Interview with Paleontologist: Mark Witton

Today we have another fantastic interview!  I was lucky enough to get in contact with paleontologist, Mark Witton! 
About me
I’m a UK-based palaeontological researcher and artist based affiliated with the University of Portsmouth. My research and much of my artistic output concerns pterosaurs, which I like so much that I’ve just produced a book about them with Princeton University Press: Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy (details <a href=”http://www.markwitton.com/#/pup-pterosaurs/4552905946”>here</a>). In the real world, I live in southern England with a snake, skink and girlfriend, but online I spent most of my time at markwitton.com and it’s <a href=”http://markwitton-com.blogspot.co.uk/”>sister blog</a>, where I post new artwork and attempt to write short, snappy thoughts on palaeontological issues which frequently turn into long, long discourses. I can also be followed on Twitter @MarkWitton.

Bamofo, the largest giant pterosaur model presented at the 2010 University of Portsmouth/Royal Society exhibition 'Dragons of the Air', and his maker, Dr, Mark Witton.

1) Who did you admire growing up?

 MW: You know, now that I think about it I’m not sure I had any clear ‘heroes’ when I was growing up. The things I idolised more than anything else were monsters and creatures of movies and stories. I never cared for the good protagonists, though, despite them being the characters we’re meant to be rallying behind. I used to draw pictures of Bruce the Shark from Jaws, Geiger’s xenomorphs, the ‘predator’ creature, and dinosaurs attacking people, and recreate the destruction of towns and cities with dinosaur toys. They were just so much more interesting and cooler than the humans. I remember the Kenner ‘Aliens’ action figure range very fondly. Apart from the Queen figure, which was very disappointing. Sorry Kenner: it’s time you know that you upset my eight year-old self.

So disappointing...

2) At what age did you get inspired to pursue a career in paleontology?

MW: I was very young when I got the palaeo-bug. So young that I can’t remember how old I was. I don’t think it was solidified until I was nine years old though, when Jurassic Park was released. Dinosaurs were already fairly important on my radar, but Jurassic Park made them the main event.

Two azhdarchid pterosurs, one substantially bigger than the other, stalk their way through across a misty Cretaceous landscape.

3) You are most known for your work with pterosaurs.  How did you end up studying that branch of paleontology?

MW: I was no more interested in pterosaurs than any other group of fossil reptiles until I was approach the end of my undergraduate studies. My dissertation focussed on Cretaceous rocks known as the Wealden Group, which outcrop across southern England, including the famously dinosaur-rich Isle of Wight. If you’re interested in the fossil vertebrates of these deposits, it’s only a matter of time before you encounter one of the Palaeontological Association’s more unusual entries in their Field Guide series, Dinosaurs of the Isle of Wight, edited by David Martill and Darren Naish. For some reason, this dinosaur-titled volume also included a chapter on pterosaurs by Stafford Howse and colleagues (I suspect this was DM’s influence: Dave is a sucker for wing membranes) which gave an overview of the anatomy of the pterodactyloid Istiodactylus latidens. I. latidens is a medium-sized (4.5. m span), long-winged pterosaur with an unusual skull thought to reflect vulture-like scavenging habits by Howse et al. The anatomy of this species was very interesting to me, so I asked Dave Martill about the prospects of studying pterosaurs for a PhD. We put a project together and off I went. A nice ending to this story is that while I didn’t get to work on I. latidens specifically in my thesis, my interest in it went full circle last year when I published a <a href=” http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0033170”>new interpretation of its skull</a> and elaborated on Howse et al.’s scavenging hypothesis.

Three Istiodactylus latidens scavenge the remains of a dead stegosaur in Lower Cretaceous Britain.

4) You are also an artist.  Which medium do you prefer the most for your reconstructions?  How do you come up with color schemes for your long extinct subjects?

MW: I have to work digitally to make anything that’s even passable. I can sketch ok, but my work in anything other than digital paints isn’t all that great. I need the ability to correct mistakes until I’m blunder into something more successful. You just can’t do that in most other media. It would be great to have more rounded skills, but finding the time and resources to experiment with different techniques isn’t easy.

I try to rationalise my colour schemes for extinct animals from observations of modern species and predictions of their lifestyle, taking into account their foraging habits, preferred habitats, use of display structures and so forth. Colour is impossible to predict accurately in virtually all extinct animals (I’m sure  many readers are aware that even using feather melanosome arrangements to predict dinosaur colour has recently been called into question), but I think we can rationalise a likely ‘colour envelope’ for most species. My preference is for a more subdued and modest palate rather than the very bright colours used by some artists. It seems that some have taken the discovery of feathers in many dinosaur species as a signal for madcap colour schemes, but I’ve never understood this. For every bright blue or yellow bird, there’re 100 brown or grey ones. That might be boring, but it’s more accurate.

