Dr Dean Lomax
@Dean_R_Lomax
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Palaeontologist 🦕🐬 🦖 Ichthyosaur expert | Author | Talk science on TV & Radio | Dug up the odd dinosaur or two — Adventurer 🌍 New book: LOCKED IN TIME.
Early Jurassic
Joined January 2012
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Here it is! My new book illustrated by the brilliant
@Paleocreations
"LOCKED IN TIME” tells real-life stories of ancient animal behaviours preserved in fossils!
It is the first popular science book dedicated to this subject.
60,000 words & 51 new illustrations. OUT MAY 2021!🔥
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I’m absolutely thrilled to reveal the largest ichthyosaur skeleton EVER discovered in Britain!
It was an honour to lead the excavation and unearth this incredible Jurassic GIANT from its ancient rocky tomb in Rutland! Found by Joe Davis
@RutlandWaterNR
#RutlandSeaDragon
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Oh, wow! Check this out.⠀
⠀
A farmer stumbled upon FOUR giant armadillo relatives, called glyptodonts, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Presumably, the close association suggests they were a social group.
They're about 20,000 years old. ⠀
Images: CEN/Incuapa-Conicet.
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As a kid, I always wanted to be a palaeontologist and dreamt of leading excavations that would rock the world.
Leading this dig and revealing this skeleton has been a genuine career high. Of course, I couldn’t have done it without an awesome team.
#RutlandSeaDragon
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Can we take a minute to appreciate just how frigging insane this fossil is.
This is an ichthyosaur with actual skin preserved. Not just that, but even the dorsal and tail fins are preserved! Oh, and the skin around its fins. Ichthyosaurs are epic, just saying
#FossilFriday
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Walking through the Bavarian woods yesterday and happened upon this decomposing T. rex. The fluffy little theropod was overjoyed with a free meal.
Excellent taphonomy in action at Dinosaurier-Park Altmühltal.
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Wow! This is the most complete mummified woolly mammoth ever found in North America. The preservation of this calf is remarkable! 🦣
The discovery has just been announced today.
It was found on June 21, 2021 in the Klondike gold fields, Yukon, Canada.
📸 by Willem Middelkoop.
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Wow. Look at the size of this titan of an ammonite, aptly named Titanites!
This was found by Andy Randell and his team during a visit to southeastern British Columbia.
Photo shared from Denver Gem & Mineral Show (on Facebook).
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The most beautiful, incredibly rare baby crocodile. Happy
#FossilFriday
🐊
Nicknamed “Brunni”, this ~20 cm long fossil represents the only known hatchling of a Jurassic species called Crocodilaemus robustus. Found within the Solnhofen Archipelago in Germany.
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Cassowaries taking a stroll on the beach.
Just your Monday morning reminder that
#BirdsAreDinosaurs
📸 Nick Morris
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This beautiful, 180 million year old ichthyosaur is a female. We know this because she is pregnant.
One of her unborn embryos, which is exceptionally preserved and fully-formed, was expelled from the body.
Fossils are simply extraordinary.
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I saw these photos doing the rounds across social media and couldn’t help but share.
What a beautiful fossil. 🌳🌳🌳
A 72-metre-long petrified tree at the Ban Tak Petrified Forest Park, Thailand, which dates from the Early Pleistocene and is about 800,000 years old.
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Loving my new Stego mug. Dinosaur Christmas presents are the best. 🎄
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A little over 200 years ago, this ichthyosaur was found in Lyme Regis, almost certainly by Mary Anning. It was described in 1819 & named ‘Proteosaurus’.
Sadly, it was destroyed in London in 1941, during WWII.
This illustration (top) was the only evidence we had, until now...
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"What's the smallest dinosaur ever found?" is a question that all palaeontologists get asked.
The answer is fairly simple.
The smallest dinosaur ever found is the *living* Bee hummingbird.
#BirdsAreDinosaurs
📸 Rita Ivanauskas [taken in Zapata National Park, Cuba].
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Jurassic spider love this
#fossilfriday
Called Mongolarachne jurassica, this is the largest-known fossil spider. 🕷️
The female is on the left and male on the right. It is 165 million years old and comes from China.
📸 courtesy of Kansas University and Paul Selden
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Excited to watch
#JurassicWorldDominion
today!
As a palaeontologist, I appreciate all that the Jurassic Park/World franchise has done for our field. It has gotten SO MANY people interested in palaeontology and into museums. I’ll always be a fan.
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The magic of cracking open a rock and seeing a fossil for the first time will never cease to amaze me.
