Yoshitsugu Kobayashi was born in 1971 in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, where a childhood fascination with ammonites and local fossil digs set him on a path toward paleontology. He studied geology at the University of Wyoming before earning his MS and PhD in vertebrate paleontology at Southern Methodist University under Louis L. Jacobs.[1]
Kobayashi joined the Hokkaido University Museum in 2005, becoming professor in 2019 and its assistant director. His research has focused on Cretaceous dinosaurs of Japan and Mongolia, including the description and naming of Kamuysaurus japonicus (2019) and Yamatosaurus izanagii (2021), two of Japan's most complete dinosaur skeletons, as well as Fukuisaurus and several therizinosaurs.[1][1]
In 2006 and 2009 Kobayashi and colleagues recovered two long-mysterious specimens of Deinocheirus, whose full body had been unknown since its enormous arms were first described in 1970; his team's 2014 description finally revealed the bizarre, sail-backed ornithomimosaur in full. He has also advised NHK documentary productions on dinosaurs.[1]