Video Skull cast of Cryolophosaurus ellioti. In 1991, William Hammer led the team that discovered C. ellioti, the first dinosaur found on Antarctica, proving that dinosaurs lived on all of the continents. Credit: Maryland Science Center, Baltimore  View Video Requires Real Player

Antarctic dinosaur hunters Judd Case and James Martin eventually pieced together enough evidence to conclude they had uncovered an entirely new species of carnivorous dinosaur related to the enormous meat-eating Tyrannosaurs and smaller and swifter velociraptors that terrified movie-goers in the film Jurassic Park.

The same week Case and Martin found their meat eater, a team led by William Hammer of Augustana College found what they believe to be the pelvis of a primitive sauropod, a four-legged dinosaur similar to better-known creatures such as brachiosaurus and diplodocus. Field analysis of the bones suggests the new plant eater was nearly seven feet tall and up to 30 feet long.

Reconstruction of the body of Masiakasaurus knopfleri, based on fossils recently discovered in Madagascar. Total body length: 1.6-2.0 meters. Credit: Bill Parsons

Like Case and Martin, who discovered a duck billed hadrosaur in 1998, Hammer is an Antarctic dino veteran. In 1991, Hammer led the team that discovered Cryolophosaurus ellioti, the first dinosaur found on Antarctica, proving that dinosaurs lived on all of the world's continents.

Beyond Antarctica, NSF supports the expeditions of paleontologists hunting around the globe for the skulls and bones of dinosaurs and other ancient creatures locked within the Earth. In Madagascar, for example, an NSF-supported team of researchers from New York, Minnesota and Utah has turned up several dinosaur firsts over the years.

The skull bones and head of Rapetosaurus krausei as it may have looked in life. Credit: Mark Hallett, State University of New York at Stony Brook.

The team discovered the fossilized remains of a bizarre, dog-sized predatory dinosaur, Masiakasaurus knopfleri. This six-foot-long, 35-pound theropod is notable for its extremely specialized teeth and jaws.

The team's Madagascar digs also uncovered the first nearly complete skeleton ever found anywhere of a member of the titanosaur family of sauropods. The skeleton of Rapetosaurus krausei gave scientists the first view of a titanosaur from head to tail.

Most recently, the team uncovered a nearly complete dinosaur skull, the first ever found on Madagascar, that of Majungatholus atopus, a 30-foot-tall distant cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex. Later, the team fingered Majungatholus as the first clear-cut dinosaur cannibal.