Life reconstruction and the underlying skeleton of the thalassodromid pterosaur Tupuxuara leonardii, a 4 m span pterosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil.

5) What was your favorite dinosaur (or other prehistoric animal) growing up?  Which is your favorite now?


MW: I certainly drew far more Tyrannosaurus as a child than any other dinosaur, partially because Jurassic Park made it look so awesome. It was probably my favourite dinosaur when I was growing up.

Nowadays, it’s harder to decide on a single favourite animal. I don’t think I have a single favourite anything anymore, actually. I think part of growing up is realising that things can be cool for different reasons, and that you can’t rank incomparable subjects. My honest answer, then, is a cop out ‘all of them!’, but, in a gun-to-head situation, I’d probably say that giant azhdarchids and sauropods are animals I find particularly interesting. Their size is the alluring factor. Imagining a 5 m tall azhdarchid striding around before quad-launching into the skies on wings spanning 10 m is really something. And it’s hard to read anything about sauropods that doesn’t blow your mind in some way. They were clearly amazing animals.

A Tyrannosaurus rex, trying to remember where he put his car keys.

6) Paleontology is such a diverse field these days involving many disciplines.  What advice would you give to an aspiring paleontologist today?

MW: The Internet makes it easy for young folks with palaeontological interests to observe and get involved with the development of palaeontological science. The palaeo blogosphere is a very active place, and I’d advise young people to dive right in. Many of its contributors are excellent writers, illustrators and science communicators who make ‘actual contributions’ to palaeontological science when not posting content online. What better place to get a sense for the way palaeontologists work, see which debates and issues are the fashionable topics, all the while enhancing your palaeontological knowledge? Plus, reading the toing-and-froing on different issues is a great way to see healthy critical minds in action, where evidence is weighed up, arguments are referenced against peer-reviewed literature, and that sort of thing. A healthy scepticism is an essential part of being a good scientist, so it’s a good idea to start developing that early. The best part, of course, is that you can also directly interact with real some of the best minds in palaeontology via comments, tweets and live chats, so you can be involved with real palaeontology without even leaving your lounge or putting trousers on.

The business end of a titanosaur. No, the other business end.

7) Going to college these days and then on to grad school has become a daunting task.  Many people are unaware of how long it takes to make it to the finish line.  The rewards are great, but what would you say to someone pursuing professional studies after college?

MW: Uh oh, the can of worms is opened! We could talk for ages about this, so I’ll try to be brief. That’s going to be hard, because this topic is something that currently occupies my thoughts for most of the day and has led to many sleepless nights. Because opinions on this largely stem from personal experience, I want to stress that my opinions on this matter are very much my own, and may differ from those who end up in palaeontology circles via another path. Thus, if you are seeking advice about getting into palaeontology post-university, make sure you seek the advice of others to sample as many opinions as possible.

A lot of students I’ve encountered can’t wait to get into a PhD programme once they’ve graduated, to the point where they’ll personally fund the whole project if they have to. I was one of these guys. I worked part-time while doing a full-time PhD for three years from 2005-2008. It was hard work, and I very rarely had any time off. I’m glad I did that, because it led to a lot of great things that have made, and continue to make me very happy, but I am not sure I would recommend it to people who’re thinking about doing PhD studies. If any readers happen to be in that position now, and gunning to do a PhD because they think it’s the road to a dream job in palaeontology, you need to stop and think for a bit. Gaining a PhD will undoubtedly change your life, but not necessarily for in the way you think it will.

In the rush to get a PhD, young students tend to ignore a piece of common knowledge about palaeontology: there are no jobs. Maybe these words are too familiar to us now, to the point where we don’t really hear them anymore, or perhaps we’re all so keen to get into palaeontology that we don’t really listen. Whatever the reason, young scientists need to realise that the ‘no jobs’ comments are there for a reason. PhD studies are fairly easy to get through, but I cannot stress enough how tough some postdoc periods are. This is particularly so at the moment with university and museum departments facing cutbacks and closures. Finding work can be very, very difficult after the PhD unless you’re extremely talented, or extremely lucky. You could be looking at several years or maybe decades without permanent employment. I know at least eight bright, hard-working palaeontologists that this has happened to, and have heard stories of many more. If you browse the Internet looking for this sort of thing, it becomes apparent that many PhDs outside of palaeontology experience similar problems.

To give you a picture of what this ‘wilderness period’ is like, consider the following. You may find yourself drifting from short-contract to short-contract, moving around to wherever work takes you, pitching any talents you have as a freelancer and living off something like £12K a year - if you’re lucky. All the while you’ll be trying to maintain enough academic kudos to remain potentially employable by publishing papers, doing outreach and maintaining a visible online profile. Odds are you will have to work all hours and invest your own savings into projects and conference attendance, because you risk falling off the map if you don’t.

