Paleontology

Genetic Mutations in the Woolly Mammoth

Mammoths were herbivore grazers native to Africa, Europe, Asia and North America. They lived out their long lives, 60-80 years, on the mammoth steppe, a periglacial landscape with lush grass vegetation. Mammoths used their well-designed teeth to graze on ...

Blog Post - Heidi Henderson - Jul 9 2019 - 4:17pm

A New Cambrian Lagerstätten From China

Move over Burgess, there's a new Cambrian Lagerstätten in town. Meet Tuzoia sinesis from the Balang Formation of southern China. China has some very interesting fossil specimens being unearthed that challenge the Burgess Shale for preservation and va ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Jul 21 2019 - 8:51pm

Plesiosaurs: Four-Paddled Vortex Swimmers

Plesiosaurus were large, carnivorous air-breathing marine reptiles with strong jaws and sharp teeth that moved through the water with four flippers. We'd originally thought that this might not be the most aerodynamic design but it was clearly effecti ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Jul 9 2019 - 4:31pm

Living Fossil: Calamopleurus

This well-preserved fossil fish skull is from Calamopleurus (Agassiz, 1841), an extinct genus of bony fishes related to the heavily armored ray-finned gars. They are fossil relics, the sole surviving species of the order Amiiformes. Although bowfins are h ...

Blog Post - Heidi Henderson - Jul 9 2019 - 7:06pm

Pleistocene Salmon Knock The Glaciers Back 6,000 Years

Salmon have permeated First Nations mythology and have been prized as an important food source for thousands of years.  For the Salish people of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, salmon was the most important of the local fishing stock and salmon ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Jul 9 2019 - 5:00pm

Chengjiangocaris: UNESCO Cambrian Arthropod

This fellow is Chengjiangocaris kunmingensis, a rather glorious fuxinhuiid arthropod. While he looks like he could be from the inside of the Lascaux Caves and their fire-kissed Palaeolithic paintings, albeit by a very ancient Picasso, he was found at a UN ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Jul 22 2019 - 1:22am

Ichthyosaurs Of The Blue Lias

This well-preserved partial ichthyosaur was found in the Blue Lias shales by Lewis Winchester-Ellis. The vertebrae you see are from the tail section of this marine reptile. The find includes stomach contents which tell us a little about how this particula ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Jul 10 2019 - 1:06am

Graptolites: Our Oldest Relatives

This fellow is the graptolite, Isograptus cf. maximus, from the Piranha Formation, Middle Ordovician (Dapingian), Bolivia. ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Jul 14 2019 - 9:48am

Coahuilaceratops Of Northern Mexico

Coahuilaceratops or "Coahuila Horn Face," is a relatively new genus of Ornithischia Ceratopsidae, a  herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur who lived during the Upper Cretaceous (late Campanian) near the town of Porvenir de Jalpa (about 64 km / 40 mil ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Jul 22 2019 - 1:32am

A New Species Of Edrioasteroid From The Kinzers Formation

This beautiful specimen is Protoaster Haefneri, a new species of edrioasteroid, an extinct lower Cambrian genus of echinoderm from the Kinzers Formation of York County, Pennsylvania. The specimen was found by and named after Chris Haefner, and is set to b ...

Article - Heidi Henderson - Jul 23 2019 - 12:21pm