Mark Mancini is a freelance writer currently based in New Jersey. Over the years, he’s covered every subject from classic horror movies to Abe Lincoln's favorite jokes. He is particularly fond of paleontology and has been reporting on new developments in this field since 2013. When Mark's not at his writing desk, you can usually find him on stage somewhere because he loves to get involved with community theater. And if you ever feel like trading puns for a few hours, he's your guy.
Recent Contributions
Constantly compared to the Tyrannosaurus rex, the Giganotosaurus was one of a handful of dinosaurs that rivaled, or possibly exceeded, the creature in size.
By Mark Mancini & Talon Homer
History says Ivar the Boneless was a ruthless Viking warrior. But why the name boneless? Was he truly disabled, or was there a another more sinister reason for the nickname?
By Mark Mancini
Spiders don't have wings, so technically can't fly. But some arachnids can soar through the air with the greatest of ease.
By Mark Mancini & Talon Homer
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That's right – daddy longlegs isn't an actual kind of spider, but a colloquial name that's been applied to a wide range of spiders and non-spiders, insects and non-insects.
By Mark Mancini
You can find the distance between two points by using the distance formula. It's an application of the Pythagorean theorem. Remember that from high school algebra?
Many people get speed and velocity confused. It's no surprise because the terms are often used interchangeably. But they're not quite the same thing. So how do you find the velocity of an object?
By Mark Mancini
The 1964 discovery of Deinonychus in southern Montana was groundbreaking for many reasons, mostly because it helped prove that birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs.
By Mark Mancini
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Utahraptors lived around 135 million years ago in the late Cretaceous Period. So what does salt have to do with these massive dinosaurs whose fossils were first discovered in 1975?
By Mark Mancini
The villainous dinosaur from 'Jurassic Park' probably never had an affinity for water.
By Mark Mancini
Triceratops â which literally means "three-horned face" â is one of the most spectacular and well-known of all dinosaurs. It shared the Cretaceous landscape with, and probably was preyed upon by, Tyrannosaurus rex.
By Mark Mancini
The green iguana isn't native to the Sunshine State. So how did this invasive lizard get there and become the state's menace to society?
By Mark Mancini
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The Velociraptors in "Jurassic Park" were roughly the size of humans. In reality, they were about the size of an average turkey.
By Mark Mancini
Stegosaurus, an herbivorous dinosaur from 149 million years ago, walked on four legs, had a long, beak-tipped skull, a row of spikes adorning its tail and a pea-sized brain.
By Mark Mancini
Tyrannosaurus rex was a giant predator that roamed the earth, so why did it have such tiny arms?
By Mark Mancini
Brachiosaurus has been portrayed in popular culture many times, but the representations of this mysterious dinosaur are largely based on another massive dino called Giraffatitan brancai.
By Mark Mancini
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A full grown Allosaurus could be up to 34 feet long, stand 9 feet tall and weigh around 3 tons. This dino was a monster who, scientists suspect, would even eat his own kind.
By Mark Mancini
Tyrannosaurus rex, one of the fiercest meat-eaters ever, is the animal that probably springs to mind when most of us hear the word "dinosaur."
By Mark Mancini
The elusive hagfish is a master at hiding in holes and crevices, but its main defense is its ability to release a noxious, suffocating and sometimes poisonous slime when attacked.
By Mark Mancini
Perhaps no other beast has been more wildly mischaracterized in popular culture than the crested predator Dilophosaurus.
By Mark Mancini
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These super-frightening entelodonts (aka hell pigs) once patrolled throughout Eurasia, North America and Africa.
By Mark Mancini
Does your parakeet understand the cardinal chirping outside its window? Can a pigeon's noises mean anything to a crow? Yes, it can.
By Mark Mancini
What benefit does one bird get from copying another bird's calls?
By Mark Mancini
The extinct Titanoboa snake lived around 66 million to 56 million years ago. These things were massive and could reach 50 feet long and 3 feet wide making them the largest snake ever to have roamed the Earth.
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It's easy to mistake a crow for a raven or vice versa. But the two birds are actually pretty different.
By Mark Mancini
Known by the nickname "Mesozoic Cow," the African dinosaur Nigersaurus taqueti has also had its face compared to a vacuum cleaner.
By Mark Mancini