dr-crocogator.bsky.social
@dr-crocogator.bsky.social
Paleontologist at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Fossils are the best, like, really the best.
Happy #FossilFriday! Fossil fans may know about #stromatolites, remains of bacteria that go back billions of years. But they are still alive, even in #Minnesota! This specimen is less than 10,000 yrs old (at the Science Museum of Minnesota) and will be the subject of an upcoming study. Stay tuned!
January 16, 2026 at 2:24 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! Ice Age horses in #Minnesota? Maybe! They’ve never been verified but these lovely horse teeth from the Science Museum of Minnesota and more will be headed for carbon dating to find out if they are, thanks to funding from the MN Historical Society (and MN Legacy Amendment).
January 9, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! In honor of the World Juniors Hockey Championship happening across the street now, the Science Museum of Minnesota’s #Trex got a new hockey stick. Not sure how it’ll get the skates on, but it’s ready for some action!
January 2, 2026 at 6:53 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! Part 3 from the @childrensmuseum.bsky.social in #Indiana! Seriously so much there even beyond the Dinosphere, from giant ammonites to marine reptiles (this one is Plioplatecarpus) to Dracorex to a local Mastodon. Floor after floor, there is more to find!
December 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! Part 2 from the @childrensmuseum.bsky.social: the DinoSphere! Such an amazing packed exhibit with lots of mounted skeletons (including real fossils) and loads of extra displays jammed into every space. Sooo many #dinosaurs! Highly recommend a visit! 🦖🦕
December 19, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! Not long ago I got to visit the @childrensmuseum.bsky.social and see all their #dinosaurs! Right off the bat you get this family of 3 Alamosaurus sculptures. So much great detail on these 70-ish million years old sauropods. Stay tuned for some more from this awesome #museum!
December 12, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! A little while back some of us from the Science Museum of Minnesota visited the Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History (@smmnh.sky.social) in Blue Earth, #Minnesota. Nice place with a great cast of Lythronax (type of tyrannosaur), touchable footprints and so much more!
December 5, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! Turkeys, like other birds, have fused toe bones (metatarsals). In their ancient cousin, T. rex, the bones are separate but still bare a lot of similarity to parts of the turkey, because they share a common ancestor. Can you see the family resemblance?
November 28, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! We are back from another great meeting of the @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social , this year in Birmingham, #England. We presented a poster each on collections problem-solving and 3D prints for outreach + loved getting to see the @lapworthmuseum.bsky.social
November 21, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! We’re in #England for a conference and went to the #Jurassic Coast, in Lyme Regis. The shore here has loads of #fossil marine creatures from about 150 million years ago, like ammonites and belemnites, home of famed paleontologist Mary Anning in the early 1800s.
November 14, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Happy #FossilFriday! It’s #GarWeek so check out these 50 million year old #gar fish from #Utah at the Science Museum of Minnesota! This genus, Lepisosteus, goes back to the Cretaceous and is still swimming today! Thanks to @bellmuseum.bsky.social & @garlab.bsky.social for hyping these cool #fish!
November 7, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! It’s the last day of #Croctober so check out this amazing cast Macrospondylus 🐊, from the #Jurassic of #Germany at the Science Museum of Minnesota! It lived about 180 million years ago and would have spent nearly its whole life at sea, & even had super reduced front legs!
October 31, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! It’s #Croctober, so check out these #fossil teeth of Thoracosaurus at the Science Museum of Minnesota, an extinct #croc from the end of the age of the #dinosaurs and a bit after, that’s right, it survived the mass extinction! All from #SouthCarolina!
October 24, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! This week the paleo team from the Science Museum of Minnesota was out picking up ancient #Bison bones here in #Minnesota! 🦬🦬🦬 The bones are in the river itself, which has zero visibility, so they have to be found by feel. A little chilly & mucky but some cool fieldwork!
October 17, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! It’s #Croctober so check out these #fossils of the ‘Terror Croc’ Deinosuchus! These’re from South Carolina, about 80 million years ago, now at the Science Museum of Minnesota, incl. osteoderms (armor plates), & parts of 2 vertebrae from this croc that reached up to 35 feet long!
October 11, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Recently the #paleontology team from the Science Museum of Minnesota + Hill Annex Paleontology Project visited the Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History in Blue Earth, #Minnesota and made the local news! Check it out!

www.faribaultcountyregister.com/news/local-n...
Blue Earth Museum has some special guests
The Southern Minnesota Museum of Natural History in Blue Earth, often called the Dinosaur Museum, had some very special guests come and visit recently. It was a group of professional and amateur paleo...
www.faribaultcountyregister.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! This past weekend the paleo team from the Science Museum of Minnesota brought a bunch of fun #fossils to the annual show of the #Minnesota Mineral Club. We had fun talking #dinosaurs 🦕, #crocodiles 🐊, Giant #Beavers 🦫 (the new state fossil!) and sooo much more!
October 3, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! We had an amazing #CroctoberFest this past Saturday at @badweatherbrew.bsky.social ! We brought a LOT of #crocodile #fossils from the Science Museum of Minnesota, I gave 2 talks + there were live crocodilians. Absolutely 10/10! 🐊🍻🐊
September 26, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! Meet Paludirex, a BIG #crocodile from #Australia, one of many crocs coming from the Science Museum of Minnesota to @badweatherbrew.bsky.social for #CroctoberFest tomorrow (Sat, Sept 20)! We’ll be there 12-5pm with sooo much + I’m giving two talks, come raise a glass with us! 🐊🍺🐊
September 19, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! CroctoberFest is just 8 days away at @badweatherbrew.bsky.social Come see this awesome jaw of Gryposuchus, an extinct croc from South America about 15 million years ago, and SO much from the Science Museum of #Minnesota on Saturday, Sept 20 (12-5pm)! 🐊🍻🐊
September 12, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! We are just 15 days away from #Croctoberfest, a collab with the Science Museum of Minnesota and @badweatherbrew.bsky.social Diplocynodon darwini here is just one of many crocs that’ll be out Sept 20 for the big day! You gotta see this 48-ish million-yr-old croc from Germany! 🐊🍺🐊
September 5, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! Yesterday we were at the Minnesota State Fair from the Science Museum of Minnesota with a bunch of fun stuff including an actual Triceratops humerus. Thanks to @twincitiespbs.bsky.social for hosting us for the day!
August 29, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Bonus #FossilFriday! We went out today looking for #fossils from the Time of the Dinosaurs. We found some #shark vertebrae & a #crocodile tooth! Part of the science we do at the Science Museum of #Minnesota!
🦈🐊
August 22, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! This week the paleo team from the Science Museum of #Minnesota was at Dino Days at Union Depot (down the road in St Paul) Such a great turnout, we were slammed the whole time. Happy to talk #dinosaurs with the next generation! 🦖🦕
August 22, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Happy #FossilFriday! Curious about these #fossils and what’s in the boxes? Come find out this Wednesday when the paleo team from the Science Museum of Minnesota will be at Dino Days at Union Depot, St Paul (Aug 20, 10am-12pm). It’ll be a roaring good time!
#paleontology #fossil #dinosaur
August 15, 2025 at 7:50 PM