Mini tyrannosaurs locked in eternal battle with triceratops, sword-like snouts, and a deeper understanding of the early development of flight are some of the amazing dinosaur discoveries of 2025.
It’s been a great year for paleontology, both in actual discoveries and in first-described publications. Here are a few of the top dinosaur discoveries of 2025, in no particular order.
Read More: Duck-Billed Dinos Broke Their Mates’ Tails, Exposing Dinosaur Sex and Sexual Difference
1. Baminornis — A Jurassic Bird
For nearly 160 years, the only Jurassic bird that paleontologists had discovered was the famous Archaeopteryx fossil — the missing link that tied modern birds’ ancient lineage to theropod dinosaurs. But this year, researchers in China published a study detailing the fossil discovery of a second Jurassic bird: Baminornis zhenghensis.
Their dating shows that this specimen was nearly as old as Archaeopteryx and had a short tail, which is unique as it’s more like birds are today. Other than this, such short-tailed fossils don’t begin to appear in the fossil record until the Cretaceous Period.
“These newly discovered fossils demonstrate the early appearance of highly derived bird features,” the authors of the study, published in Nature, wrote, “they suggest an earlier origin of birds and a radiation of early birds in the Jurassic.”
Jingmai O’Connor, a dinosaur paleontologist at the Field Museum in Chicago, says there is likely more research to come about this unique fossil discovery in the coming years.
2. Chicago Archaeopteryx — Built for Aerodynamics
Artist's illustration of Archaeopteryx.
(Image Credit: Michael Rothman)
Speaking of Archaeopteryx, O’Connor was involved in research on the better-known Jurassic bird-like dinosaur. These were published on the Chicago Archaeopteryx, which is the 14th specimen described of the famous ancient bird-like dinosaur.
The specimen had some features that hadn’t been preserved in previous specimens of Archaeopteryx that sit between the wing and the body. O’Connor and her colleagues believe these features helped the dinosaur’s aerodynamics — these features that have been observed only in birds, not in non-bird dinosaurs.
3. Zavacephale rinpoche — Rewriting History
Artist's illustration of Zavacephale rinpoche.
(Image Credit: Masato Hattori)
Mongolian paleontologists discovered a well-preserved fossil of a dome-headed pachycephalosaur in the Gobi Desert, which they described in Nature in September 2025. The specimen isn’t very big, at about three feet long — it may have been a teenager.
Yet, it’s the oldest pachycephalosaur ever discovered. The development of the dome on the specimen suggests that these dinosaurs were perhaps learning to headbutt one another while young — a behavior they likely used to compete for mates.
It also rewrites the history of pachycephalosaurs, since most found previously were all in North America.
“It’s a beautiful specimen, and it’s pretty important in the grand scheme of dinosaurs,” says O’Connor. “It challenges what we think we know about pachycephalosaurs.”
4. Nanotyrannus and a Triceratops Duelling Dinosaurs
Nanotyrannus fighting a juvenile T. rex
(Image Credit: Anthony Hutchings)
In 2006, paleontologists uncovered a famous fossil of a Nanotyrannus and a Triceratops that appear locked in battle at the moment of their death. The Triceratops horridus had a Tyrannosaur tooth embedded in it, while the Nanotyrannus lancensis had sustained its own injuries.
They may not have actually been fighting in the photo — the fossil might just have captured the dinos’ bodies in a position that appears compromising, with the Nanotyrannus apparently biting the Triceratops’ tail.
Although discovered nearly two decades ago, it had not been published because of a legal dispute over ownership of the fossil. Only in 2025 did paleontologists Lindsay Zanno and James Napoli publish a study in Nature that dated Nanotyrannus to approximately the same period as its larger cousin, Tyrannosaurus rex.
5. Spicomellus — the Oldest Ankylosaur
Artist depiction of Spicomellus.
(Image: Matthew Dempsey)
In August 2025, researchers described the oldest ankylosaur fossil yet discovered. This ancient armored reptile appears to have been built by the film producers of a Mad Max movie. With massive, dangerous spikes sticking out in nearly every direction from its body, it wouldn’t have been easy to take a bite from this thing. It also likely had a big spiked weapon at the end of its tail, similar to later ankylosaurs.
“It’s the oldest and most primitive ankylosaur, and it’s pretty weird,” O’Connor says.
