Jim Kirkland
@Paleojim
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State Paleontologist for Utah; exploring and promoting the history of life in our southwestern deserts for the public good and the wonder of it all.
Utah
Joined November 2010
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الهلال
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A Threasher Shark breaching off Costa Rica. Knocking off cookiecutter sharks cutting chunks off it. Zoom in and look at base of right pectoral fin and base of caudal fin.🦈 Thanks Casey Klein for posting on Facebook.
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I tell you, Protoceratops used burrows as well to defend against Velocirapter.
🔥 A boar slipping smoothly into its burrow to escape a pack of wild dogs
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Acrocanthosaurus serrations are so fine you can barely see them.
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@TIME
Those of us how have paid attention to AOC's questioning during hearings are impressed by her preparedness and skill in her questioning, while others grandstand, she brings forth new and pertinent info. Glad she could not afford law school. We need her in congress!
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Been thinking polacanthines when I should be working on the Mancos nomenclature report. Basically, I'm thinking that the standard Gastonia like models at 5 meters of so have a basic, leave me alone vibe. The giant taxa; I'm still working on that. Remember this is a hypothesis!
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Meet Sachicasaurus
“The newest giant pliosaur, an almost 10 m (35 ft) goliath from E. Cret. 130 Ma from what is now Colombia. Sachicasaurus was a serious beast, but ITTY BITTY flippers compared to other pliosaurs (normaly size of head). See Pliosaurus pic. SLOW...ambush predator?
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d to share on
#FossilFriday
Torosaurus latus that Amanda Cantrell-Suazo & Tom Suazo's Badlands Sci. Exp. LLC, collected in Naashoibito Mbr., Ojo Alamo Fm. San Juan Basin, New Mexico, has been unveiled at the Knuthenborg Mus of Evolution, Denmark! Mark Loewen of
@NHMU
describing
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Warm water carries less oxygen. Hot water even less. Global Cretaceous anoxic events were in large part driven by warm ocean temperatures, as was the loss of coral reefs in favor of rudistid clam reefs.
@utahgeological
Tens of thousands of fish washing up on the Texas shoreline.
Totally normal. There’s no climate emergency or anything. Move along.
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Going through the thousands of pictures I shot on my 2017 trip to China, so... here is a spectacular skeletal specimen of Microraptor at Beijing Mus of Nat Hist PH1084 (note, not one in Li manuscript).
#FossilFriday
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Assuming this is the first rapid prototyped Utahraptor skull by Galentia Studios.
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From my talk for
#DinoFest
at
@NHMU
tomorrow. Polacanthus-sized Utah polacanthids. Not enough material yet on two giant species. Revelations; they have 3 not 2 unfused cervical rings and the wide body and lateral spines keep them from being flipped by carnosaurs.
#FossilFriday
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Such bozos....mangrove forests not mango forests!!! Or...at least a corollary.... Right
@kenlacovara
???
@JurassicWorld
lol
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As a public service announcement. Alexander Mantia; "I was at a book store, stumbled upon the book that shall not be named, and found this glorious sticky note in the front. Bravo."
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THE Miocene Isurus hastilis is almost certainly the taxon that gave rise to Carcharodon, the Great White Shark.
@BostonAndScout
@divekenyon
@JeremyBRoberts
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Akainacephalus johnsoni, a gnarly new ankylosaurid dinosaur from the UpperCretaceous Kaiparowits Formation of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Sitting on these for months. Cannot wait to see face to face. A great mount by
@utahgeological
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Wonderful.
Updating my reconstruction of Utahraptor ostrommaysi, the tank-like Dromaeosaurid from Early Cretaceous North America. Updating this for my personal library. Here seen standing next to a 1.8 m tall human
#paleoart
#sciart
#dinosaurs
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Just got our
@SVP_vertpaleo
abstract on our progress and new revelations from the Utahraptor Megablock submitted and we do have a tail to tell....
@JurassicWorld
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It looks like the Cretaceous is bookended by two impact events. With no major eruptive events it's looking like the terminal Jurassic extinction is tied to the Morokweng impact in South Africa.
@utahgeological
Thanks for the tip Jerry Harris.
@UtahPaleo
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Hadrosaur tracks in roof of Utah Coal mine, Blackhawk Formation, middle Campanian, Upper Cretaceous, near Helper, UT.
#FossilFriday
@UtahPaleo
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Rob Gaston has completed the first mount of the basal thyreophoran Scutellosaurus lawleri replicating the Holotype from Mus. of Northern Arizona. In consultation with Ben Breeden & myself with an eye toward Scelidosaurus. Not Cheap, but
@stgeorgedino
needs!
#FossilFriday
1.3 m
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In progress reconstruction of Utahraptor skull at Gastondesign with elements from 4 quarries and 3 institutions. Making the sausage....