This may not sound like a big deal if you’re a young, liberally minded undergraduate. After all, you’re still doing what you always wanted, right, even if your quality of life isn’t as high as you might like? Bear in mind, though, that our priorities change with age. Professionally drifting for a few years becomes pretty frustrating after a while, and the incessant feeling that you should be doing ‘something important’ is exhausting. It becomes hard to ignore the reality of your average monthly wage being less than that of a supermarket shelf-stacker despite the years of work and investment into earning the premier qualification awarded by higher education. You can forget owning a house or car, or taking regular vacations, and will struggle to grow and excel yourself professionally. If you’re anything like me, this lack of progress will become an issue. Low wages and enforced workaholism will also become problems if you have a partner, children or other dependents to worry about during this time too. And if you do have dependents, your ability to relocate yourself for employment becomes a heck of a lot more complex, or even impossible.

Clearly, the lucky and the tenacious break through their wilderness periods – some may avoid them altogether - and land successful careers as lecturers, research scientists and so forth, but prospective PhD students need to ask themselves if they want to run through that gauntlet. The PhD is the easy bit, the life after is the challenge. Crucially, and what is often overlooked by young folks, there are lots of ways to stay in touch with palaeontology that do not involve getting a PhD. Simply blogging about palaeontology is a great way to be part of the palaeo scene without being reliant on it. Working as a lab technician, museum educator, exhibition developer, geopark warden and are ways to work with fossils in your day job, but you don’t need a PhD to do them. There’re many more careers which incorporate palaeontology if you’re prepared to work within natural history or science jobs generally. A lot of these options are not available to you if you have a PhD, however. If you decide you do want a job outside of academia, a PhD becomes a ball and chain. In the ‘real’ job market, a PhD is as a warning beacon for an employee who’s going to quit the moment a better job comes along. I’ve been told on several occasions that I’ve not got jobs because of over-qualification. It’s a limbo-like existence, where it’s very difficult to find an academic role, and has no obvious route into ‘real’ jobs either.

I’m still rambling, so I’ll tie this all up. I’m not saying ‘do not do a PhD’. I’m saying that young people need to think long and hard about taking one on. Do not just rush into it. Think about where you want to be in 10 years, taking into account time for the PhD and its aftermath. If the scenario outlined above sounds unappealing, then perhaps a PhD is not for you. Remember that you do not need a PhD to be involved with palaeontology, and that you do not have to start a PhD immediately after leaving university. A lot of people do their PhDs later in life on the side of their working careers, treating them as a hobby rather than a profession. Above all, be aware that a PhD is not an express ticket to your dream job in palaeontology. It may be an important part of it, but it comes with a Hell of a lot of baggage. 

A family of Pachyrhinosaurus sporting coats of long, shaggy protofeathers.

8) What was or is your favorite research project?  What are some of your current projects?

MW: I think my work on pterosaur mass, which proposed that pterosaurs were about three times heavier than most other people were saying at the time (2008), is the bit of work I’m most satisfied with. It’s perhaps is one of the most important things I’ve done. I don’t think I fully appreciated its significance at the time, but pterosaur mass estimates had been in need of a good shakeup for years. I think that paper helped a lot with that. 2008 was a good year actually, because it also saw Darren Naish and I bring terrestrially stalking azhdarchids to the world. That has to be another favourite and I think it’s fair to say it’s been a very successful paper. It’s very easy to see the influence those ideas and some of the associated artwork have had on portrayals of azhdarchids in pop culture, and perhaps other pterosaurs as well.

You can never reveal too much about current projects of course, but I’m currently involved with some new giant pterosaur material from Romania which is extremely exciting. I can say nothing else about that for the moment, though, suffice to stress it’s extremely cool. Mike Habib and I should be bringing a paper on insect catching in anurognathid pterosaurs in to land soon as well, which is also pretty neat. I’ve got some additional projects at various stages of completion as well, which will hopefully turn into actual papers in the near future.

The outdoor component of the 2010 University of Portsmouth/Royal Society exhibition 'Dragons of the Air', featuring 5 life-sized models of giant azhdarchid pterosaurs.

9) Jurassic Park and Land Before Time (opposite ends of the spectrum I know) were the movies I remember as a kid that fueled my passion for dinosaurs.  What was your most memorable movie, book or TV program that inspired you with regards to peleontology?

MW: Clichéd as it is, Jurassic Park is up there. It has to be for any 20-something palaeontologist. I feel sorry for people a decade younger than me because they didn’t get to experience that game changing moment common to this generation of dinosaur buffs. They’ve always known the fast, bird-like dinosaurs that Jurassic Park released to the world and can’t fully appreciate their relevance against the upright, plodding creatures we knew until the early 1990s. As mentioned above, Jurassic Park cemented my childhood obsession with dinosaurs well and truly. I think I probably would’ve ended up training as a palaeontologist anyway if it weren’t for that film, but Jurassic Park made it a certainty.

