Dinosaurs may be long extinct, but 2025 made it abundantly clear that they’re anything but settled science. Over the past year, new fossils, reanalyses of famous specimens and the use of increasingly sophisticated tools have continued to upend what we thought we knew about how these animals lived, moved, fed and evolved.
Some discoveries filled in long-missing gaps in the fossil record, while others forced researchers to confront the uncomfortable reality that a few long-held assumptions were simply wrong.
From reinterpretations of iconic predators to ancient trackways that capture fleeting moments of Jurassic life, this year’s research showed how much information is still locked inside bones, teeth and footprints that have been studied for decades. From rewriting evolutionary timelines to challenging how fast dinosaurs really were, the year reminded us that paleontology is not about dusting off the past, but opening new windows for us to peer into it.