Fresh from the field today. ⚒️
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Trilobites evolved, went extinct and became fossils long before dinosaurs even existed. They were already fossils under the feet of dinosaurs.
#TrilobiteTuesday
This trilobite is called Erbenochile. It had incredibly tall, tower-like eyes that provided 360-degree vision!
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Loving the giant ichthyosaur?
Join me and my team as we unearth this Jurassic beauty in the new series of BBC's
#DiggingforBritain
! As this series is dedicated to archaeology, it'll be the first time that palaeontology has been covered on the show.
@theAliceRoberts
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This is a spectacular, three-dimensionally preserved fossil frog mummy
#FossilFriday
🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸
Called Thaumastosaurus gezei, this stunning frog is around 35 million years old and was collected from a phosphorite mine in the Quercy region of France.
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My academic journey certainly hasn't followed a traditional path, but today I defended my thesis & became Dr Lomax! The 1st in my family.
I was told I couldn't do A-level science & I never did an undergrad degree.
Be true to yourself & follow your own path. We're all different!
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A 180 million year old pregnant ichthyosaur, collected from Holzmaden, Germany.
There is also a small ichthyosaur, probably a newborn (icklet), preserved alongside her.
Specimens like this provide us with a unique snapshot of life in deep time.
On display at the Hauff Museum.
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One of the most gorgeous ammonites I’ve ever seen.
I find myself getting lost in the intricate beauty of this specimen. It comes from Madagascar and is about 110 million years old.
Incredible prep skills by juarezfossil (on Insta). 👏
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Sorry to scare some of you arachnophobes, but here's Mongolarachne jurassica, the largest-known fossil spider.
#FossilFriday
🕷️🕸️
Discovered in Daohugou Village, China, this species lived 165 million years ago during the Jurassic. Male is on the left and the female on the right.
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This is an exquisitely preserved moa head and neck. It belongs to Megalapteryx didinus, aka, the Upland Moa.
For millions of years, moa flourished in New Zealand… until humans arrived. After which, the last remaining NINE species were wiped out in as little as 150-200 years!
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This badass Jurassic croc lived with a broken jaw.
The presence of a massive bony callus shows that the fracture healed, suggesting it lived for some time with this downturned jaw. Living crocs can survive for years with parts of their jaws damaged or missing.
@Paleocreations
.
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A Jurassic fish entombed inside an ammonite! This is a pretty epic fossil.
The specimen comes from the famous Early Jurassic Posidonia Shale near Holzmaden, Germany, and is on display at the brilliant Hauff Museum.
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“Devil’s corkscrews” – the unusual spirally homes made by ancient beavers 20 million years ago. 🦫
These strange structures are fossilised burrows named Daemonelix. The remains of beavers, called Palaeocastor, have been discovered entombed inside them.
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Leaping for food.
Why dinosaurs ultimately evolved flight... 😂
📹 Bertha the hen. Sharon the Clucker on Facebook.
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Happy Valentine’s Day. Here’s a pair of Jurassic insects having sex.
You're welcome.
These froghoppers are 165 million years old & represent the earliest record of a mating fossil. This is featured in my book, LOCKED IN TIME. Images (c) Prof. Dong Ren.
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Please welcome Ichthyotitan severnensis, a gigantic ichthyosaur from the latest Triassic of the UK!
The key - holotype - specimen was found in 2020 by fossil-hunting father-daughter duo Justin and Ruby Reynolds (Ruby was then 11!), who are co-authors.
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Here’s a video of the
#RutlandSeaDragon
to whet your appetite for tonight’s episode of
#DiggingforBritain
.
It is truly one of the greatest finds in British palaeontological history. I hope you enjoy watching our excavation
@RutlandWaterNR
.
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Absolutely amazing Archaeopteryx
#pumpkin
for
#Halloween2019
Had to share this epicness again.
This was created by WanderingAlbatross (over on DeviantArt).
Photo of original by H. Raab.
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Just in case you're still wondering.
Always remember that
#BirdsAreDinosaurs
Credit: Ingenttoday
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No.
Did I just find an Ichthyosaur washed up on the beach? Paleontologists help me out here!
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Possibly the world's best "Have I found a baby dinosaur?" looking rock I have ever seen! 😳🦖
Definitely a Calciteasaurus pseudofossili... 😏
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I've really struggled since the tragic loss of my mum.
The first time I’d truly smiled in the past two years was being on the ichthyosaur dig with friends. Who'd have thought this fossil would come along and give me something to smile about again.
