FEBRUARY  2002

Burpee Paleo Fest 2002 Program

Well, the new Burpee Out of the Rock Bulletin announces that in addition to Bob Bakker, they have now scheduled Phil Currie, Mike Parrish, Virginia Naples, Gabrielle Lyon (Mrs. Paul Sereno), Mike Everhart and Dino Russ Jacobson. Looks like a must-see weekend February 23-24, 2002 in Rockford. ESCONI is planning to have a table at this meeting like we did last year and all members are welcome to join us.

Field Museum Lion Study

The Sunday Tribune December 23 had an article about Tom Gnoske who has been closely studying African lions for many years. He first met the maneless man-eaters of Tsavo at the Museum when he was 4. He is an avid draftsman who studied briefly at the Art Institute. He came to the Field Museum to "study skins" and ended up learning taxidermy and working with birds. For 10 years he has spent his vacations in East Africa and believes that he has identified a group of maneless evolutionary predecessors to the present day maned lions. He calls them "Buffalo lions" based on their primary prey. These lions have larger bodies but smaller heads and no mane, which differentiates them from the lions seen today. They are more similar to the fossil lions found in the La Brea Tar Pits. However, Bruce Patterson, curator of zoology is a skeptic pointing out that DNA studies of lions show that they are all members of the same subspecies, Panthera leo leo. Tom feels that they have evolved differently because of the prey and sparse hot dry area where they live. He has also found that the lions with the biggest manes live at the highest altitudes with the coolest climates. Although he is non-degreed, his careful detailed fieldwork has gained the attention of others who are working with him to get some papers published. One of these is Leigh Van Valen from the University of Chicago. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Traveling Asian Dinosaurs

33 dinosaurs will be visiting the Royal Ontario Museum in Ottawa from December 26, 2001 until March 31, 2002. Included will be Tyrannosaurus bataar and a 10 ton Therizinosaurus. They are traveling there from the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences with skulls, full skeletons and fossil eggs that span 150 million years.

"Super Croc" and "Walking With Beasts" Premiers

If you missed them they will probably be on again. But I’m sure some of you were bug-eyed like me after Monday night’s (December 9) fossil bonanza. The National Geographic story on Sarcosuchus imperator was good and it was great to see the model of what it probably looked like, but it did seem a little long. Perhaps, that is because we already know most of the information about the find. And the three hours of WWB was a little overwhelming with all the strange new animals they introduced. I particularly enjoyed the whale sequence because of all the new information that has come out about this transition and the new fossils found. And I also really like the terror birds and its relatives – what fascinating animals they were! But I also get a little impatient with the story lines they use to introduce the animals. They seem to assume a lot of behavior based on modern animals that may or may not be real. And I don’t even want to talk about all the commercials!!

Gigantic Polish Theropod Footprint

A Polish journal reported the discovery of a gigantic footprint in central Poland that is dated to the Early Jurassic. Because there is also a large print known from the same time period in Arizona, this may mean that very large theropods were widespread in the Early Jurassic as well as in the Late Jurassic. There are many trackways of theropods and sauropods found at this site and the insect fauna is similar to Early Jurassic Asian insects. The track is 54 cm (about 21.4 in.) long and is preserved as a natural cast on a sandstone slab. The track resembles the track of Megalosauripus lessertisseur of the Late Jurassic in North America. With the discoveries of Early Jurassic Cryolophosaurus in Antarctica, Monolophosaurus in the Middle Jurassic and allosauroid tracks before the Late Jurassic, it is feasible that large theropods were around but not numerous in the Early Jurassic.

Sugar From Space?

Many think that meteorites from outer space may have brought along some of the building blocks for life to Earth. This is particularly true of the type called carbonaceous chondrites that are rich in carbon. The meteorites being studied are the Murchison and Murray meteorites believed to be from the asteroid belt of leftover rubble from the formation of the planets. Sugars are important for their carbon skeletons and their use as a source of energy and support. It is interesting that sugar was thought to be in meteorites as early as in 1962 but the question of terrestrial contamination clouded the issue. These new samples show similarities to other extraterrestrial components and the sugars are very diverse including forms that are rare on Earth. With both sugar and amino acids having been found on meteorites, it looks like we may be getting closer to understanding how life may have begun on Earth. The authors of the Nature article, George Cooper et al, conclude that this means that the sugars were present on the early Earth and were available for incorporation into early forms of life.

Large Chinese Bird Found

In general Early Cretaceous birds have been small, but this new species, Sapeornis chaoyangnesis is larger than Archaeopteryx and about twice the size of Microraptor. Needless to say, it is from Liaoning with its long forelimbs, relatively short hindlimbs and short pygostyle. They believe that it was an excellent soarer. This probably means that the diversification of birds was more extensive in the Early Cretaceous than thought.

                 Karen Nordquist, ESCONI Paleontology Study Group

Featured Web Sites

Field Museum of Natural History

SVP Society for Vertebrate Paleontology 

Burpee Museum