We live on a beautiful and ever-evolving planet — both in its geography, living and extinct species. Whether you study palaeontology (Brits & Canadians) or paleontology (USA and much of the rest of the world...) much of our Earth's history is dramatic in its changing role call for living and extinct species. We have had Five Mass Extinction Events in the Earth's 3.5 billion year history. These are cataclysmic events where more than 75% of the Earth's species have become extinct. The most rec...
Dec 30, 2020•8 min•Season 2Ep. 57
We live on an amazing planet with a 4.5 billion year history of life evolving from a single cell to multicellular life to the sheer volume of diversity of species we see through time and walking the Earth today. How do we know the timeline for this? How do we date the rock units and mountains and stones beneath our feet? We use simple observation out in the field to look at rock and observe that generally speaking, older rock units tend to be deeper than the younger rock on top. We use index fos...
Dec 30, 2020•11 min•Season 2Ep. 56
For the ARCHEA blog post on Megalodon, I wanted to choose a human to give that mighty shark a true sense of scale. And in choosing a human, I thought I'd choose a truly awesome one to introduce to all of you. Everyone, meet Cam Muskelly. Cam Muskelly is an award-winning Avocational Palaeontologist & Geologist in Georgia, in the southeastern United States. Cam is a Science Writer, Fossil Hunter, Tweeter & YouTuber with ASD. He gives talks on a number of subjects related to palaeontology &...
Dec 26, 2020•3 min•Season 2Ep. 55
23-million-years ago to just over 3-million-years ago, the apex predator of the seas was the hulking cousin to today's Great White Shark. That big beastie was Otodus megalodon — the largest shark to ever swim our seas and the largest fish as well. This big boy swam in at a whopping fifty-tonnes and grew to 18 metres in length — twice the size of an ankylosaur or triceratops and larger than a Tyrannosaurs rex but a wee bit smaller than a brontosaurus. From our modern oceans and their modern cousi...
Dec 26, 2020•7 min•Season 2Ep. 54
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 teeth projecting back into the roof of their mouths that acted as guards against escaping pre...
Dec 25, 2020•12 min•Season 2Ep. 53
You may have seen some lovely plant material in dark nodules of siderite or iron carbonate coming from the Mazon Creek Fossil Beds. the Mason Creek Biota are lovely fossil lagerstätte found in northeastern Illinois. These marine and terrestrial fossils are preserved in ironstone concretions that tell the tale of our world some 309 million years ago — back in the Carboniferous.
Dec 25, 2020•8 min•Season 2Ep. 52
God Jul & the Very Best of the Holiday Season to You & Yours. However you celebrate, sending you love and light for a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. Merry Ho Ho. Joyeux Noël. Chag Urim Sameach. Seku Kulu. Vrolijk Kerstfeest. Prettige Kerst. Wesołych Świąt. Nadelik Lowen. Glædelig Jul. Hyvää joulua. Bon Natale. Feliz Natal. Frohe Weihnachten. Mele Kalikimaka. Gleðileg jól. Christmas MobArak. Buon Natale. Meri Kuri. Felicem Diem Nativitatis. Среќен Божик. Quvianagli Anai...
Dec 25, 2020•1 min•Season 2Ep. 51
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
Dec 23, 2020•8 min•Season 2Ep. 50
Kazakhstan Fossils and Geology: This morning on the ARCHEA Blog I shared a tasty block of Semenovites (Anahoplites) cf. michalskii ammonites that hail from Cretaceous, Albian deposits that outcrop on the Mangyshlak Peninsula on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, in beautiful Kazakhstan. Present-day Kazakhstan is made up of several micro continental blocks that were broken up in the Cambrian and then crushed back together then smashed up against Siberia and came to rest where we find them toda...
Dec 23, 2020•6 min•Season 2Ep. 49
Happy Winter Solstice 2020 — Welcome to Season Two. The Winter Solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere. It is a time for celebration, family, candles and reflecting on the blessings of the year. I'm wishing you and yours the very best as we navigate the end of 2020 and look forward to a bright and happy 2021 — a year filled with fossils and curiosity.
