Tag: Mesozoic
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 20: Digging the Dawn of Dinosaurs – Paleontology at Ghost Ranch
Hi all. Adam Pritchard here. I’ve been thinking about telling the story of my field experience in the Triassic-aged Chinle Formation of northern New Mexico for many years. The Hayden Quarry fossil site at Ghost Ranch has produced the best-preserved and most diverse record of American dinosaurs from the Triassic of North America, plus some of the strangest reptiles that ever lived. I’ve been proud …
Filed under: Diapsids, Ecology, Fieldwork, Mesozoic, Paleontology, Triassic, dinosaur, evolution
Episode 16: Hunting Antarctic Dinosaurs
Erik Gorscak and Pat O’Connor, two paleontologists from Ohio University, are about to set out on an expedition to Antarctica to hunt for fossils from the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. They are part of a larger team called the Antarctic Peninsula Paleontology Project (AP3), an international collaboration of fossil hunters and geologists who are about to spend almost two months at the bottom of the p …
Filed under: Antarctica, Cenozoic, Cretaceous, Fossils, Geology, Gondwana, K-Pg Extinction, Mesozoic, NSF, National Science Foundation, Paleontology, Polar Programs, extinction
News Bite: Genes and Jurassic Park
As Jurassic World rolls out, Matt has some thoughts on the scientific impact of Jurassic Park and offers his hopes for the scientific discussions Jurassic World might spark.
Filed under: DNA, Dinosaurs, Genes, Genetic Engineering, Genetics, Mesozoic, Movies, Pop Culture, Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor
Quick Bite: Clash of the Triassic Titans!
Under the canopy of an ancient fern forest near the border of Arizona and New Mexico a colossal crocodile-like reptile took a bite out of an even larger, toothy giant. The attack failed and the victim limped on to fight another day, until its carcass was finally pillaged by another scaly monster and smaller, pickier scavengers. Studying bones collected over a century ago, scientists are now able t …
Filed under: Carnivores, Comparative biology, Crocodiles, Food Web, Fossils, Mesozoic, New Mexico, Palaeontology, Paleoecology, Paleontology, Phytosaur, Rauisuchian, Reptiles, Triassic
Episode 14 Field Guide: The Art of Dinosaurs
Conjuring up extinct environments, museums, books, and documentaries rely on art to show extinct animals revitalized in their ancient surroundings: the art of dinosaurs! This type of educational reconstruction is called Paleoart (or Palaeoart for the UK inclined). They are usually striking portraits of the weird place this planet used to be. But, you look at an image of a roaming Tyrannosaurus rex …
Filed under: Art, Behavior, Biology, Cretaceous, Dinosaurs, Ecology, Field Guide, Fossils, Geology, Julius Csotonyi, Mesozoic, Paleoart, Paleobotany, Paleoenvironment, Paleontology, Professions in Paleontology, Reconstruction, Tyrannosaurus
Quick Bite Field Guide: New Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs!
Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs (the Mesozoic Era) are usually presented as little rat-like creatures, waiting for the big scaly monsters to go extinct so they can rise up and become diverse…and interesting. But discoveries from around the world over the last three decades have revealed that Mesozoic mammals, though usually small, were diverse, accessing different foods and moving around the e …
Filed under: China, Ecology, Jurassic, Locomotion, Mesozoic, dinosaur, mammal
Episode 2 Field Guide: Birds are dinosaurs!
What is a dinosaur? What is a bird? They’re related somehow, but how do paleontologists figure out how close Velociraptor and penguins are in the dinosaur family tree? In this episode of Past Time, Matt and Adam talk to Dr. Alan Turner, an expert on fossils from the dino-bird transition to figure out which animals are most important in sorting out this incredible evolutionary story. Listen to this …
Filed under: Archaeopteryx, Cretaceous, Jurassic, Mesozoic, Systematics, Velociraptor, bird, dinosaur, raptor
