoehfeld: "In 1986, in northern Montana, Dr. Horner discovered nests, eggs, embryos, and babies of another duckbill dinosaur, a crested lambeosaur called Hypacrosaurus[...]Dr. Horner and his crew found a large Hypacrosaurus nesting site, where a herd of a thousand or more must have returned each year to lay their eggs.
Early one nesting season, when the babies had just begun to hatch, the adults may have noticed the sky growing dark. Thick clouds of soot and ash spewed forth from volcanoes erupting just to the south of them. When hot cinders and ash began to rain down, the leaders of the herd may have used the echo chambers in their hollow nasal crests to sound a basso alarm call. They urged the mothers to abandon their nests and head north and east, away from the deadly downpour.
Today the entire nesting ground is covered by a layer of solidified volcanic sediment called bentonite, which "froze" the scene almost as it was at the time the adults abandoned it.
Not long after this discovery, Dr. Horner discovered another Hypacrosaurus rookery south of the first one. In Alberta, Canada, just north of the Montana border, Wendy Sloboda, then a high school student, discovered yet another.
Were the Hypacrosaurus helpless and nest-bound as tots, as the Maiasaura most certainly were? From the locations of the baby bones found around the rookeries, it is still not clear. But Dr. Horner thinks they must have been relatively helpless, like certain types of altricial birds, such as the American white pelican.These birds are nest-bound for only a short time, but for up to three months the youngsters stay together in the nesting colony, where the adults can bring them food and look after them.
Close study of the Hypacrosaurus babies' leg bones shows that they were made up of more calcified cartilage and less solid bone than would be expected in a precocial animal. Although there's no evidence that the little ones were completely nest-bound, they did stay within the confines of their nesting ground the way pelicans do today."
Short version: As far as I know, there aren't any popular adult books about baby dinos (book chapters, yes, but not whole books). Therefore, Zoehfeld's "Dinosaur Parents, Dinosaur Young: Uncovering the Mystery of Dinosaur Families" (henceforth DP) is 1) the best baby dino book for older kids, and 2) one of the best popular baby dino books period. I recommend reading DP in conjunction with other, more recent books (E.g. Holtz's "Dinosaurs" in general and Chapter 36 in particular).
Long version: Read on.
Many popular baby dino books are OK, but not great. There are 3 main reasons for why I think that is: 1) They're mixed bags in terms of paleoart (Quoting Miller: "I bought the book expecting a more technical discussion of the animals discussed therein[...]but was surprised to find beautiful paintings of questionably-restored dinosaurs"); 2) They're confusing messes in terms of organization; 3) They fail to cover many baby dino-related subjects and those that are covered are done so in an insufficient manner (I.e. Sometimes, they simplify things to the point of being meaningless; Other times, they're just plain wrong). In this review, I list the 3 main reasons why I think DP succeeds where said books fail.
1) DP is very well-illustrated: Shillinglaw should illustrate more dino books; His line drawings are THAT good (E.g. See the very cute Hypacrosaurus on the back cover); In fact, they remind me of McLoughlin's "Archosauria: A New Look at the Old Dinosaur", minus the "weird ideas about prehistoric animals" ( https://babbletrish.blogspot.com/2010... ). My only gripe is that Shillinglaw didn't do ALL the illustrations. Carrick's paintings are not that good (E.g. See the very derpy Maiasaura on the front cover).
2) DP is very well-organized: Chapters 1-6 begin with 1) a day-in-the-life story of an Oviraptor father, and 2) the history of dino science from the 1840s to the 1970s, continue with descriptions of "how scientists are continually making new discoveries and drawing new conclusions about what life was like for dinosaurs and their young", and end with the unsolved mysteries of "tyrannosaurs, stegosaurs, and the hundreds of other types of dinosaurs"; Said descriptions are arranged in roughly chronological order (I.e. First Maiasaura, then Hypacrosaurus, Drinker, and Troodon, and then Apatosaurus and Saltasaurus).
3) DP is very complete and in-depth: For one (in reference to "complete"), using Holtz's "Dinosaurs" as a guide, DP features representatives of 15 different dino groups; Compare that to the 6 different dino groups of Judge's "Born to Be Giants: How Baby Dinosaurs Grew to Rule the World"; For another (in reference to "in-depth"), see the Zoehfeld quote; Parents does more in 2 pages than Judge's book does in 4 pages. Chapter 4 is an especially good example of the latter because of the Orodromeus and Troodon story (I.e. "Another Mistake", which is often omitted from popular dino books; For more info about said story: https://web.archive.org/web/200406232... ).
Quoting Zoehfeld: "In 1986, in northern Montana, Dr. Horner discovered nests, eggs, embryos, and babies of another duckbill dinosaur, a crested lambeosaur called Hypacrosaurus[...]Dr. Horner and his crew found a large Hypacrosaurus nesting site, where a herd of a thousand or more must have returned each year to lay their eggs.
Early one nesting season, when the babies had just begun to hatch, the adults may have noticed the sky growing dark. Thick clouds of soot and ash spewed forth from volcanoes erupting just to the south of them. When hot cinders and ash began to rain down, the leaders of the herd may have used the echo chambers in their hollow nasal crests to sound a basso alarm call. They urged the mothers to abandon their nests and head north and east, away from the deadly downpour.
Today the entire nesting ground is covered by a layer of solidified volcanic sediment called bentonite, which "froze" the scene almost as it was at the time the adults abandoned it.
Not long after this discovery, Dr. Horner discovered another Hypacrosaurus rookery south of the first one. In Alberta, Canada, just north of the Montana border, Wendy Sloboda, then a high school student, discovered yet another.
Were the Hypacrosaurus helpless and nest-bound as tots, as the Maiasaura most certainly were? From the locations of the baby bones found around the rookeries, it is still not clear. But Dr. Horner thinks they must have been relatively helpless, like certain types of altricial birds, such as the American white pelican.These birds are nest-bound for only a short time, but for up to three months the youngsters stay together in the nesting colony, where the adults can bring them food and look after them.
Close study of the Hypacrosaurus babies' leg bones shows that they were made up of more calcified cartilage and less solid bone than would be expected in a precocial animal. Although there's no evidence that the little ones were completely nest-bound, they did stay within the confines of their nesting ground the way pelicans do today."
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