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Seismites!
Soft-sediment deformation caused by earthquakes that occurred shortly after their deposition - Dead Sea Basin. Ruled out early for Utahraptor site.
@UtahraptorTrap
Photo John Zana
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Helping out on a Utahraptor animation and was looking at a shot of our new Manus claw I just love that you can make out the ghost of the overlying sheath, which seems to have slipped off a bit.
#Theropodthursday
Who cars about Tyrannosaurus, when you have Utahraptor.
@UtahPaleo
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It is up to us to take the lead in our children's education during the pandemic.
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You can get a reasonable feel for the various sized Utahraptors in the Utahraptor block from the comparisons of popular dromaeosaur species by Gabriel Ugueto The smaller they are the more abundant they are.
@UtahraptorTrap
M = baby, V. = 2 year old, D. = teenager, U. = 1 adult.
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Hate this sad note, but I learned this morning that dinotracker Martin Lockley has gotten much worse and might not have long. He is in hospice. His partner has asked friends to send videos about what he means/meant to them, if you are interested in sending one. Spread the word...
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So checking out the Antarctic Dinosaur exhibit before it left
@NHMU
and figure Cryolophosaurus deserves a place for my
#FossilFriday
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Could this be albanerpetonid skin from the Utahraptor Megablock??? Or from a baby Utahraptor away from feathers?? Thoughts??? Do not be shy.
@UtahraptorTrap
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#Velociraptor
Typical little Velociraptor skeleton vs Utahraptor skeleton; the real star of Jurassic Park and World.
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Presenting: Ethan Cowgill — Utah Geological Survey
"A New Face for the 'Savage Reptile': Cranial Anatomy of a New Specimen of the Jurassic theropod Torvosaurus"
Thursday April 13, 2023 at 7:00 PM
Great Basin Chapter Meeting
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So glad that the Denver Mus. has carried on UGS research on the Wahweap Fm., when research funding for Utah ran out. Guess we go from 27 nonoverlapping dinosaurs fauna in Utah to 30. I also hear at least second dino fauna in overlying Kaiparowits. BEST DINO STORY IN WORLD.
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Fine welcome at SVP 2023 Reception at Justice League Headquarters, I mean Cincinnati Museum Center. A nice Apatosaurus skull from Emery Co. Utah and their Torvosaurus mount from just south of DINO in nw Colorado for which Ethan Cowgill is speaking on new skull.
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Ran into Scott Madsen working on the Utahraptor block. No one has such insights to a fossil like the preparator.
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I have taken part in naming 21 species, a bunch of fossil fish, a turtle, and lots of Cretaceous invrrtenrates
#MyFirstSpecies
was Utahraptor ostromaysorum now Utah's State Dinosaur.
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Polacanthids everywhere.... ,
#Svp2023
poster. Maybe a bit busy.....but I got a long way toward publishing a paper naming these new species.
@utahgeological
@UtahPaleo
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Working on our thyreophoran phylogeny! Made it through 141 cranial characters. All you need is the skull; right? Now to start down the vertebral column for the last 160+ characters for 80 + taxa. Shoot me now!
@utahgeological
@UtahPaleo
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Sharing the sad news that the great dinotracker Martin Lockley passed away this morning. I am so grateful that he was able to join us on my MTE14 field trip. Obviously, he made wonderful contributions to the tracksites we visited. 1st met in 1981 before he started tracking dinos.
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Another Beijing Museum of Natural History specimen of note BMNHC PH1151, Anchiornis from the latest mid Jurassic. A 4-winged
#FossilFriday
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This is very cool!
"An extraordinary fossil captures the struggle for existence during the Mesozoic"
Art by Michael W. Skrepnick:
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One of the oldest hybodont sharks, Hamiltonichthys mapesi latest Carboniferous Pennslvanian, Kansas.
#FossilFriday
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There are two titanomorph sauropods from the Ruby Ranch Member of the Ruby Ranch Mbr. Of the Cedar Mt. Fm. named for the beloved Jack McIntosh; the Aptian age Brontomirus mcIntoshi and the Albian age Abydosaurus mcintoshi (pictured).
Kristi Curry Rogers just sent me this nice remembrance of Jack McIntosh by
@wesleyan_u
on the centenary of his birth:
January 6, 2024 would have been Jack's 101st birthday!
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's new mount of Utahraptor is seriously impressive when comparied against Velociraptor. Thanks for the pictures Rob; and permission to post.
@UtahraptorTrap
@UtahPaleo
@utahgeological
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Working on my poster for SVP 2023. Here is a draft figure showing the stratigraphic distribution of polacanthine ankylosaur species in the lower Cedar Mt. Fm. of the Paradox Basin, Grand County, Utah, a least 6 taxa.
