Tag: fossil
Episode 32 – The Changing Face of Crocodiles
Episode 32 – The Changing Face of Crocodiles INTRODUCTION TO GROWING UP – Every living thing grows up, and this episode of “Past Time” explores the evolution of the growing process. Specifically, we explore the evolution of growth in crocodiles, and how changes to the growing process at the earliest stages of crocodile development help produce the wide array of crocodile snout shapes we see today …
Filed under: Biology, Paleontology, alligator, biologist, bird, caiman, chicken, crocodile, crocodylia, development, dinosaur, embryo, fossil, paleontologist, skeleton, skull
Episode 31 – The First Frogs of the Age of Dinosaurs!
THE FIRST FROGS OF NORTH AMERICA Every discovery we make in natural history happens thanks to specimens. Fossil bones, shells, footprints, coprolites, tissue samples—even field notes and photograms—are the building blocks scientists use to tell the story of life on our planet. On Past Time, we talk a LOT about the contributions of museums and scientists to the story of life. However, we don’t ofte …
Filed under: Arizona, Dallas, Dinosaurs, Fossils, Frog, Mesozoic, Museum, Paleontologists, Petrified Forest, Phytosaur, Triassic, amphibian, amphibians, collections, dinosaur, fossil, frogs, paleontologist, phytosaurs
Episode 26 – Colobops: the tiny reptile with a big bite!
Big bites come in small skulls This episode tells a story of one of Adam Pritchard’s favorite projects from Yale University, describing the skull of a teeny reptile from the early days of the Age of Reptiles. Hailing from the eastern coast of North America (present-day Connecticut), Colobops noviportensis had a skull only an inch long. However, intensive research and three-dimensional modeling rev …
Filed under: Connecticut, Triassic, dinosaur, fossil, reptile
Episode 17: Kingdom of the Monkey Lizard!
Past Time is BACK! Matt and Adam have been traveling the world independently for some time, delving deeply into the history of life on the planet, but now they’re back to tell you all about what they’ve discovered! Painting of Drepanosaurus by paleoartist Victor Leshyk, commissioned for the publication of the New Mexico Drepanosaurus fossils In this episode, Matt interviews Adam about his r …
News Bite: Dodos and the evolution of bird brains
If you wander into the basement of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, and wander into the fossil collections, you will find a vast array of different dinosaurs dating back over 200 million years. However, just a few feet away from the oldest dinosaurs you will find several drawers filled with the bones of Raphus cucullatus: the dodo. These are not fossilized; the dodo has on …
Filed under: anatomy, bird, brain, dinosaur, dodo, extinction, fossil, island, scanning
News Bite: Salamanders of the Caribbean!
Arrr, ye mateys! Pour out some grog, and I’ll tell ye a tale of mines, beaches, and death in ancient jungles. I of course be talkin’…about salamanders! Okay, not going to do that voice the whole time (though maybe it should be in the episode), but I will briefly present Palaeoplethodon hispaniolae, the first salamander in amber and the first ever found in the Caribbean! This discovery was spearh …
Filed under: Caribbean, Palaeoplethodon, amber, dinosaur, evolution, fossil, island, mines, salamander, science
Happy Birthday Mary Anning!
On May 21, 1811 Mary Anning, one of the first great fossil hunters, got started! Enjoy this video tribute to the woman who spent her life searching for ancient sea monsters! Google chose to honor one of the greatest fossil hunters of all time for her birthday on May 21st, so we decided to honor her with our first Past Time video! Check out the monsters she found along the southwest coast of Englan …
Filed under: Dorset, Mary Anning, fossil, ichthyosaur, plesiosaur, shell
