Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Wish List for 2015 and the wishes granted of 2014





Everyone has a wish list for their friends or their family to give them.  Some people have political wish lists, or try to get in touch with their spirituality through goals. I myself have wish lists for Christmas and my birthday. However, this is a paleontology wishlist, a list of all the discoveries and insights I hope will happen in 2015.   I know most paleontology is based on the combination of persistence and luck, but here’s hoping at least one of these will happen in the next year. Last year brought us the long-wished-for discoveries of Deinocherius, a feathered ornithopod Kulindadromeus, the oviraptorid Anzu, the Mexican dinosaur Saltillomimus and a new bonebed in Coahuila, so I can’t wait to see what comes in 2015!

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Prehistoric Middle Earth: The real life equivalents of Tolkien's creatures



This December marks the last of the live-action films based on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and I’m a big fan of both the films and the books.  Why am I talking about it on my blog? Well, the creatures described by Tolkien (and depicted by WETA workshop) bear some resemblance to those in prehistory! So I’m going to go down the list of Middle Earth beings and animals that had equivalents in real life! So prepare for a 3-hour post!