Latest news with #PalaeontologiaElectronica
CBC
3 days ago
- General
- CBC
Dinos, meet drones: How new technology could reshape the fossil record
A new study is challenging a long-standing method of dating dinosaur fossils in Alberta's Dinosaur Provincial Park — using drone technology. Previously, one of the methods paleontologists have used to date fossils in the UNESCO World Heritage Site is by measuring how high or low skeletons were found above a distinct boundary where two major rock layers meet. That boundary serves as a time stamp that fossils are dated in relation to. But this method gives only a rough age estimate, according to Alexandre Demers-Potvin, the study's lead author and PhD student at McGill University's Redpath Museum. He and his team used drones to capture over 1,000 high-resolution images of a section of the park and recreated it as a 3D model. The findings, published in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica, show that the boundary used to date fossils in the park actually fluctuates in elevation by as much as 12 metres in relatively short distances. That means the reference point itself varies and could be throwing off the estimated ages of fossils measured against it. The drone method, however, brings a new level of precision to fossil dating in the park. "This is easily one of the studies of which I'm proudest," said Demers-Potvin. "It feels great because this is the kind of work that takes years to complete," he said, citing the collaborative effort between researchers and students who contributed to the study. He said drone-assisted 3D modelling "might be a promising way to better understand which dinosaur fossils are actually older than others in that part of Alberta." "If you're able to take a step back by looking at a larger area from the air, it's easier to notice those small differences." Taking to the sky In 2018, Demers-Potvin began exploring a key fossil site in the park called "Bonebed 190," alongside a crew of McGill's vertebrate paleontology field course researchers. This particular section proved to have a rich biodiversity and high preservation quality of fossils, which sparked a long-term project to further research the area. Demers-Potvin and his team introduced drones to the mix in 2021, taking pictures from above, while a ground team placed down markers using a GPS in order to better geolocate the final 3D rendering. Using a technique called structure-from-motion photogrammetry, they stitched the photos together to construct a detailed 3D model of the terrain. "The quality of the images of that model enabled us to essentially split all those hills into overlying rock layers … which means that we essentially split this whole section [into] different time zones, and this is something that hasn't been done very often for that kind of rock outcrop before," Demers-Potvin explained. The researchers say this application of 3D modelling may be a more reliable tool to date fossils, correcting previous estimates and filling in the gaps that exist in the current timeline. Drones help piece together more accurate fossil record Emily Bamforth, a paleontologist and curator at the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum in northwestern Alberta, said drone use is becoming increasingly common in her field. She is not affiliated with the study but said McGill's research is important to understanding the fossil record with accuracy and placing fossils in both a spatial and temporal context. "In the last two decades, there has … been a shift in dinosaur paleontology away from isolated specimens and towards understanding the broader environments and ecosystems in which these animals lived and how they changed over time," she said. "In this, the stratigraphic context in which a fossil is found is critical, to the point that where a fossil is found is as important as the fossil itself." Although Dinosaur Provincial Park is a well-researched site, Demers-Potvin hopes to continue refining what they already know with drone technology — potentially gaining more insight into the biodiversity of an ancient world. "I think we're getting away from that older method [of dating], and I think now we're just filling the gaps between one data point and another data point and that entire stack of sedimentary rock layers that you can find in the badlands," Demers-Potvin said. "This is only the first step as part of a much bigger project where we hope to cover the entire park."
