r/Paleontology

All i got is sticks, hot glue, foam, and boxes. And a cap. oh and the hair is paper.

I will post better photos tonight! I found this on the Newport Oregon beach this weekend and I would love to learn anything about it, especially about the what looks to be soft tissue agatized? Would love to hear what people have to say! Haven't had the time to research and not sure how to properly care for it, I've done very amateur probably damaging clean up so far lol would love care tips! Thanks so much!

tyrannosaurus and triceratops is the most famous predator prey matchup in history, we all remember when we were kids smashing our t rex and triceratops toys against each other and making them fight. but this matchup raises an interesting question. how did they start out? how did the relationship between tyrannosauroids and ceratopsians progress and change overtime? thats the purpose of this post. this is an abridged history of the relationship of predator and prey between tyrannosauroids and ceratopsians.

ive taken examplars of those 2 families from across their evolutionary history and display how they have changed throughout the milennia.

the journey begins in china some 160 million years ago in the shishugou formation. its the beginning of the late jurassic and the beginning of these lineages. Guanlong is small tyrannosauroid,notable for the crests on its head. Yinlong is among the most basal of ceratopsians and is a 1m long herbivore.

next we are still in china, 125 million years ago in yixian formation. ceratopsians are still small herbivores,as exemplified by the 2 m long psitaccosaurus. its named for its parrot like beak. But the tyrannosauroids have changed,yutyrannus is an 8m apex predator.

next we are in wyoming 110 million years ago. in north america, tyrannosauroids are still small predators. aquilops is a 1m long small herbivore.

fast forward 92 million years ago. in uzbekistan turanoceratops is still relatively small,only around 2 m in length. but it now has the horns and frill the family is famous for. timurlengia was a midsized predator around 4m or more in length. but in the bissekty formation,carcharodontosaurs and dromaeosaurs are the apex predators. in new mexico,zuniceratops was a small animal but had the horns and frill. suskityrannus was likely the largest predator in its ecosystem.

fast forward to the late campanian, and tyrannosaurids and ceratopsids as we know them finally evolved. in china 75 million years ago,the massive zhuchengtyrannus lived alongside sinoceratops. In north america,places like alberta canada and utah in the USA had a great variety of tyrannosaurids and ceratopsids.

now at 66 million years ago in north america,triceratops and tyrannosaurus themselves have evolved.

Since now Hincul Formation + and Cenderlos Formation being dated to Albian instead of Cenomanian, we now know there are not many carchs in Cenomanian as we thought. Siats in NA 's classification is still unclear, Europe was dominated by Abelisaurids already, AustraloAntarctica ruled by Megaraptorans, and Bajo Barreal Formation is the only clear formation in Patagonia that dates back in Cenomanian, but no Carchs have been found yet and already dominated by Megaraptorans and Ableisaurids that were larger.

The only Carchs that we know of lived in Cenomanian were

Carcharodontosauridae indet. I. Alcantara Formation, potentially coexist with Oxalaia.

Carcharodontosaurus in WA and Tameryraptor in EA.

And Ulugebgsaurus in some parts of Asia.

For the people who don't know this line is from the 12th grade biology ncert which over a million students use for an examination called NEET through which u get a medical college but the thing that disturbs me is that general facts like this and many other like mixing up btw 2 toed sloth and a sloth bear , a vulture and a bald eagle and outdated scientific names. So couldn't find a better place to tell ppl than reddit.

Ps the fact is wrong but the book is making me question myself

My ceratogaulus skull again, with painting finished!

I feel like it looks kinda fake

The most well-known characteristic of megaraptorans is the claw on the first digit of the hand; however, due to the nature of their preservation, very few specimens retain them specifically megaraptor, australovenator, fukuiraptorvand UNPSJB-PV 944–958 (which consists of two indeterminate specimens (I am not counting isolated claws)

Website: https://www.palaeocast.com/cambrian-fecal-revolution/

The Cambrian Explosion is one of the most significant events in evolutionary history. Classically, it describes the sudden appearance of complex fossils (including all major animal groups) at the beginning of the Cambrian Period. Before then it was thought that only relatively simple single-celled or multicellular life existed. We now understand this event to be a lot more nuanced, recognising many of the geological biases at play and having discovered complex fossils in the earlier Ediacaran Period. Many researchers therefore consider the term 'Cambrian Radiation' to be a better representation of the event.

Whether an explosion or a radiation, determining the events of the Ediacaran and Early Cambrian and their causes is a constant area of palaeontological research. Numerous drivers behind the event have been hypothesised ranging from oxygen availability and nutrient cycling to an arms race between predators and prey. It is likely that no single factor will be identified as an underlying cause, but the relative extent to which each contributed to the event will be debated for many years to come.

In this interview, we are joined by Dr Julien Kimmig, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, Germany, who recently co-authored a study on the coprolites of the Early Cambrian, the evolution of guts, and the influence the 'Cambrain Fecal Revolution' may have had on the wider Cambrian Radiation.

Image: Phosphatized microscopic fecal pellets from the Gaotai Formation (Miaolingian, Wuliuan) Guizhou, China.

This summer we did a road trip to Chicago to do the whole tourist thing.

I told everyone one of my biggest priorities was to spend at least part of a day at the Field Museum. I knew it was one of the more prestigious and well known Natural History museums in the world. But I didn't know very much about it and didn't really research it before going.

We made our way to the fossil exhibits first. I was enjoying everything and soaking it all in.

And then it hit: I stumbled across the exhibit with the Archaeopteryx fossil. I had read about it for years. I knew there weren't very many known fossils in museums. I had zero clue they had an Archaeopteryx. When I walked around the corner and saw it, I was stunned. Speechless. There was a tour guide telling a group of people about it. I stood off to the side, waiting. Eventually she finished, and they all moved on.

I walked over to it, alone, and just stared at it. I soaked it in. Looked at it closely. Absorbed all of the details. I even cried a little bit, just overwhelmed with emotions. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I felt so lucky standing there, staring at it.

Later my wife told me her sister was asking "is he okay? How long is he going to stand there looking at it?" She said she didn't really know. So they went ahead without me.

I didn't know any of the back story of how the fossil ended up in the Field Museum. So after I got home, I spent hours reading the whole story. It was pretty fascinating. Didn't even sound real.

One of the most profound science experiences of my life. I wish I had more time to stare at it. Maybe some day I'll make it back to Chicago again.

Oh and of course we spent a lot of time in the room with Sue.