#FossilFriday
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Emily does such wonderful feathered dinosaurs. I'm really wanting to get Utahraptor forelimb material out of block, as I figure forelimb function is the biggest hole in our knowledge about Utahraptor.
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A bit of Diabloceratops, the early years for
#FossilFriday
. Not impressive as first found, with a bit of clean up, still not impressive. But discoverer Don DeBlieux' preparation cleaned up nice. Reconstructed cast by beautiful.
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Had to share. EARTH'S history is a rainbow. We are just the current beneficiaries.
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And the winner is a 2 year, class, Utahraptor maxilla. Though, not adult, the best known.
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Is there a consensus? Is Balour bondoc from Romania a bird or a dromaeosaur?
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Massive adult Utahraptor leg from megablock compared to smaller leg bones. One juvenile Utahraptor femur & one leg from another theropod. Nick Longrich suggests get our buts in gear on publishing on the other small beast...
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Love to see this magnificent phytosaur skull (1.7 m )that Don DeBlieux
@utahgeological
discovered in basal Chinle below the Eagle Crags by Zion sw Utah, fully restored and replicated. Prepped at
@SGDinoDiscovery
.
#FossilFriday
@NHMU
Being described would be nice too.
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I promised to share
@BrianEngh_Art
my best image of Liaoningosaurus teeth, algae grazer, does not need to be exclusive. So..... since its it is
#FossilFriday
, here is the rough draft Thyreophoran tooth figure I'm putting to together for supplimental info section of phylo paper.
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Ou friend Omar Zafaty' team reports; "Led by Moroccan scientists, North African stegosaur remains dating back to mid-Jurassic ~165 Ma were diagnosed as a new species named Thyreosaurus atlasicus." 1st with reclining plates??
@UtahPaleo
#stegosaur
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OK......
#FOSSILFRIDAY
.....OK...Well here is a relatively long-necked most basal ankylosaurian, Scelidosaurs (5 cervical rings..). The keystone dinosaur for understanding the baudplan for ankylosaurian osteoderms. Thanks Dave (no dorsal spines) Norman & John Stibbick.
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Showing Nizar Ibrahim the Utahraptor block following his wonderful Nat Geo Live talk on his Spinosaurus discoveries up at Park City.
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Had to share awesome prep of Tylor Birthisel of skull from nearly complete Tetraphoneus skeleton at
@NHMU
, most complete tyrannosaur from Utah.
@utahgeological
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Since, I have added the new little tyrannosaur Moros, The dinosaurs of Utah chart is up to date for the moment.
@UtahPaleo
@utahgeological
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Not
#FossilFriday
, but this new juvenile Utahraptor maxilla was uncovered by Scott Madsen this week. Looking forward to getting on of these small skulls reconstructed.
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Had to share...Scott Madsen; "Still my favorite Archeopteryx, done years ago by Dennis Wilson and Pangaea Designs. I don't think anyone has come close to the beauty of this mount. Exquisite!"
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In honor of future Utahraptor State Park; Moabosaurus utahensis the most common dino at Dalton Wells, represented by a minimum of 18 individuals based on braincases (Utahraptor trails with a minimum of 8).
#fossilfriday
Lot of Camamasaurus parts, stuck on the Mierasaurus skull.
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Another talk down, Dinosaurs of Utah. Got very horse.... I think my older brother Bob even checked it out.
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Tianzhenosaurus exhibit in the Shanxi Geological Museum. This is an ankylosaur deserving a much more extensive description.
#FossilFriday
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The middle Jurassic north of Coal Mine Canyon east of Tuba City. I believe this area is Hopi Land. Truly a beautiful place that was the center of my MS research area on the Cretaceous on the southwest side of Black Mesa, AZ. Specifically view from my Coal Mine Mesa section.
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From southern Utah in Utah Museum of Natural History collections.
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Zuniceratops christopheri for
#FossilFriday
Doug Wolfe and Christopher's type locality. Haystack Butte bonebed was loaded with Zuniceratops bones and a therizinosaur, Nothronychus.
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Moab's Mill Canyon Tracksite, list as the 7th most import dinosaur tracksite in No. Am. with 10 taxa (greatest diversity in nation).
#FossilFriday
@BLMUtah
@MoabTimes
@MoabSunNews
@UtahPaleo
@utahgeological
@NatureUtah
Only running raptor trackway in the world!
@JurassicWorld
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Well, I think I uploaded my SVP poster, "NEW DATA ON UTAHRAPTOR RECOVERED DURING PREPARATION OF A MASS MORTALITY ASSEMBLAGE: DOES TAIL MORPHOLOGY DIFFERENTIATE DROMAEOSAURINES FROM VELOCIRAPTORINES?" When will abstracts be on line???