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Fossilized tracks trace ancient animal behaviors in Oregon
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. About 50 million years ago, a small bird waded along a lakeshore in what today is central Oregon. A worm wriggled at its feet. The bird appeared to probe the silty earth with its beak, once, twice, three times, looking for food. On the fourth try, the bird may have found something. Or perhaps it missed again and moved on. This glimpse into prehistory is possible thanks to two tiny fossil footprints and the dogged work of an undergraduate intern at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument with a particular interest in ancient tracks, known as trace fossils. 'Trace fossils definitely do tell stories,' said Conner Bennett, lead author of a study describing the find and three others that was published in February in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica. 'We don't have the body of this bird. It's more just like we're left with its actions, its behaviors. It's like trying to study ghosts.' Trace fossils can fill in gaps in the fossil record, said Dr. Anthony Martin, professor of practice in the department of environmental sciences at Emory University in Atlanta. 'This paper has tracks that are definitely from a bird of some sort, and then tracks that are definitely from a lizard,' said Martin, who researches modern and fossil traces and was not involved in the research. 'So those are showing that those animals actually were there, even though there's not a single bone or feather or any other bodily evidence of those two types of animals being there.' The science of trace fossils isn't as 'sexy' as studying bones, teeth and other physical remains, Bennett said. Fossilized tracks don't get as much attention. That's part of the reason he got the chance to undertake this research in the first place. Bennett, now a graduate student in the department of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, applied for a summer internship at John Day in 2022. The national monument holds a rich paleontological record from the Eocene Epoch — part of the age of mammals — which lasted from about 56 million to 34 million years ago. Bennett combed through the park's online catalog of finds and came across several animal track impressions that had been found decades ago but never studied. He'd previously worked with 3D modeling software to describe dinosaur tracks and endeavored to give the unidentified animal tracks the same treatment. The analysis could help researchers form a better understanding of the prehistoric ecosystems of Oregon. Bennett said he hopes his findings will inspire other researchers to look for trace clues they may have previously overlooked. 'I'm sure it's going to happen soon where people are like, 'Oh, it's really interesting to learn about fossil tracks. Let's pull this stuff out of our archives and start looking at it.' While interning at John Day, Bennett took hundreds of overlapping photos of four sets of fossilized tracks, each only centimeters in size. He fed the pictures into the modeling software, which created 3D representations that could be blown up, zoomed in on and scrutinized in greater detail than the fossils. In one, there were tracks that reminded him of a small shorebird, such as a plover. There aren't bird fossils in John Day, he explained — the bones are fragile and hollow and don't hold up well. But it would make sense that there would be such birds near the lake that once covered the area where the tracks were excavated. There were also small, round indentations near the tracks. At first, Bennett and study coauthor Dr. Nicholas A. Famoso — the head paleontologist and museum curator at John Day — thought they could be caused by raindrops, which can leave impressions in the fine grains of shale and clay the tracks were found in. But there are usually many raindrop impressions, and here there were only a few, and only near the footprints. The researchers wondered whether the bird had made them with its beak. Bennett went online and quickly turned up a video of modern plovers pecking into the ground, hunting for food. The connection seemed clear to the research team. Not only did the trace fossil confirm the previously unproved existence of birds in the area tens of millions of years ago, but it also could paint a picture of how the birds foraged in the shallow water — much the way they do today. And to complete the picture, the fossil contained evidence of what the bird was feeding on or trying to feed on: the squiggly trail of a worm on the move. 'We can track a feeding behavior over 50 million years. That's pretty cool,' Bennett said. Dr. Danielle Fraser, head of paleobiology at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, who was not involved in this study, expressed a similar sentiment. 'This is a really cool example of a behavior that would otherwise not be apparent,' she said. Martin suggested an alternative interpretation: that the divots could have been made by water droplets falling off the bird's body as it came out of the water. 'I've seen that a lot on the Georgia coast,' he noted. A separate specimen showed three footprints made up of five thin, splayed digits and clawlike impressions, suggesting some small lizard once darted along the lakeshore. There were even marks showing where the lizard dragged its feet. The researchers found this exciting because there are few examples of tracks from small lizards in North America in this period, and no body fossils have been unearthed at John Day. 'Too few paleontologists are trained in the recognition and interpretation of trace fossils and so a lot of this information is overlooked,' said study coauthor Dr. Daniel I. Hembree, professor and director of undergraduate geology studies in the University of Tennessee department where Bennett is studying. The traces are the only evidence of small lizards' existence at John Day during the Eocene. 'The fossils of the bird and lizard are the first evidence of those groups of animals from that period of time in our fossil record,' Famoso said. They 'help to paint a more complete picture of what life was like' during the Eocene. Bennett also analyzed two other trace fossils — from mammals from a more recent time period. One showed prints of a three-toed ungulate, possibly a rhinoceros or ancient tapir. The other: the 29 million-year-old tracks from what the researchers believe to be some sort of saber-toothed cat. The absence of claw marks suggested that the animal's claws were retractable, like those of modern cats. And the gait appears similar, too, Martin said. The way the rear paw print only partially overlaps the front means the animal may have been walking at a normal pace. 'This is the kind of understep gait that I see in my cats at home,' he said. 'I get kind of excited when I see something that looks so familiar.' Famoso noted that both sets of prints were found in an ash layer, which means the animals walked across an ash-laden landscape after a volcanic eruption. 'Sometimes fossils are stored in collections until new technologies or methods are developed that can better study them,' he added. 'These fossils were collected and added to collections between 1979 and 1987, but it took until 2022 for us to get a good study out to describe the specimens.' Amanda Schupak is a science and health journalist in New York City.
