Tag: paleontology
-
PBS Eons: The Weird, Watery Tale of Spinosaurus
The PBS Eons YouTube Channel has a episode about Spinosaurs. Enjoy! In 1912, a fossil collector discovered some strange bone fragments in the eerie, beautiful Cretaceous Bahariya rock formation of Egypt. Eventually, that handful of fossil fragments would reveal to scientists one of the strangest dinosaurs that ever existed — the world’s only known…
-
Meet Maximo the Titanosaur!
The Field Museum has revealed the name of the new titanosaur that is being installed in Stanley Field Hall in the next few weeks. His scientific name is Patagotitan mayorum. He lived about 100 million years ago in what is now Patagonia, Argentina. The spanish word maximo translates to “maximum” or “most” in English. This…
-
Medium: More than dinosaurs
Roy Plotnick has an interesting article published at Medium. Paleontology is much, much more than dinosaurs. Enjoy! It happened again today. I was asked what it is do and when I said I was a paleontologist, the response was “cool.” This is the common reaction, often followed by (if we are not confused with archeologists),…
-
CBC Quirks & Quarks – A new fossil reveals the first bird beak – and it came with teeth as well
CBC’s Quirks & Quarks has a segment about the first known bird beak. It belongs to Ichthyornis a bird that dates to about 80 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period. The species was first identified in the 1870’s and named by Othniel Charles Marsh, of Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History. The original paper…
-
Field Museum: Patagotitan Update
The Field Museum’s twitter account has an update on the new titanosaur coming to the museum in the next month or so. Recall that this Patagotitan is taking Sue’s place in the main gallery. It lived back in the middle Cretaceous of Patagonia, about 101 million years ago. One of the largest dinosaurs to ever…
-
Reminder: The General Meeting for April 20th, 2018 is at 7:30
Note: New time – 7:30 and different bldg and room – HSC, Room 1234ESCONI General Meeting, 7:30 PM College of Dupage – Health and Science Center (HSC) Building, Room 1234 (Map) – Topic: “Great Steps in the History of Life: The Origin of Limbed Vertebrates” by Dr. Ted Daeschler from the Academy of Natural Sciences…
-
ESCONI Field Trip: Saturday, May 12th and Sunday, May 13th, 2018 to Braceville for Mazon Creek Fossils
The ESCONI field trips to Braceville for Mazon Creek fossils are set for May 12 and 13, 2018 from 8 AM to 2 PM. You can attend either or both days. Meet at 8 AM at the entrance to the collecting site on S Berta Road, just east of the intersection with Division St (Braceville…
-
NYT: The F.B.I. and the Mystery of the Mummy’s Head
The New York Times has a story about a 4,000 year mystery, which involves a mummy’s head. Was it Mr. or Mrs. Djehutynakht’s (juh-HOO-tuh-knocked) head? Interesting story, read it to find out! In 1915, a team of American archaeologists excavating the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Deir el-Bersha blasted into a hidden tomb. Inside the cramped…
-
SciAm: Meet “Dracula,” the Largest Pterosaur Found to Date
Scientific American has a story about the largest pterosaur ever found. It has been nicknamed “Dracula”. It lived during the Cretaceous period. At 3.5 meters tall, it was the size of a giraffe. It is on display at the Altmuhltal Dinosaur Museum in Denkendorf, Germany. The bones were discovered by Romanian scientists in 2009 among…
-
ESCONI Field Trip: Saturday, April 21st, 2018 to Vulcan Manteno Quarry
There will be an ESCONI Field Trip to the Vulcan Manteno Quarry on Saturday April 21, 2018 from 9 AM to 11:30 AM. The quarry is located at 6141 Highway 50, Manteno Illinois. The rules are shown below: Email Dave Carlson at fossil54@att.net to reserve a spot. You should be able to find this quarry…
-
Five New Fossil Forests Found in Antarctica
National Geographic has a story about multiple new fossil forests which were recently found in Antarctica. Back in the Permian, Antarctica was covered in prehistoric greenery. The team of scientists, which included Erik Gulbranson from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, that discovered these forests were there to look for clues to what caused the Permian Mass…
-
NYT: Insects Flew Before Anything Else Did. So How Did They Get Their Wings?
The New York Times has an interesting story about the first flyers… insects. The article discusses recent research to discover how insects evolved the ability to fly. Strange to think that all those Mazon Creek flying insects were pretty new to the world of flying! Beetle wings are often hidden. Nestled behind armored shields on…
-
FOSSIL Project Newsletter for Spring 2018: John Catalani Amateur Spotlight
The FOSSIL Project’s newsletter for Spring 2018 has ESCONI’s own John Catalani in the “Amateur Spotlight” article! Great article and congratulations, John! Volume 5, Issue 1, Spring 2018| FOSSIL Project Newsletter Spring 2018
-
Palaeocast Episode 87: Archaeopteryx
Palaeocast episode 87 is about Archaeopteryx. Archaeopteryx lived about 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period, in what is now southern Germany. Including the first feather, discovered in 1860 or 1861, there are now twelve specimens. All have been found in the limestone deposits near Solnhofen, Germany. The iconic “Berlin” specimen shown above was…
-
Palaeocast Episode 86: Coal
There’s a new Palaeocast podcast, episode 86. It is called Coal. It discusses the origin and composition of Coal. The Carboniferous Period “coal bearing” is named for the sheer amount of coal produced during that time period. Current theories are discussed as to why this happened. For this interview, we asked Standford University’s Prof. Kevin…
-
Come See Tyler Keillor’s Dryptosaurus at the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County Grand Opening Event on Saturday, March 24th, 2018
Tyler Keillor, a past ESCONI member and paleo-artist will have his latest work, a Dyptosaurus, unveiled at the Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake Count on Saturday, March 24th, 2018 from 10 AM to 5 PM. Details are here. “… The Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County invites visitors of all ages to attend its grand…
-
PBS Eons: The Tully Monster & Other Problematic Creatures
This episode of PBS Eons is about our very own state fossil… the Tully Monster! It’s about 6 months old and mentions some of the recent research. It even explains some some phylogeny around the whole mystery of where Tullymonstrum belongs in the tree of life.