It dates back to the Middle Jurassic and was discovered in Morocco.
“This ornate armor may have functioned for display as well as defense,” the authors of the study published in Nature describing the dinosaur said.
6. Chromeornis — Died by Rocks
Representation of Chromeornis
(Image Credit: Sunny Dror)
This fossil bird isn’t very big, but it’s well-preserved for a 120-million-year-old specimen. O’Connor discovered this one among the collections during a visit to the Shandong Tianyu Museum in China, and immediately recognized it as a new species.
The surprising thing about this specimen is that it has a lot of soft tissue preserved — a rarity for dinosaurs in general. These birds had elongated snouts that they may have used in sword-like fights. The specimen also apparently died from trying to eat loads of rocks, which it then vomited up, choking itself in the process.
“It’s got a lot of weird things about it,” O’Connor says.
7. Anchiornis huxleyi — The Flightless
160-million-year-old Anchiornis fossils
(Image Credit: Tel Aviv University)
There is still a lot of gray area between the earliest birds and dinosaurs that were adjacent to birds and even kind of looked like birds, but aren’t quite birds. Evolution is wacky like that, and it didn’t necessarily travel in a straight line.
Anchiornis huxleyi lived about 160 million years ago and likely wasn’t a bird but rather a different type of theropod dinosaur. While the species wasn’t discovered this year, a new publication analyzing an Anchiornis found in Israel revealed that these creatures likely couldn’t fly, even though their evolutionary ancestors might have been able to.
“It definitely wasn’t flying, not a bird,” says O’Connor, who coauthored the study published in Communications Biology in November 2025. They deduced that it couldn’t fly based on the feather-molting pattern preserved in the fossil, which resembled that of flightless birds found today.
8. Joaquinraptor casali — The New Megaraptor
Illustration of Joaquinraptor with crocodile arm in its mouth. (Image Courtesy of Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural History)
(Image Courtesy of Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural History)
In September 2025, paleontologists published a study in Nature Communications describing the Joaquinraptor casali, a new megaraptor from the Late Cretaceous. Discovered in Argentina, the fossilized dinosaur had an early crocodile leg bone in its mouth.
Megaraptorans from this era had massive, long claws — they were likely among the apex predators of the area during their heyday. Joaquinraptor Casali may have been about 23 feet long.
9. Khankhuuluu —The Dragon Prince of Mongolia
Khankhuuluu
(Image Credit: Julius Csotonyi for Darla Zelenitsky, University of Calgary)
In June 2025, paleontologists published a study about a new tyrannosauroid in the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. Khankhuuluu mongoliensis translates to “the dragon prince of Mongolia” and weighed approximately 1,650 pounds, measuring about 13 feet in length.
It was likely an earlier tyrannosauroid, before they evolved into the giant predators they eventually became. The results, published in Nature, revealed that “Asian tyrannosauroids (similar to Khankhuuluu) dispersed to North America, giving rise to Eutyrannosauria in the mid-Late Cretaceous,” the authors say.
Read More: Thousands of Dinosaur Footprints Found Close to Where Italy Will Host Winter Olympics
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from a recent study published in Nature: Earliest short-tailed bird from the Late Jurassic of China
- This article references information from a recent study published in Nature: Chicago Archaeopteryx informs on the early evolution of the avian bauplan
- This article references information from a recent study published in Nature: A domed pachycephalosaur from the early Cretaceous of Mongolia
- This article references information from a recent study published in Nature: Nanotyrannus and Tyrannosaurus coexisted at the close of the Cretaceous
- This article references information from a recent study published in Nature: Extreme armour in the world’s oldest ankylosaur
- This article references information from the Chicago Field Museum: This fossil bird choked to death on rocks, and no one knows why
- This article references information from Palaeontologia Electronica: Longipterygid enantiornithine Chromeornis
- This article references information from a recent study published in Nature: Wing morphology of Anchiornis huxleyi and the evolution of molt strategies in paravian dinosaurs
- This article references information from a recent study published in Nature Communications: Latest Cretaceous megaraptorid theropod dinosaur sheds light on megaraptoran evolution and palaeobiology
- This article references information from a recent study published in Nature: A new Mongolian tyrannosauroid and the evolution of Eutyrannosauria