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Paul Carter gave me permission to share his pictures relative to convergence in otters and seals. Osteological love!
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Look at this dune, slipface slab with spider and Brasilichnium (small tritylodont) trackways. Impressive, going to need a big home. Sadly need to trim spider track to get it too St George. Square off at keys.
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Our poster; NEW POLACANTHINE ANKYLOSAURS FROM THE BASAL CRETACEOUS (BERRIASIAN), LOWER YELLOW CAT MEMBER (YCM) OF THE CEDAR MOUNTAIN FORMATION (CMF), NORTHERN PARADOX BASIN, GRAND COUNTY, UTAH; Kirkland, DeBlieux, &
@JLivelyPaleo
is on last day of SVP...Be there or Be Square.
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Founding Fathers T. Jefferson & B. Franklin were both citizen scientists; they supported uncensored dissemination of results!
#scienceMarch
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Anyone that would be willing to let the Utah Geological Survey use any of their reconstructions of Utah dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, of course we would acknowledge you. We are trying to update our web page. It needs it. Really needs it!!
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Beautiful, keystone, specimen!
#FossilADay
Teratophoneus curriei skull from the Late
#Cretaceous
Kaiparowits Formation of
#GSENM
#Utah
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Wonderful painting by David Yorke. Among our nation's first paleontologists. Petroglyphs sites that are hundreds of years in Utah interpret dinosaur track sites as from giant birds , the Legion of the Thunderbird!
@HyapatiaLee
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New? ornate 4-toed ankylosaur from Liaoning vs abundant 3 toed Liaoningosaurus at Tianyu Museum of Natural History in Shandong, China.
#thyreophoranthursday
Who is writing this little beast up. Check out the keratin scales preserved.
@UtahPaleo
Amazing collection! Thoughts?
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Not
@fossilfriday
, but I dug up proof that Bob Bakker was responsible for Dinamation's Utahraptor abomination and not I! On a Dinamtion exhibit tour by the Chicago Field Museum, they converted sauropod neck & head into a palm tree.
@UtahraptorTrap
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Protosuchus richardsoni AMNH 3024 type, Harvard's cast MCZ 2754 and skull MCZ 6727. Dinosaur Canyon Mbr. Moenave Fm. Ward Terrace, Navajo Nation, AZ. Given the new dates of Suarez et al, 2017 of 201.3 Ma for the upper contact, may be latest Trias, & not basal Jur.
#FossilFriday
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A reminder,, the huge shoulder spines on
#sauropelta
are straight. I BELIEVE, these two at the
@AMNH
are the only two ever found. They are associated with nearly complete skeletons.
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At it again filming at the Utahraptor megablock for the Utahraptor State Park with
@BrianEngh_Art
&
@Yara_Haridy
. Is this filming
#FossilFriday
?
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Magnirostris dodsoni; The MOST mature Bagaceratops??
#FossilFriday
Got to spend a day examing this distinctive beauty, during my research on Diabloceratops and Zuniceratops. The assesory anterior orbital fenestra is an important character.
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Huge dinosaur bone bust! I hear much of the tons and tons of dinosaur bone recovered were by dynamiting dino bone beds in channel sandstones in the Morrison Formation as preserved at Dinosaur National Monument. Read & weep.
@utahgeological
@SVP_vertpaleo
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Only the 3rd named dromaeosaur, heck, Utahraptor in 1993 was only the 6th named... Now there are well over 40 genera described and many more coming! As paleontologists, these are the good old days.
@BLMUtah
@utahgeological
@UtahPaleo
If state funds a hockey stadium; Utah Raptors!
Happy 55th Birthday
#Deinonychus
!
Feb 25, 1969, Dr. John Ostrom published the name Deinonychus, “terrible claw,” and ignited a revolution that we still enjoy! The dinosaur/bird link, which wasn’t new per se, was firmly established with his 1969 works.
#FossilCrates
#happybday
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Nice maxilla compared to 1/4 scale Utahraptor skull. Only lower bar of the BYU adult partial maxilla, that it is based on is real. Ontogenetic changes....?? The baby is cute too.....
@UtahraptorTrap
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Made it out to Research Casting to see Zuul before its world tour. Check off bucket list. Such an amazing beast.
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2.5 days cropping and editing and finally got first draft plate put together for the description of "Gamera" from the Suarez site. Verts are a pain to crop!! Next the dorsals....
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An early birthday day present from BLM; Georgia Knause, Utah Regional Paleo & Scott Foss, National lead paleontologist presented me with a lifetime achievement award. Now you know you have to cash in your chips to fulfill the bucket list; major repositories in St George & Price.
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