CNN
25-04-2025
- Science
- CNN
Fossil footprints describe a day in the life of a 50 million-year-old shorebird
About 50 million years ago, a small bird waded along a lakeshore in what today is central Oregon. A worm wriggled at its feet. The bird appeared to probe the silty earth with its beak, once, twice, three times, looking for food. On the fourth try, the bird may have found something. Or perhaps it missed again and moved on. This glimpse into prehistory is possible thanks to two tiny fossil footprints and the dogged work of an undergraduate intern at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument with a particular interest in ancient tracks, known as trace fossils. 'Trace fossils definitely do tell stories,' said Conner Bennett, lead author of a study describing the find and three others that was published in February in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica. 'We don't have the body of this bird. It's more just like we're left with its actions, its behaviors. It's like trying to study ghosts.' Trace fossils can fill in gaps in the fossil record, said Dr. Anthony Martin, professor of practice in the department of environmental sciences at Emory University in Atlanta. 'This paper has tracks that are definitely from a bird of some sort, and then tracks that are definitely from a lizard,' said Martin, who researches modern and fossil traces and was not involved in the research. 'So those are showing that those animals actually were there, even though there's not a single bone or feather or any other bodily evidence of those two types of animals being there.' The science of trace fossils isn't as 'sexy' as studying bones, teeth and other physical remains, Bennett said. Fossilized tracks don't get as much attention. That's part of the reason he got the chance to undertake this research in the first place. Bennett, now a graduate student in the department of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, applied for a summer internship at John Day in 2022. The national monument holds a rich paleontological record from the Eocene Epoch — part of the age of mammals — which lasted from about 56 million to 34 million years ago. Bennett combed through the park's online catalog of finds and came across several animal track impressions that had been found decades ago but never studied. He'd previously worked with 3D modeling software to describe dinosaur tracks and endeavored to give the unidentified animal tracks the same treatment. The analysis could help researchers form a better understanding of the prehistoric ecosystems of Oregon. Bennett said he hopes his findings will inspire other researchers to look for trace clues they may have previously overlooked. 'I'm sure it's going to happen soon where people are like, 'Oh, it's really interesting to learn about fossil tracks. Let's pull this stuff out of our archives and start looking at it.' While interning at John Day, Bennett took hundreds of overlapping photos of four sets of fossilized tracks, each only centimeters in size. He fed the pictures into the modeling software, which created 3D representations that could be blown up, zoomed in on and scrutinized in greater detail than the fossils. In one, there were tracks that reminded him of a small shorebird, such as a plover. There aren't bird fossils in John Day, he explained — the bones are fragile and hollow and don't hold up well. But it would make sense that there would be such birds near the lake that once covered the area where the tracks were excavated. There were also small, round indentations near the tracks. At first, Bennett and study coauthor Dr. Nicholas A. Famoso — the head paleontologist and museum curator at John Day — thought they could be caused by raindrops, which can leave impressions in the fine grains of shale and clay the tracks were found in. But there are usually many raindrop impressions, and here there were only a few, and only near the footprints. The researchers wondered whether the bird had made them with its beak. Bennett went online and quickly turned up a video of modern plovers pecking into the ground, hunting for food. The connection seemed clear to the research team. Not only did the trace fossil confirm the previously unproved existence of birds in the area tens of millions of years ago, but it also could paint a picture of how the birds foraged in the shallow water — much the way they do today. And to complete the picture, the fossil contained evidence of what the bird was feeding on or trying to feed on: the squiggly trail of a worm on the move. 'We can track a feeding behavior over 50 million years. That's pretty cool,' Bennett said. Dr. Danielle Fraser, head of paleobiology at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, who was not involved in this study, expressed a similar sentiment. 'This is a really cool example of a behavior that would otherwise not be apparent,' she said. Martin suggested an alternative interpretation: that the divots could have been made by water droplets falling off the bird's body as it came out of the water. 'I've seen that a lot on the Georgia coast,' he noted. A separate specimen showed three footprints made up of five thin, splayed digits and clawlike impressions, suggesting some small lizard once darted along the lakeshore. There were even marks showing where the lizard dragged its feet. The researchers found this exciting because there are few examples of tracks from small lizards in North America in this period, and no body fossils have been unearthed at John Day. 