Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

@fossilfamilytree.bsky.social

53 followers 180 following 210 posts

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

fossilfamilytree.bsky.social @fossilfamilytree.bsky.social · Jun 30

Having a pet means turning your head away for one moment and quickly realizing that morning cuddle time was actually just an excuse to get closer to the food you were eating, and now nothing on God's green Earth can save your sandwich.

Reposted

Dr. Brendan Anderson @fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social · 1d

Day 158 of photoshopping @lastweektonight.com 's John Oliver with fossils in the hopes that he saves the Paleontological Research Institution

Today John (H. sapiens) is getting ready to teach turritellids, with a Kapalmerella mortoni postmortoni specimen ##JohnOliverCoprolitasticShed 🧪 #SavePRI 🦑

John Oliver from community holding a pointy shell with a strong carina in front of a classroom blackboard

1 5 23

fossilfamilytree.bsky.social @fossilfamilytree.bsky.social · 19h

The University of Queensland has this frieze, and several carvings all around the Great Court area.

A carved sandstone frieze from the 1950s depicting a forest scene with what appears to be a Triceratops, two Rhamphorhynchus-like pterosaurs, two small creatures (possibly mammals?), a Stegosaurus, two Archaeopteryx-like birds, a temnospondyl amphibian, and two sauropods. All of these are plausibly Jurassic, except for the Triceratops, so I'm not sure where that came from. Stegosaurus and Triceratops are North American, and Archaeopteryx is European, but sauropods, temnospondyls, and distant relatives of Stegosaurus are all found in Australia.

2 15

Reposted

Dr. Brendan Anderson @fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social · 1d

I missed this but just learned PRI is working on a virtual field experience to Greenland to accompany a study lead by Jessica Mejia at Syracuse on how meltwater beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet affects ice movement—and ultimately, global sea levels
artsandsciences.syracuse.edu/earth-scienc...

Secrets Beneath Greenland’s Ice

What lies beneath the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet may hold the key to understanding one of the most pressing climate challenges of our time: sea level rise.

artsandsciences.syracuse.edu

1 4

Reposted

nogain98 @rlatkdwls.bsky.social · 2d

Albertosaurus

8 37

Reposted

Gabriel Ugueto @serpenillus.bsky.social · 4d

A pair of Cartorhynchus lenticarpus, swimming in the shallow coastal waters of Early Triassic Asia

#paleoart #sciart #art

Illustration showing a pair of Cartorhynchus swimming in coastal waters

8 94 290

Reposted

Mike Melton @mikemelton.bsky.social · 4d

Goth band album cover.

Groove-billed Anis are fabulous birds. A type of cuckoo, this species lives in social groups of up to 10 birds and they collectively guard their territory and even share a nest together!

These birds were taking a break today at @tapirvalley.bsky.social to groom each other.

Five black birds perch closely together on a branch, their glossy feathers and long tails standing out against a blurred green forest background.

23 150 710

fossilfamilytree.bsky.social @fossilfamilytree.bsky.social · 4d

Is T. rex overrated? Yes, extremely. Should other species get the spotlight more? Absolutely. Is T. rex nonetheless still a really interesting animal? Also yes.

I was born on the same ground that T. rex walked, and I think that's rad as hell.

fossilfamilytree.bsky.social @fossilfamilytree.bsky.social · 4d

I mean, T. rex had front-row seats to see the asteroid as it wrought destruction across the planet, and I genuinely don't know anything more absurdly cinematic than that. Nature seems to have a funny sense of humor sometimes.

fossilfamilytree.bsky.social @fossilfamilytree.bsky.social · 4d

Add to that the number of specimens we have (over 40), our depth of knowledge of the ecosystem around it, and the supreme coincidence that these animals lived at the time that marked the end of the non-avian dinosaurs, and you have an unusually special fossil animal.

fossilfamilytree.bsky.social @fossilfamilytree.bsky.social · 4d

Biomechanical studies don't always agree on how, but they do agree that the skull of T. rex suggests it fed differently from other gigantic theropods, probably able to bite much harder and crunch through bone. It's often likened to a hyena, except that it was also an animal bigger than an elephant.

fossilfamilytree.bsky.social @fossilfamilytree.bsky.social · 4d

They were gigantic carnivores that have a head shape and cranial anatomy unlike that of any other group of animals, living or extinct. Even larger theropods don't build their jaws that deep or have skulls as boxy as the tyrannosaurs, and T. rex is the most extreme example of it.

fossilfamilytree.bsky.social @fossilfamilytree.bsky.social · 4d

It can definitely get frustrating when people new to the field, especially students, are only ever interested in talking about T. rex and how it ate things, but at the same time, it is a really cool animal.

fossilfamilytree.bsky.social @fossilfamilytree.bsky.social · 4d

One of the oddities of vertebrate paleontology is that Tyrannosaurus is one of the most-studied (and possibly well-understood) fossil animals. This isn't entirely a coincidence -- we've known about T. rex for a long time, and its popularity tends to spur interest in its research.