-
The FOSSIL Project Needs Your Input! (A Survey With a Change to Win a Field Trip!)
Hello FOSSIL Community, We are writing to follow-up on our recent email announcing the FOSSIL Project community survey. If you haven’t yet filled out the survey, we hope you will take the time to do so. Your answers are enormously helpful to the project. To start the survey, click here: Take the Survey Or…
-
PBS Eons: The Other Explosion You Should Know About
Check out the PBS Eons channel on YouTube. There’s a new episode once a week. The most recent one is “The Other Explosion You Should Know About”. It’s about the Avalon Explosion during the Ediacaran Period. Some of the wonderful paleoart is by Nobu Tamura at http://spinops.blogspot.com. Enjoy!
-
Mazon Creek Fossil Blog – American Fossil Hunt
Recently, I ran across an interesting blog called “American Fossil Hunt”. It’s written by Andrew Bach, an ESCONI member. He details his adventures hunting for Mazon Creek concretions in Pit 11, the Braceville spoil pile, and other nearby locales. Additionally, there are posts about trips to Florida and California. His posts include many pictures of…
-
Rainforest collapse 307 million years ago impacted the evolution of early land vertebrates
Phys.org has a story about a mass extinction in plants that occurred during the Pennsylvannian Period. Researchers from the University of Birmingham published a paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The mass extinction seems to have been caused by the onset of a drier climate 307 million years ago. This led to…
-
A Jawbone Is the Oldest Modern-Human Fossil Outside of Africa
The Atlantic has a story about a recent discovery that threatens to rewrite the early history of modern humans. The find from an Israeli cave dates to between 177,000 and 194,000 years ago. These dates, along with a 315,000 year old fossil from Ethiopia, call into question the previous “Out of Africa” estimates of 50-60,000…
-
Spider-like Creature With a Scorpion’s Tail Found Trapped in Amber
The NY Times has an article about an exciting new spider-like fossil discovered in amber. Chimerarchne yingi lived during the Cretaceous Period more than 100 million years ago in what is now Southeast Asia. It’s spider-like, because it’s not quite a spider. It have 8 legs, fangs, and a whip like tail. It was only…
-
The dismantling of Sue
The Chicago Tribune has a story about the plans to dismantle at the Field Museum. The Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur, known as Sue, has been on display in the Field Museum’s Stanley Field Hall since 2000. She was discovered in 1990 in South Dakota by Sue Hendrickson. Beginning this week, she will be disassembled to make…
-
34 million year old carnivore named after the Egyptian god of the Underworld
PLOS Paleo’s Blog has an article about a newly described canine-like fossil from Egypt. Masrasector nananubis, or little “Anubis”, was a dog-like creature that lived during the late Eocene about 34 million years ago. The researchers that authored the open access paper are Matthew Borths from Ohio University and Erik Seiffert from the University of…
-
Palaeocast Episode 85: Ichthyosaurs
The Palaeocast podcast has a new episode on Ichthyosaurs. The discussion centers around a new documentary called “Attenborough and the Sea Dragon”. Ichthyosaurs are large marine reptiles that existed for most of the Mesozoic Era. The most familiar forms superficially represent dolphins, but some earlier ichthyosaurs were more eel like. They could attain huge proportions,…
-
CBC Quirks & Quarks – Why extinct creatures fought with their tails, while today animals use their heads
CBC Radio’s Quirks & Quarks has a segment about dinosaurs that fought with their tails. There were quite a few dinosaurs that evolved defence mechanisms centered around their tails. Examples are Stegosaurs, Ankylosaurs, and maybe some Sauropods. Modern animals with powerful weapons, overwhelmingly use their heads instead of their tails, think rams, deer, elk, with…
-
Monster Otters, Motörhead Crocs, and Zuul: The Best Paleo Art of 2017
Motherboard has a blog entry that shows some of the best paleo art of 2017. This year includes: The 2016 story included our friend the Tully Monster.
-
Reminder: Next General Meeting is on Friday, January 12th, 2018 – Dennis Whitney on the Ordovian of Morocco
The title of Dennis Whitney's talk at our January 12, 2018 meeting is “The Ordovician of the Anti-Atlas Mountains.” In the talk he will discuss his 2011 and 2013 trips to Morocco and the geology and paleontology of the various collecting sites which were visited.
