Tag: paleontology
-
Newly Discovered Bat-Like Dinosaur Reveals the Intricacies of Prehistoric Flight
The Smithsonian has a story about a new “bat-like” dinosaur from China. This animal lived about 160 million years ago in the middle Jurassic. It’s called Ambopteryx longibrachium and it’s seems to be related to Yi qi, which was described back in 2015. The description of Ambopteryx appeared recently in the jounal Nature. About 160…
-
PBS Eons: The Croc That Ran on Hooves
PBS Eons has an episode about an interesting crocodile. In the Eocene Epoch, there was a reptile that had teeth equipped for biting through flesh, its hind legs were a lot longer than its front legs and instead of claws, its toes were each capped with hooves. How did this living nightmare come to…
-
Roy Plotnick: The things we leave behind (and shouldn’t)
Roy has another post over on Medium. It’s an insightful post about returning what you’ve borrowed. The e-mail from the daughter of a long-retired colleague was unexpected. A paleontologist in a different department from mine, he was now in his early eighties and suffering from dementia. His daughter asked if I would be willing to…
-
ScienceMag: Countries demand their fossils back, forcing natural history museums to confront their past
Science Magazine has a story about natural history museums having to re-assess how fossils were obtained in the past. Back during the colonial period, expeditions were launch to the vast corners of the world and many valuable specimens were brought back to Europe. Now, the countries that currently occupy those corners are asking for their…
-
The Onion: Field Museum Officials Announce Long-Awaited Pregnancy Of Prized T-Rex
TheOnion has an amusing story about SUE the T-rex. It seems that they have been trying to breed SUE for quite a while and now she’s pregnant! CHICAGO—Expressing their elation at the rare specimen’s successful mating, Field Museum officials announced the long-awaited pregnancy of Sue, the museum’s beloved T-rex, in a press conference Friday. “When…
-
NPR The Indicator: Selling a T-rex on eBay
NPR’s “The Indicator” podcast has an episode about a baby T-rex for sale on eBay. They do a good job of describing the situation. The podcast is an excellent way to learn about the economics. They have short informative episodes daily. Check it out!
-
Ancient “Texas Serengeti” Had Elephant-Like Animals, Rhinos, Alligators and More
The University of Texas (UT News) has a press release about some recent work to catalog and identify a large collection of fossils collected near Beeville, TX during the Great Depression. Described as a “Texas Serengeti”, the collection includes specimens of elephant-like animals, rhinos, alligators, antelopes, camels, 12 types of horses, and several carnivores. In…
-
‘Cthulhu’ fossil reconstruction reveals monstrous relative of modern sea cucumbers
This is a 3D reconstruction of Sollasina cthulhu. Tube feet are shown in different colors. Credit: Imran Rahman, Oxford University Museum of Natural History ScienceDaily has a story about an ancestor of modern sea cucumbers. The animal, called Sollasine cthulhu, lived 430 million years ago during the Silurian Period in what is now Herefordshire in…
-
Roy Plotnick: High impact paleontology
Roy Plotnick has another interesting article on Medium. In this one, he discusses the recent New Yorker article about “Tanis” site in the Hell Creek Formation. There is a good summary of the backstory of the actual discovery of the site. It was found by an old ESCONI member Rob Sula! Also mentioned are Paleo…
-
ESCONI Field Trip to Braceville May 18th – 19th, 2019
The ESCONI field trips to Braceville for Mazon Creek fossils are set for May 18 and 19, 2019 from 8 AM to 2 PM. You can attend either or both days. There is an attendance limit of 50 people each day. Meet at 8 AM at the entrance to the collecting site on S Berta…
-
Reminder: ESCONI Paleontology Study Group Meeting on April 20th – Assembling a Systematic Collection: Field Work in Action
The topic for the April 2019 ESCONI Paleontology Study Group Meeting will be "Assembling a Systematic Collection: Field Work in Action". It will be given by ESCONI member and Paleontology Study Group leader John Cataloni. This is an enlarged version of the program that he gave at this year's MAPS EXPO. Come on out and…
-
Book Review – Carboniferous Giants and Mass Extinction: The Late Paleozoic Ice Age World
The Inquisitive Biologist has an interesting (and complete!) book review of “Carboniferous Giants and Mass Extinction: The Late Paleozoic Ice Age World” by George R McGhee, Jr. It caused me to run out (ok, click) and buy the ebook. So far, it’s very good. The ebook is available at all the usual book sites, Amazon,…
-
ESCONI Paleontology Study Group Meeting on April 20th – Assembling a Systematic Collection: Field Work in Action
The topic for the April 2019 ESCONI Paleontology Study Group Meeting will be “Assembling a Systematic Collection: Field Work in Action”. It will be given by ESCONI member and Paleontology Study Group leader John Cataloni. This is an enlarged version of the program that he gave at this year’s MAPS EXPO. Come on out and…
-
Is “Scotty” the Biggest T. rex? Maybe Not!
Brian Switeck on his Laelaps blog has a great post that discusses why “Scotty” may NOT be the biggest T.rex. Our local favorite, “SUE” of the Field Museum has long been billed as the largest, oldest, and most complete T.rex ever found. There isn’t any doubt in the “most complete” title. But, largest and oldest…
-
The American Museum of Natural History Is Turning 150!
The American Museum of Natural History is turning 150 years old this year! All the details are here. Special Events for 2019 Discover the stories behind your favorite exhibits (more added each month!) Signup for their newsletter.
