There was nothing AUKward about our volunteer @aukwardlucia.bsky.social's thesis defence today! Congratulations Lucia, you're the t-auk of the town!
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Art from Audubon's Birds of North America plate 341.
William Buckland found the site, first believing the remains to be washed there by the biblical flood but then finding evidence of hyena feeding and coprolites. Illustration by Conybeare.
William compares the hyena stomach to a “Papin’s Digester”, a pressure cooker used in the 17th-19th centuries that could melt bones!
For #FossilFriday, savor William Conybeare’s poem inspired by a hyena fossil den in Yorkshire, UK! This site, known as Kirkdale Cave, contains fossils of many Pleistocene mammals and hyenas. Art by James Mckay! 🧪
John Joly was an Irish scientist of many interests and, in 1899, he proposed the oldest age of Earth at 100my - which now we know to be 4.5by old!
The trace fossils Oldhamia capture the behaviors of ancient animals ~635-485mya! For example, these fossils demonstrate the feeding behavior of marine worm-like organisms digging for bacteria to eat under microbial mats on the sea floor.
Happy New Year and #FossilFriday! Contemplate the years before (and deep time) with John Joly’s Palaeo Poem “Oldhamia Antiqua”! 🧪Magnificent art @brigidomorpha.bsky.social
🧪forgot to add this for the science feed!
Looking for a Christmas poem that inspires hope and joy? Look no further than our blog! "'Twas the Eve of the Cretaceous" by Leo J. Hickey talks about the birth of a very special plant: the Angiosperm.
Listen to it here: www.palaeopoems.com/palaeopoems/...
Trilobite fossils are recognizable with 3 distinct body segments. They had large compound eyes, allowing them to see all changes in the world from their “fossil grave”. Timothy was a self-taught paleontologist who became the State Paleontologist of New York.
For Thanksgiving break, catch up on your Palaeo Poems with “Ode to a Trilobite” by Timothy Conrad. Trilobites were ocean-loving arthropods that lived during the Paleozoic, 541-251 mya. Thrilling art by John Meszaros! 🧪 #FossilFriday
Embracing first snow in Vermont with this PalaeoPoem about frozen mammoths! 🦣❄️🧪
Find the poem here: https://palaeopoems.com/palaeopoems/frozen-mammoths (the full poem is in “A song of geology”, published 1969).
Many mammoths have been found in ice! They are found in Siberia and in other parts of Russia and Alaska, and are especially well preserved - even containing DNA and their last meals! There is ongoing debate on how and whether mammoths should be revived through cloning.
For #FossilFriday, embrace the cold weather with John Blackie’s Palaeo Poem “Frozen Mammoths”! This ballad was inspired by the Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), an extinct relative of elephants. Woolly wonderful art by Ida Kalsta! 🧪
Two especially exciting findings were a large predatory fish, Holoptychius, and a heap of extinct armored fish, placoderms, that died together simultaneously!
This comedic poem was written in Scots in 1863 after finding a rich assemblage of fish fossils. These fish were found in the “Auld Red Stanes” or the Old Red Sandstone in the UK dating to 419-358mya.
For #FossilFriday, enjoy a fishy PalaeoPoem “Fossil Fish & Fossil Fish Addressed” by Scottish geologist and poet Robert Dick. Fin-tastic guest art by Athena! 🐠🐟🧪
John Mill wrote "The Fossil Spirit: A Boy's Dream of Geology," possibly the first children's book on geology. It included illustrations and poetry based on science from 1854. Listen to the poem and read about John Mill here: palaeopoems.com/palaeopoems/...
This frightful #FossilFriday, we want you to imagine the sinister side of prehistoric creatures. In his poem "Song of the Pterodactylus," John Mill shares cutting-edge Victorian ideas for how the pterodactyl may have lived. Artwork by @joschuaknuppe.bsky.social. 🧪
Missed our poster last year? Check it out: drive.google.com/file/d/1LgPq...
Last SVP we prompted palaeontologists to write poetry inspired by things they learned at the conference! In honour of 2023SVP and Fossil Friday, here are two of our favourites. By Emily Bamforth & Anon. 🧪 #SciArt
Lucia loves studying dead birds and how humans and climate change influence the extinction process. She also writes and reads poetry, and enjoys helping us find and share poems about paleontology!
If you’re attending, stop by her poster at 4:30-6:30pm EST tomorrow (or at the virtual meeting) to learn more about Great Auks, a large flightless seabird that went extinct in 1844 due to human over-exploitation.
This Wednesday, our PalaeoPoems volunteer Lucia Snyderman is presenting her undergraduate thesis research on the extinction of the Great Auk in the Colbert Poster Session at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference! #SVP2023
Piltdown Man influenced the study of human evolution. Learn more about this hoax and find the poem here: https://www.palaeopoems.com/palaeopoems/piltdown-story
