Join in the exploration of the fascinating science of paleontology — that lens that examines ancient animals, plants & ecosystems from wee single-celled organisms to big & mighty dinosaurs.
Cretaceous Capilano Fossil Field Trip — From downtown Vancouver, drive north through Stanley Park and over the Lion’s Gate Bridge. Take the North Vancouver exit toward the ferries. Turn right onto Taylor Way and then right again at Clyde Avenue. Look for the Park Royal Hotel. Park anywhere along Clyde Avenue. From Clyde Avenue walk down the path to your left towards the Capilano River. Watch the water level and tread cautiously as it can be slippery if there has been any recent rain. Look for be...
Woolly Mammoths – Picture a towering, shaggy titan lumbering across a frozen expanse, as winds howl through its dense, draping fur. This is the Woolly Mammoth—an Ice Age icon that could stand up to 11 feet tall, placing it nose-to-nose with a modern African elephant and utterly dwarfing most other terrestrial creatures of its time. Just imagining the primal force of such a beast stirs excitement, as they stomped across the tundra in herds, trumpeting through the bitter winds and surviving on a v...
Welcome to the Fossil Huntress Podcast. Today on the show we’re talking about living dinosaurs—our avian friends, the birds. From the tiniest hummingbird to the towering ostrich, these feathered creatures carry the legacy of the mighty theropods, bridging millions of years of evolution in their lightweight skeletons and high-powered hearts. So join me as we explore both the link between the sweet little chirpers you see in your yard and impressive predators like T. Rex and Velociraptor. For more...
Today on the show, we'll explore the first fossil finds from Miguasha Provincial Park, a protected area near Carleton-sur-Mer on the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec in Canada, from the mid-1800s. Miguasha is known for its exceptional preservation of Late Devonian (370 million years ago) fossil fish, including lobe-finned fish that played a crucial role in the transition of vertebrates from water to land. The park's cliffs contain fossils of various fish groups, including Agnathans (jawless fishes), Pl...
Welcome to the Fossil Huntress Podcast. Today, we're taking a journey half a billion years back in time to one of the most extraordinary fossil sites on the planet — the Burgess Shale — nestled high in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. So close your eyes and fly with me up to the top of North America, find Canada’s far western shores then head east. If you were driving from Vancouver to Burgess in Yoho National park the trip takes about 9 hours. But as we are flying, we arrive rat...
Today we’re setting sail—back in time—to meet the king of the trilobites: Isotelus rex , the largest complete trilobite ever discovered. Now, I know trilobites are often tiny—beautiful, delicate little creatures. But this one? This one was a behemoth . Over 70 centimeters long , with a thick armored body and wide paddle-shaped tail, Isotelus rex was the apex of its kind, scuttling across the seafloor of a vast inland sea that once covered much of what we now call Canada. But the fossil didn’t ju...
Welcome to The Fossil Huntress Podcast —your window into the deep time of ancient oceans, lost worlds, and beautiful traces left behind. I'm your host, Heidi Henderson, coming to you from the rain-kissed coastline of British Columbia on Canada's far western shores. Today on the show, we’re diving into one of the most iconic fossils of all time: trilobites —those segmented, alien-looking creatures that once ruled our ancient seas. So grab a cup of something warm, cozy up, and let’s take a journey...
Welcome back to the Fossil Huntress Podcast, the show where we dig into the dirt—literally—to uncover the most fascinating stories from Earth’s deep past. Here you'll find ammonites, trilobites, dinosaurs and more! I’m Heidi Henderson, the Fossil Huntress, your host, and today… we’re diving into one of the most epic rivalries in science history. It’s got fossils. It’s got sabotage. It’s got exploding railcars and a whole lot of dinosaur bones. It was one of the most famous of all paleo feuds we ...
Welcome to the Fossil Huntress Podcast, the podcast where we dig into the past—literally! Join in the exploration of the fascinating science of palaeontology — that lens that examines ancient animals, plants & ecosystems from wee single-celled organisms to big & mighty dinosaurs. Learn about the interwoven disciplines of natural history, ecology, geology, conservation & stewardship of our world. Today, we’re talking about paleontology—what it is, what paleontologists actually do, and...
On today's show, you'll hear about a paper delivered on a chilly December evening in 1857 by Philip Sclater that hugely inspired Alfred Wallace and eventually led to the publication of the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. Both Sclater and Wallace were extraordinary in their own right. Both were passionate about natural history, keen observers of our natural world, world travellers and gracious in their gifts to the world. Season Ten, Episode 106
In this episode you’ll learn the dates, location and exciting line up of speakers at the 15th BCPA Symposium
In this episode, you'll hear about some wonderful free Zoom Fossil Talks in March and May 2024. There is no need to register. You can head on over to www.fossiltalksandfieldtrips.com and note the talk dates and times. The link will be shared live on the site on the day of the talk. Upcoming Free Fossil Lectures via Zoom: Sun, March 24, 2024, 2PM PST — Dan Bowen — Struck by Lightning: The Mary Anning Story Learn about the history of Mary Anning from Dan Bowen, Chair of the Vancouver Island Palaeo...
Victoria is a vertebrate palaeontologist and evolutionary biologist and is the leading expert on the palaeobiology of the armoured dinosaurs known as ankylosaurs. She has named several new species of ankylosaurs, studied how they used and evolved their charismatic armour and weaponry, and investigated how their biogeography was shaped by dispersals between Asia and North America. British Columbia has a rich fossil record spanning over 500 million years of the history of life on Earth. Victoria’s...
