The geology department at the University of Leicester, where myself and countless others did our palaeontology PhDs, is at serious risk of closure
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@jordanbestwick1.bsky.social
Palaeobiologist at Universität Zurich (UZH) researching functional morphology and disparity of extinct reptiles (SNSF-funded) Mostly palaeo- and nature-related content, may post Doctor Who stuff on occasion
The geology department at the University of Leicester, where myself and countless others did our palaeontology PhDs, is at serious risk of closure
Please show your support by signing the below!
c.org/KtYyZB8dHk
A great event and a fantastic start to #2025SVP
Thanks to the presenters and organisers!
Multi-factor/two-step verification is absolute bane of my existence at the moment
You know who I am, I logged in just 10 minutes ago!
I have recently reached B1 level German classes and I now have 16 ways of saying the word 'the'
I'm struggling to have enough colours to code everything 😅
Jurassic World Rebirth is truly a film of all time
05.07.2025 08:09 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Oh wow, massive congratulations! This is a fantastic piece of work!
18.06.2025 09:45 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0News story on our sickly Plateosaurus paper here
www.news.uzh.ch/de/articles/...
Lastly, I want to thank: all our co-authors as this was a collaborative effort between palaeontologists, engineers and artists;
reviewers Joep Schaffer, Darius Nau and one anonymous reviewer and to the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology editoral team whose comments were immensely helpful
(end/n)
This work started off as Sina's Master's thesis at Zurich who did a fantastic job on the osteological description
This work was supported by my @snsf.ch postdoctoral fellowship at Zurich and will be the first of (hopefully) several more papers from my fellowship (7/n)
In 2020, the specimen was turned into a display at the Natural History Museum of Zurich, complete with the skeleton and a life-sized restoration of the animal, complete with pathology.
This restoration was done by the company 10tons www.10tons.dk
(6/n)
Previous reported cases of osteomyelitis in dinosaurs usually involves a couple of toe bones or adjacent vertebrae
So to have most of an entire right pectoral girdle infected is really unusual (and most likely painful!)
(5/n)
The scapula (left C and D) has been completely remodelled and separated while the proximal part of the humerus is also heavily reworked
We interpreted this as some form of chronic osteomyelitis/septic arthritis (infection of the bone)
(4/n)
The skeleton is an almost complete individual, missing only the skull and neck
But what was most interesting about the specimen was it's heavily infected right shoulder and upper forearm... (3/n)
The specimen was discovered in 2018 from the Klettgau Formation in northern Switzerland (Late Triassic) and was excellently excavated and brought to Zurich by Ursina Bachman and Ben Pabst, pictured (2/n)
11.06.2025 15:08 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0🚨New paper alert! 🚨
We describe a Plateosaurus skeleton 🦕 from Frick, northern Switzerland, suffering from a VERY diseased forearm!
Open Access: sjpp.springeropen.com/articles/10.... (1/n)
We only looked at archosauromorphs for this study but it would be good to expand this to other modern and extinct groups, such as mammals
I'm guessing maybe something like a bowhead whale might be most head? Or perhaps a swordfish if you included all the sword
Today is the 3 year anniversary of one my favourite papers; skull-body size ratios of archosauromorphs, including 🦕 🐊 🦖 and more, so I am shamelessly plugging it again
Full OA access here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Continuing looking into bird colouration and I cannot get enough of the colours of the resplendent quetzal
Such a fantastic looking bird
Credit: Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock
Researching bird colouring for palaeoart research and I google hoatzins
This abomination was one of the top results #AIslop
Sharing a meme I made this week for my 🐢 loving partner
Such a derpy face 😂
Good start to the day with a 🦕 paper accepted!
Below is a cryptic sneak peek, stay tuned for more!
Happy Easter everyone!
20.04.2025 09:44 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Our OA article on bite forces of Saurosuchus* with @palaeostephan.bsky.social and @richardjbutler.bsky.social (lead, Molly Fawcett) is apparently a #TopViewedArticle in The Anatomical Record
*great-uncle (x20) of🐊, twice-removed
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
That worked! Thanks so much, you've gotten yourself a new follower! 😊
26.03.2025 13:24 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0R help needed!
Failing to timescale my tree.tre using an FAD and LAD .csv
I get the classic "Taxon names for tree and ages do not match" error message
However, using "setdiff(names(tree),rownames(Ages))" gives the following:
[1] "edge" "Nnode" "tip.label"
What am I doing wrong?
Such a cool study! Palaeontology meets Star Wars, what's not to love?
10.03.2025 09:46 — 👍 11 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0Science collective; does anyone have a PDF of the following?
Haughton, S.H. (1924) On reptilian remains from the Karroo Beds of East Africa. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 80, 1-11
Thanks in advance!
Congrats Suresh! 🥳
04.03.2025 14:44 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Received an angry letter from the Student Loans Company today because I am a whole £0.01 (!) behind on my loan repayments... 😅
26.02.2025 10:47 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0A man sitting on the stony matrix surrounding a dinosaur skeleton, about to measure bones, another standing outside the glassy wall, ready to take notes
A bit of impromptu 'fieldwork' on our dear Plateosaurus today - Ben Pabst & @jordanbestwick1.bsky.social enjoying the Monday quiet in our museum 💚🦕
24.02.2025 17:47 — 👍 14 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1