A moody, battered Stegosaurus and his fluffy tail

 10) I remember meeting my first professional paleontologist.  Do you remember the first paleontologist you ever met?  Were you a nervous wreck? 

MW: I do, but I wasn’t nervous. We were at a University of Portsmouth open day and being shown around by David Loydell, an expert in Silurian graptolite biostratigraphy, so the circumstances weren’t really conducive to being scared. I do, however, still get very nervous speaking to fellow palaeontologists at conferences. I’m petrified that they’re going to find out that I don’t know anything.

A couple of freaky pterosaurs, known as Zhenyuanopterus (a genus likely synonymous with Boreopterus) float about in a Cretaceous Chinese lake.

11) Dinosaurs and the animals that lived at the same time as them were amazing creatures.  Why do you feel they continue to fascinate us?

MW: I think you’ve answered that question for me. They’re amazing animals, and that’s all there is to it. Some dinosaurs were amazingly big, amazingly powerful or looked amazing with their crests, horns and spikes. All Mesozoic dinosaurs are amazingly old, and the manner in which their appearance and lives are reconstructed through chance discovery of fossils is an amazing feat in itself. Fossilisation, the means through which we glimpse the Mesozoic world after millions and millions of years, is pretty amazing too. Whatever aspect of dinosaur palaeontology you look at, you find some amazingness. It’s hard to think of another subject that can rack up the amazing-count as consistently as dinosaurs.

12) What is your favorite time period?

MW: As before, picking a favourite is challenging because each portion of geological time has its own appeal. Certainly one of the more interesting periods to work with, if you’re into Mesozoic terrestrial tetrapods anyway, is the Cretaceous. Its terrestrial fossil record is considerably better than that of the Jurassic or Triassic, which means we have a more detailed picture of what was happening in its continental ecosystems. The Cretaceous record of some groups is sufficient to get a rough handle on attributes of palaeobiogeography, niche portioning, population dynamics and so forth. We know our ideas of these are rough, but there’s enough data to at least put some tangible hypotheses on the table. While the faunas and ecologies of the continental Jurassic and Triassic are just as interesting, most of their records are also much patchier. We just can’t see them in the same resolution that we can see the Cretaceous.

Dsungaripterus weii, a large dsungaripterid pterosaur from China, murders a small pterosaur for fun. And to eat.

13) Do you have any other interests or hobbies you could tell us about? (doesn’t have to be paleontology related)

MW: I’m a bit of a science fiction buff, I suppose, both of vintage sci-fi and more modern franchises. I don’t tend to read many modern science fiction novels, preferring the classics of the genre. A lot of modern science fiction authors get so bogged down with minute details of their universes that I find them dull, or are simply clichéd and formulaic. In terms of film, my partner and I are have unintentionally amassed a fairly impressive sci-fi DVD and BluRay collection. There’re still a few holes to plug, but we’re slowly covering all the important bases. I like to paint to relax, but watching a good movie comes close. I consider myself extremely lucky that my other half is just as much a nerd as I am, if not more, so a quiet evening in watching the new Dredd movie is something that works for us both, and romantic dinner discussion can be about the identity of the new Star Trek film villain.  I’m clearly a very lucky man.

Thank you Dr. Witton!   If you are interested in knowing more you can check out Mark's website and blog.  Stay tuned this Sunday for a very special prehistoric animal of the week! 

Acrotholus: Prehistoric Animal of the Week

This week I will be reviewing a newly discovered dinosaur that was just published about this month!  Acrotholus audeti was a small, (about six feet long) plant eating dinosaur that lived in what is now Alberta, Canada 85 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous era.  Its genus name translates to "high dome" because of the shape of its skull.  It belonged to the dinosaur family called pachycephalosauridae and was an earlier relative of the larger and more well known Pachycephalosaurus.  These dinosaurs are characterized by having large heads with thick skulls that may have been used for display and/or as a ramming weapon.

Life reconstruction of Acrotholus audeti by Christopher DiPiazza

Acrotholus is only known from skull chunks from a few individuals, specifically the domed tops of their heads which are two inches thick.  Small dinosaurs tend not to fossilize as often as large ones because their bones are more fragile.  Since the skulls of these Acrotholus were so thick, however, they managed to preserve to be discovered by paleontologists millions of years later after they died.

One of the skull fragments from Acrotholus that was discovered.  This would have been the top of the animal's head.  Check out how thick it is! 

Acrotholus is amongst the oldest known pachycephalosaurids and is THE oldest known pachycephalosaurid native to North America.   Even though it is more basal than all the other pachycephalosaurids that lived after it, it's head is still well-developed and thick for its size.  This tells us that this adaptation, which is common in varying forms throughout the family, probably evolved much earlier than the time of Acrotholus. 

That's all for this week!  As always feel free to comment below or on our facebook page.  If there is a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature you want to see reviewed and illustrated let me know! 

