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!

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!

 

Thanks for Deinocheirus

This Thanksgiving I’m thankful for everything, but there’s one thing in particular that I’m thankful for that is related to paleontology.   As everyone tucks into their theropod for dinner,  I’m going to talk about a theropod that not only am I very thankful for, but would require enough stuffing to fill a Volkswagen. The mystery has been solved and the truth has turned out to be stranger than fiction. Today I’m talking about Deinocheirus

An overview of Dinosaur Exhibits part 6: Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Colorado is what you can consider a rich state for fossils.  Marine reptiles, prehistoric mammals, ice age megafauna, Jurassic dinosaurs and Cretaceous dinosaurs can all be found on both sides of the Rockies.  On the west side are the Museum of Western Colorado in Grand Junction and the Royal Gorge Regional Museum and History Center in Canyon City.  On the other are  the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park and the subject of today’s article, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Prehistoric Warfare Episode 3: Allosaurus vs Stegosaurus

Now for something different. In 2004, Animal Planet showed as new series called Animal Face Off, a series reconstructing conflicts between coexisting animals. While the execution was clumsy and lacking, the concept is strong and I think easily applied to prehistoric fauna.  Ideally, there would be professionals discussing the situations, but unfortunately, you have only me. First I will compare the animals, and then depict their behavior, before concluding with the final battle.  The outcome will be my personal opinion; and there would be many times when the outcome would be decidedly different. This is not a scientific consensus, but one researcher’s opinion.

We all love dinosaur battles. They’re always a high point in a film. It’s childish, but it’s just plain fun. So, I’m hoping to use this opportunity to use this almost-universal appeal to get people thinking and talking about ecology, biomechanics, and behavior. Only one or two of these stories will be based on actual fossils-the rest are likely possibilities that must have happened sometime or another. In real life, animals usually don’t fight on even terms, but it does happen. Sometimes prey turn the tables, sometimes predators quarrel between themselves, but it can happen. I hope you enjoy this. Again, first I will have two scenes, one for each animal showing them in their habitat and showcasing their particular skills, then finally concluding with a battle between the two.


I MUST WARN THAT  THIS WILL BE VIOLENT. IF YOU HAVE A PARTICULARLY VIVID IMAGINATION, OR HAVE AN AVERSION TO GRAPHIC NATURALISTIC VIOLENCE, I STRONGLY SUGGEST NOT CLICKING ON THE CUT

Species that don't get enough publicity #9: Rajasaurus narmadensis and the Lameta Formation

With the passing of the one-year anniversary, I’m going to return to my peak output.  I’ve been distracted, but now I’m back.  So today, we’re going to feature another dinosaur.  This one’s a fairly recent one, but part of an interesting story in both its history as an animal and its history in paleontology. 

Everyone loves the big scary dinosaurs. When William Buckland was given a big jaw with a serrated, curved tooth from Stonesfield quarry in  1815, he was fascinated by it, and thanks to the ferocious reconstruction by Benjamin Hawkins it became an icon of antiquity. Cope’s Dryptosaurus in 1866 and Marsh’s Allosaurus 1877 brought dragons back to life. The apex came with the legendary Tyrannosaurus of 1905.  People like their animals big, scary, and extinct, and Tyrannosaurus is the epitome of all this.

So I’m not going to talk about Tyrannosaurus, but a contemporary. This one’s been only described fairly recently, but its story is intertwined with mysterious bones found in 1932. This is the story of Rajasaurus, but it’s also a story of the Lameta Formation near the Narmada River next to Jabalpur in Madya Pradesh.

Top Twelve Worst Name Changes for prehistoric taxa.

Sometimes animals get very evocative names in scientific description. Tyrannosaurus the tyrant, Hyaenodon the Hyena tooth, Stegosaurus the roofed, Styracosaurus the spiked, Megalosaurus and Megatherium, the big animals. Sadly, not all such names survive. The rule of priority is vital here; if we could arbitrarily change the names of taxa, it’d be a mess. Paleontological taxonomy is complicated and deceptive enough that many animals are given different names by different people, or assumed to be a new species when they aren’t. Sadly, this happens all too often, and many classic, evocative names are cast aside for more generic (pardon the pun), dull names.