Dec 21, 2020•57 sec•Season 2Ep. 48
Meet Carnotaurus sastrei , a genus of large theropod dinosaurs that roamed the southern tip of Argentina, South America during the Late Cretaceous, 72 to 69.9 million years ago. His name means "flesh-eating bull,' and he lives up to it with his pointed teeth and bull-like horns.
Dec 20, 2020•8 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Brachiopods, sharks, crocodiles, coelacanth, ginko, horsetails and velvet works are all considered Living Fossils. We'll talk about those species and others on today's cast. Living Fossils are an interesting area in palaeontology. Today's episode was spurred by Sayre Morgan who asks the question, "if brachiopods are technically still alive today and look similar. And we can recognize them in the fossil record over 500 million years ago. Why do they maintain their original appearance?" There are ...
Dec 12, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Woolly Mammoths were true elephants, unlike their less robust cousins, the mastodons. Mammoths were bigger — both in girth and height — weighing in at a max of 13 tonnes. They are closely related to Asian elephants and were about the size of the African elephants you see roaming the grasslands of Africa today. Their size offered protection against other predators once the mammoth was full grown. Sadly for the juveniles, they offered tasty prey to big cats like Homotherium who roamed those ancien...
Dec 12, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Lemurs are mammals of the order Primates, divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 highly diverse species — 105 to be exact. They are native only to the island of Madagascar. Most lemurs are relatively small, have a pointed snout, large eyes, and a long tail. They are arboreal, living primarily in trees and nocturnal, preferring to be active at night, snacking on leaves and flowers, tree bark and sap. They are social animals, living in groups of a half dozen to up to 30...
Dec 12, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 44
One hundred and seventy million years ago, Madagascar was landlocked in the middle of the supercontinent Gondwana, sandwiched between land that would eventually become South America and Africa and land that would eventually become India, Australia, and Antarctica. Riding the movements of the Earth's crust, Madagascar, along with India, first split from Africa and South America ... and then from Australia and Antarctica. Once broken apart, India heading north. India eventually smashed into Asia —...
Dec 09, 2020•8 min•Season 1Ep. 43
An Eocene Cryptodiran Fossil Turtle, Baena arenosa , from fine-grained lime mud outcrops in the Green River Formation, Wyoming, USA. This fellow, with the extra-long tail, marks the last of his lineage. The now extinct family Baenidae appeared first in the Jurassic and died out at the end of the Eocene. We've found specimens of Baena , along with 14 other species of turtles in seven genera and five families in the Lower Eocene San Jose Formation, San Juan Basin of New Mexico. This specimen is fr...
Dec 06, 2020•4 min•Season 1Ep. 42
The Green River Formation is a series of Eocene outcrops with outstanding preservation. Here we see the species that lived and died then fossilized within the sediments at the bottom of intermountain lakes in three basins along the present-day Green River in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah.
Dec 06, 2020•8 min•Season 1Ep. 41
John Leahy & Dave Langevin worked up at the McAbee Fossil Beds for more than two decades. Together they opened up the site and our understanding of British Columbia during the Eocene. Both have passed away now but their collection of more than 18,000 specimens were donated to the Royal British Columbia Museum. Their contribution to science and generosity of spirit do them credit. John was a bit of a character. He has a jeep with the license plate, "Palaeo" and used to leave it at the site fo...
Dec 05, 2020•6 min•Season 1Ep. 40
The McAbee Fossil Beds are known for their incredible abundance, diversity and quality of fossils including lovely plant, insect and fish species that lived in an old lake bed setting 52-53 million years ago. The fossils are preserved here as impressions and carbonaceous films. We see gymnosperm (16 species); a variety of conifers (14 species to my knowledge); two species of ginkgo, a large variety of angiosperm (67 species); a variety of insects and fish remains, the rare feather and a boatload...
Dec 05, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 39
The Hallstatt Limestone is the world's richest Triassic ammonite unit, yielding specimens of more than 500 ammonite species. Along with diversified cephalopod fauna — orthoceratids, nautiloids, ammonoids — we also see gastropods, bivalves, brachiopods, crinoids and a few corals. The salt-named town of Hallstatt sits on the shores of the idyllic Hallstätter Sea at the base of the Dachstein massif. Visiting it today, you experience a quaint traditional fishing village built in the typical upper Au...