References

Evans, D. C.; Schott, R. K.; Larson, D. W.; Brown, C. M.; Ryan, M. J. (2013). "The oldest North American pachycephalosaurid and the hidden diversity of small-bodied ornithischian dinosaurs". Nature Communications 4: 1828. doi:10.1038/ncomms2749

"Cleveland Museum of Natural History." Acrotholus Audeti. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Oldest? New 'Bone-Head' Dinosaur Hints at Higher Diversity of Small Dinosaurs." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 07 May 2013. Web.

Maiasaura: Prehistoric Animal of the Week

Happy Mother's Day!  Today mothers of all kinds get recognized for all the wonderful things they do for their children.  (Honestly every day should be like mothers day but lets not say no to an official holiday either)  Did you know that we have scientific evidence of a number of dinosaurs that were probably devoted mothers as well?  Its true.  Good parenting is evident in most birds and crocodilians and even in a few species of snakes, lizards and tortoises!  It should be no surprise that certain non-avian dinosaurs shared these caring characteristics with their modern relatives.  Today we respectfully and graciously honor Maiasaura peeblesorum, the "Caring Mother Dinosaur".

Maiasaura peeblesorum mother and baby life reconstruction by Christopher DiPiazza.

Maiasaura belongs to the hadrosaur dinosaur family, also commonly referred to as the "duck-billed dinosaurs".  These dinosaurs get their casual name because they had wide, flat bills like modern ducks (they are not directly related to modern ducks, however) which they may have used for eating tough plant material.  Unlike ducks, hadrosaurs had hundreds of tiny teeth in their mouths for chewing.  Another example of a hadrosaur is Parasaurolophus.  Maiasaura lived in what is now Montana, USA, 74 million years ago during the late Cretaceous era.  Unlike a lot of other dinosaur species where we are lucky to find even a partial skeleton of, Maiasaura is known from literally hundreds of complete or nearly complete fossilized specimens, ranging from babies just out of the egg all the way up to thirty foot long adults!

Skeletal mount of Maiasaura adult and juvenile.

I chose Maiasaura to review on Mother's Day because it was the first non-avian dinosaur discovered that provided concrete evidence of parental care in an extinct dinosaur.  Back in the 1980s hundreds of fossilized Maiasaura nests with eggs along with the of bones from adults and juveniles were unearthed in an area of Montana called the Two Medicine Formation.  The reason why we know these dinosaurs were actually caring for their young and not simply dumping the eggs off like some other reptiles do is that some of the skeletons from babies were too big to be hatchlings yet still were in the nest.  Why would a baby dinosaur stick around after hatching?  Because its parents were still feeding and protecting it, that's why.  This is very similar to how most modern birds care for their young.  The actual hatchling Maiasaura that were discovered appear to have hatched with legs still too underdeveloped to walk around.  This is an example of an altricial animal which means that it requires care from its parents in order to survive upon being born.  This is also observable in many kinds of modern birds.

Maiasaura hatchling reconstruction by Jack Horner.  The eggs were about the same size as Ostrich eggs.

The nests of these Maiasaura each had a radius of about twenty feet of space around them, forming an almost geometric network pattern on the ground of hundreds of nests.  This is also something that can be observed in nesting colonies of some modern species of bird.  Unlike birds, however, Maiasaura wouldn't have been able to sit on its eggs to incubate them.  Instead it would have gathered vegetation to use as a blanket.  As the vegetation rots, it gives off heat to keep the eggs warm.  This kind of nesting behavior is seen in modern crocodilians.

Nesting colony of modern Gannets.  Note how they are all evenly spaced from each other and that the baby (in the center nest) hasn't left.  Like Maiasaura, it is incapable of survival for a period of time after hatching without its parents.

Thanks to this discovery, we know that at least certain kinds of dinosaurs did care for their young.  Since then parenting behavior has also been discovered in a few other kinds of dinosaur including a few theropods.  It is likely many other kinds of dinosaur were also good parents though. 

That's all for this week!  As always feel free to comment below or on our facebook page if you would like to see any particular dinosaur or other prehistoric creature reviewed.  Happy Mother's Day!  

References

 Dodson, Peter & Britt, Brooks & Carpenter, Kenneth & Forster, Catherine A. & Gillette, David D. & Norell, Mark A. & Olshevsky, George & Parrish, J. Michael & Weishampel, David B. The Age of Dinosaurs. Publications International, LTD. p. 116-117. ISBN 0-7853-0443-6.

 Horner, Jack and Gorman, James. (1988). Digging Dinosaurs: The Search that Unraveled the Mystery of Baby Dinosaurs, Workman Publishing Co.

Interview with Paleontologist: Steve Brusatte

Gary and I have been working hard to get really good interviews from paleo-artists and scientists as of late.  Last week we heard from the brilliant artist, James Gurney.  This week Gary and I had the pleasure of hearing from a great paleontologist who even worked with our blog's unofficial mascot, Dryptosaurus, Steve Brusatte! 