Life is a strange journey. ⭐️
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@RutlandWaterNR
@AnglianWater
@LeicsWildlife
@MrIchthyosaurus
@MarkoPalaeo
@Dr_EmmaNicholls
The skeleton was excavated by an exceptional team of palaeontologists and volunteers over 3 weeks. A HUGE shout out to
@MrIchthyosaurus
and
@MarkoPalaeo
, who helped lead the dig and ensure the specimen was saved for science.
A massive thank you to the awesome team members:
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This beautifully preserved fluffy bird is from 130-million-year-old rocks in Hebei, China. 🐦
Only five fossils of this species, called Protopteryx fengningensis, have been found. The feathers show that it was at least partly black in life.
📸 by Tiouraren (Y.-C. Tsai).
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For
#InternationalWomensDay
you need to know about a truly inspiring palaeontologist called Joan Wiffen.
Without any formal scientific training Joan taught herself, and became an outstanding scientist in the process.
Photo of a beautiful mosasaur skull that Joan found in 1982.
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One of the best belemnite fossils I’ve ever seen. Perfect for
#MolluscMonday
Most belemnite fossils are just the hard part, called the guard or rostrum. This one includes the ink sac and arms with hooks! It’s a real beauty. Well, as far as squid-like Jurassic critters go. 🦑
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One of the strangest things you’ll see today.
The pathological lower jaw of a sperm whale.
It belongs to an adult, which suggests this abnormality did not prevent it from feeding.
📸 Spaul, 1962. Deformity in the lower jaw of the sperm whale (Physeter catodon).
#WhaleWednesday
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One of the most extraordinary, yet sad fossils you’ll ever see – a Jurassic horseshoe crab literally dead in its tracks. Prehistoric behaviour in action. This fossil inspired me to write ‘Locked in Time’.
The “death trace” captures the entire 9.7-metre walk into oblivion… 💥
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An artist’s 21,000-year-old painting of Megaloceros – the Giant Deer with 12 ft wide antlers!
Just think, people actually got to see a living, breathing Megaloceros. This cave painting is from the world-famous Lascaux Cave, France.
Happy
#FossilFriday
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Nice! New study with
@dinosven
published today. We describe the largest Ichthyosaurus, which also contains an embryo
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Starting Monday off with a mega
#MolluscMonday
A tractor tire sized ammonite from the Late Jurassic, ~150 million years old. Geologist
@dinojonrox
for scale.
Found near Fernie, British Columbia. I've studied ichthyosaurs from Fernie, but would love to see these ammonites!
Something special for
#FossilFriday
possibly the biggest
#ammonite
in Canada. This
#Titanites
sits at the top of the Moose Mountain Sandstone near Fernie, BC, dating the trough xb, shallow marine deposit to the Portlandian (uppermost Jurassic)
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Today I’ve been writing about mammoths.
This is the remarkably preserved head of the Yukagir woolly mammoth, found in Arctic Siberia in 2002. The skull is 1.7 metres long.
To keep it ��fresh’, the specimen is stored in an artificial ice cave in Russia.
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Today marks one whole year since we announced the discovery of the Rutland Sea Dragon.
Or should I say, “The Rutland Sea Dragon Dinosaur Dolphin Fossil”. Pure comedy gold. This will never go extinct. 😅
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Well, it’s December and
#FossilFriday
. Time to pull out the Stegosaurus Christmas mug. 🎄
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These enormous tunnels were dug by giant ground sloths in South America. Dating from a few million to ~10,000 years old, well over a 1000 of these have been found.
Some are covered with claw marks that match closely with the claw shape of giant ground sloths.
#MammalMonday
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Quite possibly one of the best fossil ‘squids’ I’ve ever seen.
A complete Jurassic belemnite preserved even with the ink sac and arms with hooks!
Belemnite rostra (the pointy bit) are common as fossils, but this is exceptional.
📸Urweltmuseum Hauff.
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I was just resting, I swear.
Drop a cool photo that someone took of you doing your job
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Getting ready for
#MolluscMonday
with this giant ammonite! Geologist
@dinojonrox
for scale.
This titan of an ammonite is called Titanites. It is from the Late Jurassic, around 150 million years old, and was found near Fernie, in British Columbia, Canada.
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Recently I’ve been reading and writing about moa, a group of large flightless birds endemic to New Zealand and driven to extinction by humans roughly 500 years ago.
It blows my mind that we have this 3300-year-old mummified moa foot, belonging to a Megalapteryx moa
#FossilFriday
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Little Dino Dean. Dr Dino Dean.
Never lose your passion for the past.
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This is the most excruciatingly painful thing I have ever had to write.
Yesterday my Mum passed away due to complications of a severe stroke and COVID-19. She was so brave and fought so hard.
I am beyond devastated. There are no words.
