In 2025, dinosaurs were everywhere. In May, the BBC revived their landmark series Walking With Dinosaurs, while July saw the release of Jurassic World Rebirth, the seventh film in the extinction-proof Jurassic Park franchise.
Rising auction prices for dinosaur skeletons were a . And a record-breaking number of visitors (6.3 million in 2024–2025) flocked to the Natural History Museum in London, where dinosaurs are a key draw.
A is driving this fascination with dinosaurs. Around 1,400 dinosaur species are now known from more than 90 countries, with the rate of discovery accelerating in the last two decades. The year 2025 has so far seen the discovery of 44 new dinosaur species – nearly one a week.
Many come from palaeontological hotspots, such as Argentina, China, Mongolia and the US, but dinosaur fossils are also being found in many other places, from a to the . Even as a researcher, it is hard to keep track, but here is a personal view of some of the year’s highlights.
Zavacephale rinpoche
Some fossils are so exciting that when first shown at academic conferences, they draw audible gasps even from experienced palaeontologists. Zavacephale is one of these. The stunning skeleton of this was discovered in 110-million-year-old rocks in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia and described by palaeontologist Tsogtbaatar Chinzorig and colleagues.
Zavacephale is the oldest known member of the pachycephalosaurs, a group of dinosaurs famed for their domed skulls, probably used to butt heads like today’s bighorn sheep. Pachycephalosaurs have long been one of the most enigmatic dinosaur groups, and the discovery of Zavacephale is critical to understanding their early evolution.