-
PBS Eons: When Giant Scorpions Swarmed the Seas
PBS Eons has an awesome video about Sea Scorpions. Sea scorpions thrived for 200 million years, coming in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Over time, they developed a number of adaptations–from crushing claws to flattened tails for swimming. And some of them adapted by getting so big that they still hold the…
-
Unlaid egg discovered in ancient bird fossil
BARBARA MARRS ScienceMag has a post about the discovery of a fossil bird with an unlaid egg. The original paper appeared in the journal Nature Communications. For the first time, researchers have found an unlaid egg inside a fossilized bird. The find—belonging to a sparrow-size flyer that lived in northwestern China 110 million years ago—is…
-
Quicks & Quarks: A catastrophe frozen in time — a new fossil site shows how the dinosaurs died
CBC Radio’s Quicks & Quarks has a segment on a newly discovered fossil deposit that reveals many clues about the asteroid that took out the dinosaurs. The site is a snapshot in time from a few hours after the impact. The North Dakota site, nicknamed Tanis after the “lost” ancient Egyptian city, lies on private…
-
USPS: T-rex Postage Stamps Coming Soon To A Post Office Near You!
The USPS will be releasing a pane of T-rex postage stamps starting June 28th, 2019. Details are here. With this pane of 16 stamps, the Postal Service brings Tyrannosaurus rex to life — some 66 million years after its demise. One design illustrates a face-to-face encounter with a T. rex approaching through a forest clearing; another shows the same…
-
ESCONI Field Trip: Friday, May 3rd, 2019 to St. Paul Quarry, St. Paul, IN
There will be a field trip to St. Paul Quarry (Silurian; Waldron Shale) on Friday, May 3rd. 2019. Please note: the date is subject to the Quarry’s work schedule and may be moved or canceled. Minimum age is 18 years old and the trip is limited to 20 participants. We will meet at the quarry…
-
Roy Plotnick: A Fossil Park for Illinois
Roy Plotnick has a great post on Medium about the Fossil Park proposal for the old Lone Star Quarry in Oglesby, IL. Anyone that visited the site in the past remembers the abundant fossils to be had. Brachiopods were just spilling out of the ground. The quarry was recently acquired by the Illinois Department of…
-
FOSSIL Project Newsletter Spring 2019
Volume 6, Issue 1, Spring 2019| FOSSIL Project Newsletter Spring 2019
-
NYT: ‘Scotty’ the T. Rex Is the Heaviest Ever Found, Scientists Say
The NY Times has a piece about Scotty the Tyrannosaurus rex. The specimen was discovered in Saskatchewan in 1991. A paper published in the scientific journal “The Anatomical Record estimates Scotty to have weighed 19,555 pounds, which would make it heavier than SUE – estimated between 12,000 – 14,000. Size and age are also seen…
-
AP: Montana Legislature clarifies ownership rights of fossils
The AP is running a story that reports on the Montana legislation to clarify ownership of fossils. The Montana Legislature unanimously passed a bill last Friday that designates ownership of fossils as part of the property’s surface rights, not its mineral rights, unless there is a contract separating those rights. The state Senate passed the…
-
AMNH: T. rex: The Ultimate Predator
The American Museum of Natural History in New York has a new exhibit opening on March 11th, 2019. It’s called “T. rex: The Ultimate Predator” and it runs through August 9th, 2020. How did T. rex evolve to become the most fearsome carnivore of the Mesozoic? T. rex: The Ultimate Predator will introduce you to…
-
480-Million-Year-Old Mystery Creature Finally Identified from Its Preserved Guts
LiveScience has an interesting story about some bizarre creatures found in Morocco. The animals are called stylophorans and lived during the Ordovician. The fossils were discovered in 2014 in the Fezouata Formation. They are now identified as echinoderms and are related to modern animals such as sea urchins, starfish, brittle stars, and sea lilies. The…
-
Quicks & Quarks: Tiny tyrannosaur fossil helps scientists understand how T-rex grew so large
CBC’s Quirks & Quarks has a segment about a tiny tyrannosaur that helps shed light on how T-rex grew so large. The animal, Moros intrepodus, was found by Dr. Lindsay Zanno. She’s head of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and research professor at N.C. State University in Raleigh. You might remember…
-
Happy Birthday, John Ostrom – The man who saved the dinosaurs!
For 30 years, Ostrom steadily and meticulously refuted critics of his theories. He is shown here in the Yale Peabody Museum, near a Deinonychus in mid-leap. Deinonychus in full sprint, as drawn by Robert Bakker ’67—a student of Ostrom’s and a crusader for the view that dinosaurs were active, dynamic animals. The drawing appeared in Ostrom’s 1969 paper…
-
Update: Fossil Park Proposal For Lone Star Quarry Near Oglesby, IL
Rep. Lance Yednock has proposed a bill to convert the former Lone Star Quarry into a Fossil Park. Synopsis As IntroducedAmends the Department of Natural Resources (Conservation) Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Provides that the Department of Natural Resources shall designate a portion of the former Lone Star Quarry site near Oglesby…
-
Reminder: ESCONI Paleontology Study Group Meeting, Saturday, February 16rd, 2019, 7:30 PM
The ESCONI Paleontology Study Group Meeting for February is on February 16th, 2019 at 7:30 PM. The topic is the movie “Dinosaur 13”, which is about the discovery of Sue the T-rex at the Field Museum. We might also review the Sue talk/discussion from January. Come on out and join us for some good discussion!…