Steve Brusatte is a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He is American and recently moved to Scotland to begin his new job. Steve has a BS in geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago, two MSc degrees from the University of Bristol, and a PhD from Columbia University in New York. Steve studies vertebrate anatomy and evolution broadly, but is specifically interested in theropod dinosaurs, the rise of dinosaurs during the Triassic, the extinction of dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous, and the rise of mammals after the dinosaur extinction. He has written 60 scientific papers and four books (including the technical book Dinosaur Paleobiology and the coffee table book Dinosaurs), and has named several new species of dinosaurs and other fossil vertebrates. He has done fieldwork in the US, China, United Kingdom, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Lithuania. His work is frequently profiled in the popular press and he is the "resident paleontologist" for the BBC's Walking With Dinosaurs program (www.walkingwithdinosaurs.com).

 
 Question 1: Who did you admire growing up?

SB: Like many kids, I admired my parents more than anybody. I was also a big sports fanatic and was especially obsessed with baseball, basketball, and football. So I admired a lot of athletes. And for some reason I was fascinated by US politics and read a lot of books about the presidents, so I had a strange infatuation with Bill Clinton! I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I didn't really admire any scientists, or know much about science at all. It wasn't even on my radar. 

Question 2: At what age did you get inspired to pursue a career in paleontology?

SB: I wasn't one of those five-year-olds who knows the names and pronunciations of every dinosaur. I meet a lot of kids like that when I go into schools and talk about paleontology, and I always tell them that they are way ahead of where I was at their age! I didn't care much for science as a kid. I found it one of the more boring subjects at school, something to plod through. It didn't come very naturally. I was much more interested in history and social studies and English. But I became obsessed with paleontology very quickly when I was 14 years old, during my first year of high school. My youngest brother Chris was going through the "dinosaur phase" at the time. He had a room full of dinosaur books, toys, and posters. It was like the Jurassic Park franchise was sponsoring his bedroom! He asked me for help with a science fair project he was doing, so I started to read some of his books, and within days I was hooked. Sometimes people say dinosaurs are a "gateway drug" into science for kids. For me, dinosaurs definitely had a drug-like effect! 

Question 3: What was your favorite dinosaur growing up?  What dinosaur is your favorite now?

SB: I never really had a favorite growing up. And it's hard to answer that question today. I've been privileged to work on a lot of neat dinosaurs, to examine specimens in museums and find new dinosaurs in the field. So I feel a bit like some parents probably do when somebody asks them to pick their favorite child. I just can't do it, and it wouldn't be fair to all of the other dinosaurs I've worked on. But I will say that the theropods are my favorite group. 

Question 4: Paleontology is such a diverse field these days involving many disciplines.  What advice would you give to an aspiring paleontologist today?

SB: Anybody who is seriously interested in pursuing paleontology as a career should be sure to study a diverse range of subjects in school. Paleontology is truly a multidisciplinary science. Many of the techniques we use are borrowed from other fields, like chemistry, engineering, and physics. So students should be sure to take as many science courses as they can, and math as well. Statistics are particularly important--it's hard to be a paleontologist without at least a basic understanding of statistics and how to handle large datasets. And don't forget about English and writing. All successful scientists have to communicate their findings to other scientists, and to the public. Being able to write in an understandable, coherent, and inspirational way is really key. You don't have to be a poet laureate, but you will need to do a fair bit of writing.  

Question 5: Going to college these days and then on to grad school has become a daunting task. Many people are unaware of how long it takes to make it to the finish line.  The rewards are great, but what would you say to someone pursuing professional studies after college?

SB: Being a paleontologist is a lot of fun. I can't imagine a better career. But it's a long slog to get here, and I've had a much shorter and more fortunate career journey than many of my colleagues. So I feel a bit guilty even talking about this. For me, I spent four years in college, two years doing my Masters', and then four and a half years doing my PhD. So the whole process took me about a decade. College is expensive, of course, but once you get into graduate school you are usually getting your tuition paid for, and you're getting a stipend. So it's basically like a real job, albeit a low-paid one! The real trouble is making that jump into a permanent academic job. There just aren't that many professorships these days. Science funding is getting cut left and right. So the job situation is not good. Anybody wanting to pursue a career in paleontology needs to know this. They need to understand this. Paleontology is really fun, and it is a great hobby for some people, but making a career out of it is a different matter. So if you want to do it you need to be very committed. It isn't always easy. As a grad student, you see your friends getting real jobs and earning real money, while you're dragging away in the lab all day for peanuts. You may need to move to a god-forsaken corner of the world to do graduate work (or take an academic job). It can be hard on your family if you have one, or put plans for starting a family on hold. But if you love it, then go for it! 

Question 6: What was or is your favorite research project?  What are some of your current projects?