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Just brushing the dirt off a 150 million year old sauropod leg bone 🦕
At the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.
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Well shit, look where I am!
Palaeontologist joke. Sorry not sorry 💩
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Meet “Fiona”, Chile’s first complete ichthyosaur, a pregnant mother recovered from a glacier in Patagonia!
I’m thrilled to have been part of this incredible expedition led by my good friend and colleague, Dr
@judkasan
(pictured) from The University of Magallanes (
@umagallanes
).
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An amazing Archaeopteryx pumpkin for
#Halloween
! 🦇🎃🐦🦖
Unfortunately, I don't know who carved this awesomeness, but it's got my vote.
#HappyHalloween
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Check out this giant “Hell Pig” skull! Now that’s a badass mammal for
#MammalMonday
Today, I’ve been listening to
@PaleoNerdsPod
and heard
@entelodont
chatting about a giant “Hell Pig” skull. Here, Elisa Uribe from Gaston Design is holding a cast of that skull. 😳
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Since getting my PhD and having the title Dr Lomax, I've had plenty of friends tease and ask me to look at/diagnose something...🤔
So, for clarity, I'll just leave this here.
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Today is the anniversary of this pure comedy gold tweet. The name will never go extinct.
It is actually the two year anniversary since we announced the discovery of the Rutland Sea Dragon, aka, the 10 metre long giant ichthyosaur found by Joe Davis.
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This is THE beautifully preserved 3D fish skull that was found in a farmer’s field in Gloucestershire. 🐟
It was found and prepped by
@BSally1
and Neville Hollingworth.
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“That’s not possible. Nobody will listen to you. Not where you’re from. You’re too young. You’ll never get there. It’s not for you. Get a real job!” Sound familiar?
Forget that. Do what you love.
I was just a kid who loved all things dinosaurs.
Never stop following your dream.
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This is a very special year for dinosaurs. It is officially 200 years since the 1st dinosaur was formally described – Megalosaurus.
IMO, the Megalosaurus jaw is the one dinosaur specimen to rule them all – you might call it dinosaur number 1. Or, the GOAT! 🦖
#FossilFriday
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This is SPARTA... an exceptionally preserved 28,000 year old cave lion cub! 🦁❄️
Sparta was discovered in 2018 in eastern Siberia, Russia, and is one of the best-preserved frozen mummies ever found.
#FossilFriday
Photographs by Alexey Mikhailov.
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How have I only just learned of the existence of the Pigletsquid!
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A great honour today, opening the Yorkshire Natural History Museum
@YorkshireNHM
in style... with a Baryonyx claw. 🦖
As a Yorkshire palaeontologist originally from just up the road in Doncaster I'd like to say a huge congratulations to James and his team for making this happen.
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I can finally share one of the latest TV shows I’ve been working on, DINOSAUR with Stephen Fry!
I’m the expert host and guide alongside Stephen in Episode 2, which looks at dromaeosaurs (‘raptors’), especially Utahraptor (which is photobombing us here).
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Imagine strolling along a farmers field and finding a mammoth skull!
Just look at the size of it. This mammoth must have been an absolute unit 🐘
It was collected by the University of Michigan, USA.
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Have you ever seen a prettier ammonite?
Some pyritised ammonites are stunning. This Pleuroceras comes from the Jurassic of Buttenheim near Nuremberg, Germany.
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Some exciting personal news. I’m honoured to have been awarded a prestigious
@Royalcom1851
Fellowship to continue my research on ichthyosaurs!
Over the last 4 years, I've been rejected 5 times for major research funding, so I'm incredibly happy & proud to receive the Fellowship.
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It is photographs like this that sparked my fascination with palaeontology.
~40 million year old whale skeleton at the famous Wadi Al-Hitan site, in the Western Desert of Egypt.
It just makes you want to get up and go explore.
#MondayMotivation
Beautiful 📸 by Ahmed Mosaad.
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Something BIG!
Excited to finally see this annouced. I'm thrilled for collector Phil Jacobs and good friend Steve Etches, who has skillfully prepared the skull, which will go on display
@TEC_Kimmeridge
.
Must-see TV! "Attenborough and The Giant Sea Monster", New Year’s Day.
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These enormous tunnels were excavated by giant ground sloths. 🦥
Well over a thousand of these burrows, dating between a few million & roughly 10,000 years old, have been found in S. America. Some are covered with claw marks like this one.
Illustration by
@BobNichollsArt
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OMG! The original Berlin Archaeopteryx 😢 😍
One of the most important fossils ever found. What a thing of beauty.