Vancouver Island holds many wonderful fossils and incredible folk excited to explore them. The Dove Creek Mosasaur, which includes the teeth and lower jawbone of a large marine reptile was discovered by Rick Ross of the Vancouver Island Palaeontological Society, during the construction of the Inland Highway, near the Dove Creek intersection on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Mosasaurs had a hinged jaw that allowed them to swallow prey larger than themselves. They evolved special pterygoid te...
A Taste for Studies: Tortoise Urine, Armadillos, Fried Tarantula & Goat Eyeballs While eating study specimens is not in vogue today, it was once common practice for researchers in the 1700-1880s. Charles Darwin belonged to a club dedicated to tasting exotic meats, and in his first book wrote almost three times as much about dishes like armadillo and tortoise urine than he did on the biogeography of his Galapagos finches. One of the most famously strange scientific meals occurred on January 1...
Predators and Prey in our Devonian Seas. It is here we see the first tetrapods — land-living vertebrates — appeared during the Devonian, as did the first terrestrial arthropods, including wingless insects and the earliest arachnids. In the oceans, brachiopods flourished. Crinoids and other echinoderms, tabulate and rugose corals, and ammonites were also common... and a mighty one-ton eating machine that ruled our ancient seas.
In the late 1930s, our understanding of the transition of fish to tetrapods — and the eventual jump to modern vertebrates — took an unexpected leap forward. The evolutionary a'ha came from a single partial fossil skull found on the shores of a riverbank in Eastern Canada. Meet the Stegocephalian, Elpistostege watsoni, an extinct genus of finned tetrapodomorphs that lived during the Late Givetian to Early Frasnian of the Late Devonian — 382 million years ago. Elpistostege watsoni — perhaps the si...
North America's Rocky Mountain Trench, also known as the Valley of a Thousand Peaks, is a large valley on the western side of the northern part of North America's Rocky Mountains. This massive rift valley stretches all the way from the British Columbia-Yukon border south to the St. Ignatius area and can be seen from space.
We sometimes find fossils preserved by pyrite. They are prized as much for their pleasing gold colouring as for their scientific value as windows into the past. If you have pyrite specimens and want to stop them from decaying, you can give them a 'quick' soak in water (hour max) then wash them off, and dry them thoroughly in a warm oven. Cool, then soak in pure acetone for a couple of days. Then soak in paraloid, a thermoplastic resin surface coating or acetone for a couple of days. Keep them in...
This is a blast from the past and the tale of how I was bitten and smitten by the mineral bug. I hope you enjoy this story from my youth growing up on the northern end of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada—and the minerals that can be found there.
Extinct Giants: The Woolly Mammoths. These massive beasts roamed the icy cold tundra of Europe, Asia, and North America from about 300,000 years ago up until about 10,000 years ago making a living by digging through the snow and ice to get to the tough grasses beneath. The last known group of woolly mammoths survived until about 1650 B.C.—over a thousand years after the Pyramids at Giza were built. Will we bring them back? I cannot say for sure but they are a captivating animal in our Earth's hi...
Learn all about the gear you might need out in the field fossil collecting. What you'll need depends on where you collect and what time of year you go but this will get you started and set up for success.
Join in for a chilly visit to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard between mainland Norway and the North Pole. This one of the world’s northernmost inhabited areas with rugged terrain, glaciers and polar bear. The rocks here house beautiful Triassic ammonoids, bivalves and primitive ichthyosaurs. To see some of the fossils from here, visit: https://fossilhuntress.blogspot.com/2020/12/ammonoids-and-bivalves-of-svalbard.html
Joe Moysiuk is a palaeontologist and evolutionary biologist, with research interests in macroevolution, evolutionary developmental biology, and the origin of animal life. He has extensive experience with fossils from the Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada, one of the world’s most significant fossil sites. As part of his continuum of Burgess Shale-related research, he is currently pursuing a PhD focusing on the earliest evolution of today’s most diverse animal group: the arthropods. Link t...
Welcome to Season Seven of the Fossil Huntress Podcast. In this episode you’ll hear about the many yummy fossil projects and field trips over the past few months including a trip to Vancouver Island’s Wild West Coast, great talks & a TV project.
Kirk Johnson is a geologist, paleobotanist, and the Sant Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. His research focuses on fossil plants and the extinction of the dinosaurs, and he is known for his scientific articles, popular books, museum exhibitions, documentaries, and collaborations with artists. Bright, funny and a delightful human being, Kirk Johnson is a leader in his field and beyond. He has collaborated on numerous projects including two recent documentaries, “Ma...
2022 Palaeontology / Paleontology Lecture Series with all of you. Zoom Link: www.fossiltalksandfieldtrips.com SPRING 2022 Kicking off 2022 is Danna Staaf, the Cephalopodiatrist with Cephalopods are the New Dinosaurs, Sun, February 12, 2022 at 2PM PST. Cephalopods, Earth's first truly substantial animals, are still among us. Their fascinating family tree is a whose-who of squid, octopus, cuttlefish, nautilus, and their brethren. Cephalopods number more than 800 species with new species still bein...
The Rocky Mountain Trench is one of the few geologic wonders we can see from space. It is known as the Valley of a Thousand Peaks or simply the Trench — a large valley on the western side of the northern part of North America's Rocky Mountains.
A mighty marine reptile was excavated on the Trent River near Courtenay on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The excavation is the culmination of a three-year palaeontological puzzle. The fossil remains are those of an elasmosaur — a group of long-necked marine reptiles found in the Late Triassic to the Late Cretaceous some 215 to 80 million years ago. In the case of the Trent River, it is closer to 85 million years old. The marine reptile fossil was excavated 10-mete...