SB: I've had the great privilege of working on a lot of neat projects with a lot of wonderful colleagues. My favorite part of the job are the travel we often get to do, and the friendships that are fostered through scientific collaborations. Many of my best friends are fellow scientists. I've been able to work on some really interesting projects concerning the origin of dinosaurs (was the rise of dinosaurs rapid or slow? why were dinosaurs able to become so successful?), the anatomy and phylogeny of carnivorous theropods, and the extinction of the dinosaurs. It's hard to pick a favorite. Right now I'm working on a lot of different threads. My PhD thesis, which I finished last November, is on the phylogeny of coelurosaurian theropods and patterns of morphological evolution during the dinosaur-bird transition. I'm working some of that into publication now. I've just started my new job at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, so I'm building up my research lab right now, applying for grants to try to get on my feet and to bring new students and postdocs into my lab. I'm doing fieldwork in New Mexico and Romania this month, and just returned from a fieldtrip in Scotland, looking for Jurassic dinosaurs. I'm doing projects now on theropods, Paleocene mammals that lived right after the dinosaur extinction, marine crocodiles from the Jurassic and Cretaceous, archosaur evolution during the Triassic, and various other things. I like to work on a lot of different projects at once. I like learning new things, new methods.

Question 7: Jurassic Park and Land Before Time (opposite ends of the spectrum I know) were the movies I remember as a kid that fueled my passion for dinosaurs.  What was your most memorable movie, book or TV program that inspired you with regards to paleontology?

SB: Jurassic Park and Walking With Dinosaurs were both very inspirational. I remember watching a lot of television documentaries when I was in high school, and I remember being awed by scenes of scientists out in the desert, doing fieldwork. But what I really remember is reading books on dinosaurs and fossils--a lot of books! During high school I must have read hundreds of books on paleontology. I was especially inspired by Jack Horner's books, Bob Bakker's Dinosaur Heresies, and the books of Stephen Jay Gould and Peter Ward. 

Question 8: I remember meeting my first professional paleontologist.  Do you remember the first paleontologist you ever met?  Were you a nervous wreck? 

SB: I think I probably met paleontologists for the first time at the 1999 Burpee Museum PaleoFest in Rockford, Illinois. The Burpee Museum has been hosting these wonderful events for well over a decade now. They give the public a chance to meet paleontologists, hear lectures, and see real fossils. I grew up about 90 miles from Rockford so I would drag my family to PaleoFest every year. I remember meeting various paleontologists at that first PaleoFest, and then sometime around that time I also met Paul Sereno for the first time. This was a huge moment in my life, in hindsight. Paul is a professor at the University of Chicago. Growing up near Chicago, I would see him on the news and in the newspapers constantly. I was in awe when I met him. And I remember him being so nice--he took the time to talk to me and my family, and answered all of my nerdy teenage questions. And he kept in touch over email, which was incredible. I remember feeling so privileged--that this famous scientist was talking to me. A few years later, after graduating high school, I went to the University of Chicago for college and was Paul's student. He introduced me to studying fossils, to dinosaur anatomy, to digging up dinosaurs in the field. I owe a lot to Paul. 

Question 9: Dinosaurs and the animals that lived at the same time as them were amazing creatures.  Why do you feel they continue to fascinate us?

SB: This is the million-dollar-question. I suppose the important thing is that they do fascinate us, for whatever reason. They are such a perfect way to reach children and the public, introduce them to science, articulate that the world is a very old place, and pique their curiosity about the natural world. But why are dinosaurs so fascinating? I suppose it's because they're old and weird-looking, and many of them are big. There is nothing alive today that looks remotely like Tyrannosaurus or Brachiosaurus. These are monsters from ages past, but they are real! They really lived! They are distant enough not to be threatening, but real enough to invoke awe in anybody who looks at them. I think dinosaurs are much more incredible than any mythical creatures ever invented in human myth or fantasy. 

Dryptosaurus aquilunguis claw and jaw casts from Gary Vecchiarelli's personal collection.

Question 10: You took part in writing a scientific paper about Dryptosaurus.  Tell us about that! 

SB: That's right! And that's one reason why I'm so happy and honored to be featured on this blog! Dryptosaurus is a very special dinosaur to me, just as I know it is to Chris and Gary here on the blog. Dryptosaurus was found a long time ago, just a year after the Civil War ended. It was one of the first dinosaurs known from a decently complete skeleton, from anywhere in the world. It was studied by Cope and Marsh and displayed in Philadelphia, to much public acclaim. But then for a long time it was largely forgotten about. It just wasn't clear what kind of theropod Dryptosaurus was. More recently it's become clear that it is a tyrannosaur--a close relative of T. rex and Albertosaurus, but a bit more primitive. I was working on tyrannosaurs as a PhD student so I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the Dryptosaurus skeleton and reassess its anatomy and its genealogical position. So I joined up with my friend and colleague Roger Benson, a specialist on theropods, and my PhD advisor, Mark Norell, and we took another look at the specimen, photographed it, measured it, compared it to other tyrannosaurs, and put this together into a new scientific paper giving the latest information on this very old dinosaur specimen. 

