If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
In the two centuries since the first dinosaur bones were identified in England, nearly 11,000 dinosaur fossils have been unearthed worldwide, two thirds of them in North America and Europe. Most of the finds have been made in the home countries of paleontologists; the ease of local fieldwork has led to a concentration of discoveries in well-traveled areas. Samantha Hopkins of the University of Oregon points out that more digs happen along her state's paved roads than along dirt ones. Fossil encounters have been expanding geographically, however, notably in East Asia and southern South America. Widening the scope depends on building local expertise—a tricky task for a fairly niche (and not particularly lucrative) field. Investment could be fruitful: paleontologists have identified about 1,000 dinosaur species and estimate that at least that many more have yet to be found.
If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.
I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.
If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
