Along the same lines... Against his better judgment, Brian Switek watched the whole Ancient Aliens episode which featured a bunch of dickweeds spinning sub-L. Ron Hubbard sci-fi stories of aliens exterminating dinosaurs as fact. If I seem a bit prickly over this kind of BS, it's because I spent a fair number of years when I was younger buying the nonsense peddled by Richard Hoagland and Graham Hancock, and I can never have that time or mental energy back.
Continuing coverage of his visit to the Field Museum of Natural History, Matt Wedel of SV-POW shared images of the Rapetosaurus skeleton on display there. The only titanosaur mounted in the US, which was a real surprise to me.
Rapetosaurus at the FMNH, photo by me.
Heinrich Mallison also visited a museum lately, the Natural History Museum in London. He found the lower level of the dinosaur hall to be... lacking, shall we say? His very entertaining rant at Dinosaurpalaeo.
Dave Hone reviewed a terrific kid's book from NatGeo, When Dinosaurs Dawned, Mammals Munched, and Pterosaurs took Flight, illustrated by the great Hannah Bonner.
The newest gallery of paleoart has been posted at ART Evolved, and it's a special one, as it honors the recently departed Dan Varner, beloved for his gorgeous illustrations of Mesozoic Sea Life for Mike Everhart's Oceans of Kansas project. Be sure to stop by and check out some terrific work.
Trish Arnold offers her own take on a title Marc wrote about last November Check out what Trish has to say about a book that "creates its fair share of mood whiplash."
The Houston Museum of Natural Sciences blog features a post about "Wyrex," one of the tyrannosaurs starring in their new exhibit space opening this year. "It is a fun fantasy. Think of it: a young mated couple of rexes relaxing after a meal of duck-bill meat, stroking each other’s necks and muzzles, then petting their newly hatched chicks."
At Aero Evo, Michael Habib briefly commented on the importance of pigments to feather strength, and why it's a good idea to study feathers at all.
What role did forest fires play in the Late Cretaceous world of dinosaurs? Mark Wildman writes about recent research in this area at Saurian.
The Dinosaur Toy Blog recently reviewed a stunning model of Torvosaurus by Shane Foulkes.
Mallison is right about the NHM in london. All the good things are hanging from the ceiling. I went there last week, and I was in a wheelchair. The lifts weren't working, so I didn't get to see the fossils upstairs. It was a big disappointment.
ReplyDeleteTerrible! That's unforgivable.
Delete"Heinrich Mallison also visited a museum lately, the Natural History Museum in London. He found the lower level of the dinosaur hall to be... lacking, shall we say? His very entertaining rant at Dinosaurpalaeo."
ReplyDeleteMallison should get "The Natural History Museum Book of Dinosaurs" ( http://www.amazon.com/Natural-History-Museum-Book-Dinosaurs/dp/184442183X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325974924&sr=1-1 ) which, despite being based on said hall, is WAY better. In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd say it was based on the "Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries" exhibition ( http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/dinosaurs/ ).
"The Houston Museum of Natural Sciences blog features a post about "Wyrex," one of the tyrannosaurs starring in their new exhibit space opening this year."
Said post is especially long & especially interesting/insightful. The probable function of T.rex arms reminds me of how primitive snakes use their spurs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelvic_spur ).