'Too few paleontologists are trained in the recognition and interpretation of trace fossils and so a lot of this information is overlooked,' said study coauthor Dr. Daniel I. Hembree, professor and director of undergraduate geology studies in the University of Tennessee department where Bennett is studying. The traces are the only evidence of small lizards' existence at John Day during the Eocene. 'The fossils of the bird and lizard are the first evidence of those groups of animals from that period of time in our fossil record,' Famoso said. They 'help to paint a more complete picture of what life was like' during the Eocene. Bennett also analyzed two other trace fossils — from mammals from a more recent time period. One showed prints of a three-toed ungulate, possibly a rhinoceros or ancient tapir. The other: the 29 million-year-old tracks from what the researchers believe to be some sort of saber-toothed cat. The absence of claw marks suggested that the animal's claws were retractable, like those of modern cats. And the gait appears similar, too, Martin said. The way the rear paw print only partially overlaps the front means the animal may have been walking at a normal pace. 'This is the kind of understep gait that I see in my cats at home,' he said. 'I get kind of excited when I see something that looks so familiar.' Famoso noted that both sets of prints were found in an ash layer, which means the animals walked across an ash-laden landscape after a volcanic eruption. 'Sometimes fossils are stored in collections until new technologies or methods are developed that can better study them,' he added. 'These fossils were collected and added to collections between 1979 and 1987, but it took until 2022 for us to get a good study out to describe the specimens.'
CNN
25-04-2025
- Science
- CNN
Fossil footprints describe a day in the life of a 50 million-year-old shorebird
About 50 million years ago, a small bird waded along a lakeshore in what today is central Oregon. A worm wriggled at its feet. The bird appeared to probe the silty earth with its beak, once, twice, three times, looking for food. On the fourth try, the bird may have found something. Or perhaps it missed again and moved on. This glimpse into prehistory is possible thanks to two tiny fossil footprints and the dogged work of an undergraduate intern at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument with a particular interest in ancient tracks, known as trace fossils. 'Trace fossils definitely do tell stories,' said Conner Bennett, lead author of a study describing the find and three others that was published in February in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica. 'We don't have the body of this bird. It's more just like we're left with its actions, its behaviors. It's like trying to study ghosts.' Trace fossils can fill in gaps in the fossil record, said Dr. Anthony Martin, professor of practice in the department of environmental sciences at Emory University in Atlanta. 'This paper has tracks that are definitely from a bird of some sort, and then tracks that are definitely from a lizard,' said Martin, who researches modern and fossil traces and was not involved in the research. 'So those are showing that those animals actually were there, even though there's not a single bone or feather or any other bodily evidence of those two types of animals being there.' The science of trace fossils isn't as 'sexy' as studying bones, teeth and other physical remains, Bennett said. Fossilized tracks don't get as much attention. That's part of the reason he got the chance to undertake this research in the first place. Bennett, now a graduate student in the department of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, applied for a summer internship at John Day in 2022. The national monument holds a rich paleontological record from the Eocene Epoch — part of the age of mammals — which lasted from about 56 million to 34 million years ago. Bennett combed through the park's online catalog of finds and came across several animal track impressions that had been found decades ago but never studied. He'd previously worked with 3D modeling software to describe dinosaur tracks and endeavored to give the unidentified animal tracks the same treatment. The analysis could help researchers form a better understanding of the prehistoric ecosystems of Oregon. Bennett said he hopes his findings will inspire other researchers to look for trace clues they may have previously overlooked. 'I'm sure it's going to happen soon where people are like, 'Oh, it's really interesting to learn about fossil tracks. Let's pull this stuff out of our archives and start looking at it.' While interning at John Day, Bennett took hundreds of overlapping photos of four sets of fossilized tracks, each only centimeters in size. He fed the pictures into the modeling software, which created 3D representations that could be blown up, zoomed in on and scrutinized in greater detail than the fossils. In one, there were tracks that reminded him of a small shorebird, such as a plover. There aren't bird fossils in John Day, he explained — the bones are fragile and hollow and don't hold up well. But it would make sense that there would be such birds near the lake that once covered the area where the tracks were excavated. There were also small, round indentations near the tracks. At first, Bennett and study coauthor Dr. Nicholas A. Famoso — the head paleontologist and museum curator at John Day — thought they could be caused by raindrops, which can leave impressions in the fine grains of shale and clay the tracks were found in. But there are usually many raindrop impressions, and here there were only a few, and only near the footprints. The researchers wondered whether the bird had made them with its beak. Bennett went online and quickly turned up a video of modern plovers pecking into the ground, hunting for food. The connection seemed clear to the research team. Not only did the trace fossil confirm the previously unproved existence of birds in the area tens of millions of years ago, but it also could paint a picture of how the birds foraged in the shallow water — much the way they do today. And to complete the picture, the fossil contained evidence of what the bird was feeding on or trying to feed on: the squiggly trail of a worm on the move. 