Fossil Fanatic Blog

Hell Creek is a mountainous rock formation that could easily be described as a 'palaeontologist's dream backyard'.  The region is one of the most fossil-rich locations in the world!  Scientists have been discovering new dinosaur specimens here since its first formal description by Barnum Brown in 1907. Today, ancient layers of freshwater clay, mudstone and sandstone span parts of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Index map of the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation along Ft. Peck Lake in northeastern Montana, USA.   Picture credit: Horner et al. (2011). Although the formation is now dry and barren, it was once a thriving coastal floodplain riddled with swamps, lush forests, river systems and lakes.  Some of the most iconic ancient creatures called this place home during the Maastrichtian epoch, roughly 66-67 million years ago.  Dinosaurs that roamed these plains include the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and the giant sea tu...

Anyone with even a passing interest in prehistoric animals will surely have, at some point in their life, either purchased or been given a small bag full of miniature curiosities. Coming in a wide array of colours, teeth showing menacingly, limbs tense seemingly ready to spring into action at any moment, this can only be a bag full of the most famous animals ever to walk the Earth. Except, what if it isn’t? What if there are some outliers amongst the diversity of teeth, claws, long necks, and tank-like armour? The truth is that in almost of all these bags, it was highly likely you would come across some prehistoric wonders not quite making it into the dinosaur threshold. This doesn’t make them any less impressive and their worlds any easier to comprehend. Still, surely, we deserve some accuracy when buying something even if they are toys designed to amaze young minds, and, in fairness that is something they certainly do. So, what was and was not a dinosaur? Let us take our own step b...

We have a busy weekend ahead! We will be attending Locking Castle Church's Spring Market this coming Saturday, an event not to be missed!  Jessica Brown has done a brilliant job organising the market and had this to say: "There will be 27 stalls selling a variety of products including fused glass, preserves, 3D printing, and books.   1st Ashcombe Scout Group will be catering and providing refreshments along with running a Tombola proceeds of both will be raising funds for their group. It will be a market for the whole family to enjoy".  On Sunday, we're at Hutton Maker's Market for the first time and we will also be attending the following month too so keep an eye out for us there as well! 

What’s in a name? Velociraptor mongoliensis – Fast robber from Mongolia Mention the name Velociraptor and depending on your age one of two well-known movie trilogies immediately come to mind. Those who are older will picture snarling Velociraptors staring through kitchen windows and learning how to unlock doors, younger generations will think of packs of raptors charging through forests accompanying motorbikes. In contrast to the original movies, these more recent additions show them as protagonists rather than antagonists. In both cases the difference between fiction and reality is large. The story of Velociraptor dates to the early 1920s when Peter Kaisen while working in the Outer Mongolian Badlands spotted signs of weathered bone emerging from a rock. This remains would ultimately be a crushed, almost complete predatory dinosaur skull and an iconic sickle claw. Image Credit: Zil-fr & Poke2001, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedi...

Welcome to the first blog post from Fossil Fanatic! Throughout these posts, we will be talking to experts, highlighting new scientific discoveries and of course, celebrating the incredible diversity of prehistoric life to soared the skies, patrolled the oceans, and ruled the land.  In today's post, we talk to  Paelontologist Megan Jacobs of Wight Coast Fossils who shares with us some invaluable insight into what it takes to work in the field, grow your knowledge, and perhaps make your own incredible discoveries! Paleontologist Megan Jacobs. Photo credit Wight Coast Fossils. Fossil Fanatic: Megan thanks very much for sharing some of your time to talk to Fossil Fanatic!  I’m sure there will be lots of budding young paleontologists eager to hear about your experiences. Before we get into that, it would be great to hear a little bit about yourself, what does your current work involve? What’s a typical day for yourself? Megan: I am currently juggling my time between running Wi...