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Stunning preservation in this arboreal varanopid that lived 290 million years ago, long before dinosaurs evolved.
#FossilFriday
Found in a Pompeii-like fossil forest in Chemnitz, Germany, spectacular details of the skin, scales, body outline & even eyelid ossicles are preserved.
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I bet you'll never look at
#penguins
the same again. 🐧
#BirdsAreDinosaurs
Photo: Gordon Tait Nat Geo.
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One of the largest ichthyosaur skulls in existence.
This
#FossilFriday
is my birthday, so here’s the massive, real skull of Cymbospondylus youngorum, a giant from the Triassic of Nevada.
Whilst in LA, I visited
@NHMLA
as part of my
@Royalcom1851
research.
With
@DinosaurPodcast
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One of the tiniest ichthyosaur fins I've held in the palm of my hand.
The individual that this 200 million year old fin belonged to was probably no longer than 50 cm
#FossilFriday
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"Dinosaurs" and then hit the middle predictive text.
Dinosaurs enjoying the book of Mormon.
Uh, not what I was expecting. 😅🦖
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Wow. Just seen a wasp snatch a crane fly mid-air, kill it and then remove its legs and wings and fly away with the body 😮
It all happened in the space of about one minute. Nature is brutal.
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This is the largest theropod footprint EVER found in Yorkshire. Our paper describing this giant footprint is out today! 🦖
It was discovered by Rob Taylor and Marie Woods
@MarieEWoods
on the beach at Burniston Bay in 2021.
Artwork by James McKay.
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Nice to have the
#RutlandSeaDragon
feature on
#DiggingForBritain
, but there is SOOOOOO much more footage available with chat from the entire team. 100% needs its own documentary!
Surely, the most COMPLETE skeleton of any large prehistoric reptile in Britain deserves its own doc?
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One of the most remarkable dinosaur track sites in the world, Cal Orcko, Bolivia.
There are more than 5000 footprints (& 462 distinct tracks) made by at least 8 different species that walked the Earth 68 million years ago.
📸Carsten Drossel Jerry Daykin, Ramon Kristian Arellano
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Well, it's finally happened. My latest paper is out on this exceptional fossil mouse.
I have been working on this since 1999. As a palaeontologist, you have to travel far and wide, searching across the land... Iykyk.
#AprilFoolsDay
sorry, I couldn't resist 😅
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For
#WhaleWednesday
I present to you the skull of a blue whale! 🐳
Watching blue whales on TV you cannot appreciate the ENORMOUS size of these beautiful animals.
Here, fellow palaeontologist
@tetrameryx
is dwarfed by a real skull
@NMNH
.
📸
@CoastalPaleo
(used with permission).
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Came across this interesting fossil in Bavaria. Feels like I gotta catch em all.
#FossilFriday
Can anybody help with this one? 😅
Surely a new species.
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Excited to reveal my new book ‘Dinosaurs: 10 Things You Should Know’🦕🦖 Out Sept 2!
Join me on a whirlwind adventure as we uncover why T. rex never met Stegosaurus, how dinosaurs conquered the world… and debunk a whole load of myths along the way 😉
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An exceptionally well-preserved woolly rhino that lived between 20,000 - 50,000 years ago. 🦏 Happy
#MammalMonday
.
Discovered in 2020 by Alexei Savvin in Yakutia, Russia, this young rhino was found with intact organs, a thick coat of fur & its last meal.
📸 Valery Plotnikov.
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Today is
#SteveIrwinDay
🐊
Did you know Steve was a published scientist?
He wrote a couple of papers, including a neat little study on a saltwater croc called Nobby who had a missing jaw - published in 1996.
I cited Steve’s study in an upcoming publication
#CrocsRule
! 🐊
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Marching into a fossiliferous & delicious Christmas
#FossilFriday
Love this cake by
@aadineen
! It reminds me of this conga line of queueing trilobites = Rare evidence of migratory group behaviour. Or, in the cake’s case, a migration into our mouths!
Merry Trexmass, all. 🎄🦖🎁
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Wow. Giant squid 🦑 washed up in Wellington, NZ.
📸 Aplin brothers.
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A stunning 35 million-year-old weevil beetle contained inside amber.
This pear-shaped little weevil is called Toxorhynchus europeoeocenicus (that’s fun to try and say) and comes from the Rivne region in Ukraine.
It was described just last year. Scale bar measures 0.5 mm.
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Hunting for shark teeth at Caspersen Beach was awesome! 🦈
Found plenty of teeth from sand tigers, bulls, aaaaand this megalodon tooth!
Had such a great time with
@DinosaurPodcast
, Elaine Howard and Aiden Rouse.
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