Dryptosaurus life restoration by Christopher DiPiazza

Question 11: You wrote a new book.  Can you tell us a little about it?   

SB: Yes, about a year ago I published a book called Dinosaur Paleobiology. It was published by Wiley-Blackwell, the academic publishers. So it is a somewhat technical book, more for professionals and graduate students than the general public. But it is meant to be accessible to younger students and members of the public with a background knowledge in dinosaurs and anatomy. The purpose of the book is to describe what we currently know about dinosaur biology and evolution, and what methods we use to derive this information. We have learned so much about dinosaurs over the past decade. We probably learned more in the last decade than in all of the previous decades of dinosaur research combined. Scientists are finding a new species of dinosaur once per week on average. The field is moving at a very fast pace, and this book aims to summarize what it is that we actually know about dinosaurs. Of course, by now, it is already quite outdated! Hopefully I'll have the chance to revise it in a few years. I also have a new kids' book coming out in November: the Walking With Dinosaurs Encyclopedia. There will be a new WWD 3D film hitting theaters around Christmas this year, and I have been involved in a lot of things surrounding the film, including this book and the Walking With Dinosaurs website. I consult on the website and answer weekly questions from readers. So if you have any questions about dinosaurs, head on over to the website (walkingwithdinosaurs.com) and send them in!

  

Question 12: What is your favorite time period?

SB: I am a big fan of the Triassic Period, from about 252-201 million years ago. This was the time when dinosaurs got their start. It's also the time period immediately after the devastating end-Permian extinction, the biggest mass extinction in earth history, when up to 95% of species may have gone extinct. So the Triassic was a time of recovery and rebirth. Not only did the dinosaurs originate and begin to proliferate during this time, but the oldest turtles, mammals, pterosaurs, and lizards are also found in the Triassic. So the roots of our modern world can really be found in the Triassic.

Thank you Steve!  

Coahuliceratops: Prehistoric Animal of the Week

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone!  Before you go out to the local bar for some tequila shots why not brush up on your knowledge about a dinosaur that once called Mexico home?  Then when you do go out partying you can impress all the other folks with your dinosaur knowledge and score dates and free drinks (at least that's MY plan and I'm sticking to it!).  Check out Coahuliceratops magnacuerna! 

Life reconstruction of Coahuliceratops magnacuerna by Christopher DiPiazza.

Coahuliceratops magnacuerna gets its genus name from from the state of Mexico, named Coahuila, where it was first discovered in 2003.  The species name, "magnacuerna", means "big horned face" and for a good reason!   Coahuliceratops had two HUGE horns over its eyes, largest of any dinosaur known!  Even though the remains of this dinosaur are fragmentary, it can be estimated that each one of its brow horns was between three and four feet long!  Coahuliceratops' entire body was about twenty two feet long, however, and was still overall smaller than some of its horned relatives like Triceratops.  It was alive during the Late Cretaceous Period, 72 million years ago.

Known skull fragments from Coahuliceratops.

  Coahuliceratops belongs to a family of plant-eating dinosaurs called ceratopsidae along with many other dinosaurs like Chasmosaurus and Triceratops.  Like all ceratopsid dinosaurs, the exact evolutionary reason for the horns and frill of Coahuliceratops is not known for certain.  It is likely, however, that they were used for display and communication within the species and/or for defense against potential predators.

North America 72 million years ago.  Coahuliceratops would have lived at the southern tip of the Western continent, Laramidia. 

At the time that Coahuliceratops was alive, Mexico was a very different place from what it is today.  Instead of a dry desert, it was a lush swampland moistened by a series of freshwater rivers and the warm ocean to the south, east and west (what we call Central America was still under the ocean back then and the Western and Eastern parts of what we now call North America were separated by a shallow sea).  It is only recently that dinosaurs from this place and time have started to be unearthed by paleontologists.  I can't wait to find out what other interesting fossils lie in store for us from there!

As always if you have a prehistoric creature in mind you would like to see reviewed please leave a comment below or on our facebook page!  Happy Cinco de Mayo!

References

Loewen, M.A., Sampson, S.D., Lund, E.K., Farke, A.A., Aguillón-Martínez, M.C., de Leon, C.A., Rodríguez-de la Rosa, R.A., Getty, M.A., Eberth, D.A., 2010, "Horned Dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae) from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Coahuila, Mexico", In: Michael J. Ryan, Brenda J. Chinnery-Allgeier, and David A. Eberth (eds), New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium, Indiana University Press, 656 pp.

"First Horned Dinosaur from Mexico: Plant-Eater Had Largest Horns of Any Dinosaur." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 May 2010. Web.