Research
As part of the Research and Collections Department of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, scientific research is at the core of the Dinosaur Institute. Our staff and associates–often in collaboration with researchers from other institutions–maintain an active research program. The goal is to better understand the evolution of a variety of lineages of archosaurs–a large group of reptiles that encompasses the crocodiles, the pterosaurs (flying reptiles), the dinosaurs (birds included), and a diversity of other less familiar forms that lived during the Mesozoic Era. Some of these areas of research are detailed below:
- Diversity and Evolution of Extinct Archosaurs
- Dinosaur Reproduction and Development
- South American Dinosaurs
- Origins of Birds and of their Flight
- Avian Evolution and Systematics