'We can track a feeding behavior over 50 million years. That's pretty cool,' Bennett said. Dr. Danielle Fraser, head of paleobiology at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, who was not involved in this study, expressed a similar sentiment. 'This is a really cool example of a behavior that would otherwise not be apparent,' she said. Martin suggested an alternative interpretation: that the divots could have been made by water droplets falling off the bird's body as it came out of the water. 'I've seen that a lot on the Georgia coast,' he noted. A separate specimen showed three footprints made up of five thin, splayed digits and clawlike impressions, suggesting some small lizard once darted along the lakeshore. There were even marks showing where the lizard dragged its feet. The researchers found this exciting because there are few examples of tracks from small lizards in North America in this period, and no body fossils have been unearthed at John Day. 'Too few paleontologists are trained in the recognition and interpretation of trace fossils and so a lot of this information is overlooked,' said study coauthor Dr. Daniel I. Hembree, professor and director of undergraduate geology studies in the University of Tennessee department where Bennett is studying. The traces are the only evidence of small lizards' existence at John Day during the Eocene. 'The fossils of the bird and lizard are the first evidence of those groups of animals from that period of time in our fossil record,' Famoso said. They 'help to paint a more complete picture of what life was like' during the Eocene. Bennett also analyzed two other trace fossils — from mammals from a more recent time period. One showed prints of a three-toed ungulate, possibly a rhinoceros or ancient tapir. The other: the 29 million-year-old tracks from what the researchers believe to be some sort of saber-toothed cat. The absence of claw marks suggested that the animal's claws were retractable, like those of modern cats. And the gait appears similar, too, Martin said. The way the rear paw print only partially overlaps the front means the animal may have been walking at a normal pace. 'This is the kind of understep gait that I see in my cats at home,' he said. 'I get kind of excited when I see something that looks so familiar.' Famoso noted that both sets of prints were found in an ash layer, which means the animals walked across an ash-laden landscape after a volcanic eruption. 'Sometimes fossils are stored in collections until new technologies or methods are developed that can better study them,' he added. 'These fossils were collected and added to collections between 1979 and 1987, but it took until 2022 for us to get a good study out to describe the specimens.'
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
More T. rex fossils being sold to private collectors: Study
(NewsNation) — More Tyrannosaurus rex fossils are landing in the hands of wealthy private collectors through the luxury auction market, which is affecting how many of the treasured species are being made available for scientific research. A study that was recently published in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica revealed that more T. rex fossils are now held by private individuals than by public museums or trusts. The study, conducted by Thomas Carr, a leading paleontologist at Carthage College in Wisconsin, found that 71 T. rex specimens, including 14 juveniles, are in the possession of private collectors. Compared to this, 61 of the fossils are held in public trusts. The study also found that only 11% of the commercially discovered T. rex fossils actually end up in museums. Missing veterinarian's body found in Nevada's Lake Mead Meanwhile, private buyers who obtain scientifically valuable fossils have been able to gain possession of more specimens since 1992 than public museums and other institutions have been able to in nearly 150 years. In his study, Carr determined that the total of 71 specimens currently in public hands is likely being undercounted due to the 'secretive nature' of the private market for the fossils, reported. 'Vertebrate paleontology is at a point in history where it is faced with a society that considers it acceptable to sell rare nonrenewable fossil resources as luxury items,' Carr wrote in the scientific study. The 14 juvenile specimens carry the heaviest scientific costs, Carr determined, because 'the early growth stages of the T. rex are bedeviled by a poor fossil record,' the study said. In 2020, a 67 million-year-old T. rex specimen nicknamed 'Stan' shattered an auction sales record after it fetched nearly $32 million at an auction at Christie's New York. The previous record for the priciest fossil was $8.36 million in 1997. That sale involved a T. rex fossil known as 'Sue,' which was sold to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Carr has called the shift to the T. rex fossils landing in private collections 'dispiriting and exasperating,' according to a statement provided to Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