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. @arctomet.bsky.social · 5d

Happy 120th Nameday, Tyrannosaurus rex and Albertosaurus sarcophagus!

Reconstructed skull of the holotype specimen of Tyrannosaurus rex

The 1905 and 1906 reconstructions of the skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex

Skull of Albertosaurus sarcophagus at the Royal Tyrell Museum of Palaeontology

1 2

Reposted

Andreas Haugstrup @hgstrp.com · 4d

Black oystercatcher digging to treasures at Heron's Head yesterday (San Francisco, CA) 🪶

Oystercatcher standing on rocks, head bent down to pry shellfish off the rocks

Oystercatcher walking along shoreline with a small shell in its beak

2 16

fossilfamilytree.bsky.social @fossilfamilytree.bsky.social · 4d

This bird looks like it means business.

Reposted

Andy Langley @langers77.bsky.social · 4d

Please see my JustGiving page how donations to the @worldlandtrust.org Autumn Appeal can be MULTIPLIED by 6️⃣! 🪶

Appeal will save threatened forest in Colombia - home to the critically endangered Blue-billed Curassow

Page 1/3

📸: Lars Buck

@markavery.bsky.social

www.justgiving.com/page/andrew-...

Photos of Blue-billed Curassow (Female on left).

1 5 10

Reposted

Stuart @edinburghnature.bsky.social · 4d

@birdinglothian.bsky.social
#Birdinglothian
Spoonbill on old scrapes then new,Musselburgh.
Whooper also with Marsh sandpiper.
A dozen or more Little gulls at mouth of esk,and pair of pintail new scrapes.

3 31

Reposted

Dr. Brendan Anderson @fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social · 5d

Day154 of photoshopping @lastweektonight.com's John Oliver with fossils in the hopes that he saves the Paleontological Research Institution

Don't worry John(H. sapiens) those aren't sandworms, they are just bryozoans (PRI108377). Please make the #JohnOliverCoprolitasticShed a reality and #savePRI 🧪

John Oliver waving with big eyes while large dark branching bryozoans emerge from the sand behind him

6 38

Reposted

Natee (they/them) @himmapaan.bsky.social · 5d

Tyrannosaurus rex was named 120 years ago today on 4th October, 1905.

I would do things a little differently now, but this drawing is from 2020.

4 130 530

fossilfamilytree.bsky.social @fossilfamilytree.bsky.social · 6d

If you've never seen it before, this sequence from BBC's The Hunt is something I think about a lot. Predator-prey interactions are some of the most pivotal moments of selection.

For context, a single adult lioness weighs about 260-300lbs (118-136).

(Content warning for blood.)

Lions Attempt to Take Down a Bull | The Hunt | BBC Earth

YouTube video by BBC Earth

www.youtube.com

Reposted

nogain98 @rlatkdwls.bsky.social · 8d

Panthera atrox

4 14

Reposted

Denver Museum of Nature & Science @denvermuseumns.bsky.social · 8d

🕵️‍♀️🦬 Mystery solved! Our missing 650-pound Museum bison has returned after 50 years. Learn about its journey back to the Museum in #Catalyst. https://dmns.mobi/47bCc43

11 66

Reposted

Dr. Brendan Anderson @fossilsndcoffee.bsky.social · 9d

Day 150 of photoshopping @lastweektonight.com's John Oliver with #fossils in the hopes that he saves the Paleontological Research Institution

John (H. sapiens) doesn't need to fear the spikey Arcinella cornuta (PRI70117)

Please tag and share, PRI really needs donors in the next month or so 🦑 🧪

John Oliver with his hands up and an alarmed expression with a large spikey bivalve fossil in front of his face

2 26 64

Reposted

Mike Melton @mikemelton.bsky.social · 9d

Rufous-tailed Jacamar with breakfast at @tapirvalley.bsky.social #CostaRica

#birds #nature

A bird with iridescent green and orange plumage perched on a branch, holding a large insect in its beak.

4 45 370

Reposted

Warwick History Post-Doc Club @post-doc-club.bsky.social · 10d

Great news!
JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month

www.jstor.org/action/showL...

41 1.6K 2.6K