Dec 03, 2020•9 min•Season 1Ep. 38
There was a large downpour that hit Washington State causing massive slides. The blocks you see here all came crashing down on the hillside. Once the skies cleared, hikers found plant impressions in the rock and alerted the local palaeo community. I was invited to visit just after the slide to photograph the site while George Mustoe took moulds of the palm trunks and trackways. The slide site at Sumas Mountain revealed many large exposures of fossil plants. Some exposures were 10 feet across. Th...
Nov 28, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Ktunaxa people have occupied the lands adjacent to the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers and the Arrow Lakes of British Columbia, Canada for more than 10,000 years. On their land sits one of the outcrops of the Eager Formation, a site half a billion years old with beautifully preserved trilobites. The Ktunaxa have done a wonderful job — both in choosing this beautiful part of the world to call their home — and in being a thriving nation who share their stories, build on traditions and provide leaders...
Nov 27, 2020•11 min•Season 1Ep. 36
In May 2001, Dr. Ted Danner, Professor Emeritus from UBC and my mentor gave a talk to the Vancouver Paleontological Society. For over fifteen years, we would meet for dinner on the third Thursday of every month. I would swing by to pick him up and we would head to his favourite restaurant for dinner. Dinner was a delight of banter, stories and paleontological debate. Dr. Danner had a keen mind and a sharp wit. He passed away in 2012. Wilbert R. Danner began teaching geology at UBC in 1954 and es...
Nov 27, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 35
The Gulf Islands in British Columbia include Mayne, Galiano, Hornby, and Gabriola. The largest is Salt Spring, famed for its locavore-minded farmers, artisan producers, and organic vineyards. Wildlife, nature, coastal activities, and getting away from the hubbub are top reasons to visit.
Nov 27, 2020•10 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Many land animals have returned to the sea throughout evolutionary history. We have beautifully documented cases from amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals from over 30 different lineages over the past 250 million years. Our dear penguins, seals, sea lions, walruses, whales, crocodiles and sea turtles were once entirely terrestrial. Some species dipped a toe or two into freshwater ponds, but make no mistake, they were terrestrial. Each of these animals had ancestors that tried out the sea and ...
Nov 26, 2020•8 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the extinct clade or order Pterosauria. They soared our ancient skies during most of the Mesozoic — from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to 66 million years ago). By the end of the Cretaceous, they had grown to giants and one of their brethren, Quetzalcoatlus , a member of the family Azhdarchidae, boasts being the largest known flying animal that ever lived. They were the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight. Their wings...
Nov 20, 2020•7 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Back in the Triassic, 290-210 million years ago, massive marine reptiles — the ichthyosaurs — hunted in the shallow sea that blanketed what would become Nevada We find them now as fossils embedded in the Earth. The quality of preservation at localities like Fossil Hill in the Humboldt Mountains of Nevada, perhaps the most famous and important locality for the Middle Triassic (Anisian/Ladinian) of North America, is truly outstanding. Aside from sheer beauty and spectacular preservation, the ammon...
Nov 20, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Steeped in mist and mythology, the islands of Haida Gwaii abound in local lore that surrounds their beginnings. Today, the Hecate Strait is a tempestuous 40-mile wide channel that separates the mist-shrouded archipelago of Haida Gwaii from the BC mainland. Haida First Nation oral tradition tells of a time when the strait was mostly dry, dotted here and there with lakes. During the last ice age, glaciers locked up so much water that the sea level was hundreds of feet lower than it is today. Soil ...
Nov 15, 2020•11 min•Season 1Ep. 30
A mighty marine reptile was excavated on the Trent River near Courtenay on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada in August 2020. The excavation is the culmination of a three-year palaeontological puzzle. The fossil remains are those of a plesiosaur — 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 rocks that make up this river...
Nov 14, 2020•16 min•Season 1Ep. 29
The Blue Lias is a geological formation in southern, eastern and western England and parts of South Wales, part of the Lias Group. The Blue Lias consists of a sequence of limestone and shale layers, laid down in latest Triassic and early Jurassic times, between 195 and 200 million years ago. Many wonderful ichthyosaur fossils have been found here along with theropods and pterosaurs.
Nov 14, 2020•15 min•Season 1Ep. 28
