The Western Science Center's alligator lizard (Elgaria multicarinata) moved into its new habitat earlier this week, beside our display of Pleistocene microvertebrate fossils from Diamond Valley Lake. As I mentioned last week, these lizards are native to the area, and have been for a long time. We actually
Pest control is a big deal for museums, as they can severely damage certain types of collections. But despite our best efforts wildlife will occasionally make its way into the museum, sometimes even including small vertebrates. Generally we release these back into the wild, but we do have a small
Some years ago I was making numerous trips to museums all over California documenting mastodon remains across the state, a project that eventually led to the description of the Pacific mastodon (Mammut pacificus). The four largest mastodon collections in the state are at the Western Science Center (where I work)
Why is Kentucky so great for bourbon production? A big part of the story involves geology, and what was happening 450 million years ago.
I learned a thing about lizard vertebrae.
Even with only a few pieces of the skeleton, we can infer quite a lot about a mastodon that died in the Louisiana swamp thousands of years ago.
In modern, well-run excavations, when a fossil skeleton is discovered the goal isn’t just to rip the skeleton out of the ground. Lots of contextual data is also collected, including the nature of the sediment containing the skeleton as well as any associated bones, fossil plants, pollen and other
Vertebrates have a long history of armor-plating themselves with bones embedded in the skin. These are called osteoderms - literally "bone skin" (but it sounds so much cooler in Greek). While many vertebrate groups have osteoderms, they aren't something mammals have really adopted, with the exception
*Author's note: this is an edited republication of a post I originally wrote for my old blog, "Updates from the Paleontology Lab", on 4 March 2011. A question that I’m frequently asked by museum visitors (especially parents with young children) – why did I become a
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Mastodons have been known to western scientists for more than 250 years, and were identified in Louisiana as early as 1804. But in spite of the long history of mastodon research, they still have lots of surprises for us.
I completed my PhD at Louisiana State University in 1998, working under the guidance of Dr. Judith Schiebout. When I applied to LSU, Judy was mostly known for her work on the early Cenozoic mammals at Big Bend National Park in Texas. This was pretty far from the Miocene whales