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Canyon bat (Parastrellus hesperus) right lower jaw fragment with 3rd molar. The entire fragment is about 4 mm long, and the tooth is less than 1 mm.

Tiny fossil bats

Much of my research has focused on fossils of animals from the upper end of the size range, such as whales and mastodons. But I'm endlessly fascinated by the vast numbers of small fossils out there. Even among the vertebrates, some of the bones are tiny! Above is

By Alton Dooley 23 Apr 2025
Human skull with some of the foramina labeled, including the infraobital foramen. Source: Gray's Anatomy, via Wikipedia (public domain).

Tracing holes in bones

When trying to understand the anatomy of a bone, one of the first steps is identifying structures that are shared with the same bone from other species (the technical term is "homologous structures"). One that is quite useful to look for is holes in the bone, called foramina

By Alton Dooley 17 Apr 2025
No, they aren't dire wolves

No, they aren't dire wolves

You may have seen the mountains of hype over the last few days about Colossal Biosciences' claim that they have brought the dire wolf back from extinction. I am, to put it mildly, skeptical. That's not to say there isn't some impressive science going on.

By Alton Dooley 10 Apr 2025
Bearded scientist holding a dental pick under a desk lamp, cleaning a fossil ground sloth jaw.

Welcome to Paleontology (and more)

I'm a scientist, and have been one my entire adult life (and for most of my childhood). I'm also an educator, although in my view you can't really be a scientist unless you're also educating people about science. Way back in the

By Alton Dooley 09 Apr 2025
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Life...From a Certain Point of View
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Life...From a Certain Point of View

Paleontology and Other Thoughts on Science