Lmst

Alberta may be landlocked now, but in the Late Cretaceous it lay beneath the Western Interior Seaway and was home to massive marine reptiles like mosasaurs! How did so many predators coexist?

New research led by Dr. Femke Holwerda shows niche partitioning using tooth wear, biomechanics, and isotopes with unprecedented detail.

Open-access paper: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/17/3/205
Paleo 2023 talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiLhIornWI4

#palaeontology #paleontology #mosasaur #AlbertaPaleo #alberta #ab

A map of North America during the cretaceous, with the outline of Alberta highlighted in red. It's clear what the very western part of the province is above water, but the rest is covered by the Western Interior Seaway.

Fossils of a Progrnathodon skull and the skull & body of a Mosasaurus.

A close-up of the teeth of a mosasaur, demonstrating both coarse scratches, fine scratches, and pits.

A graph showing the areas within which the isotope ratios of the different mosasaurs (and some fish) lie. In general there are two clusters (one in the bottom and one in the top) and a large overlapping area (Mosasaurus missouriensis).

Field Trip Update:

We're planning on changing the date of the overnight adventure at the Royal Tyrrell Museum to Nov. 28 - 29 to accommodate our speaker schedule.

All details are still provisional, so stay tuned & check for updates:
https://albertapaleo.org/events/fieldtrips

#dinovember #albertapaleo #FamilyFun #palaeontology #paleontology #drumheller #ab #alberta

A poster with the details from the post. The text is overlaid on a picture of Black Beauty, a large T. rex skeleton dyed black by the presence of manganese. The picture was taken in the dark, illuminated only by a single flashlight.

Save the date!
We're planning another overnight adventure at the Royal Tyrrell Museum this Nov 21–22 (dates TBD). Fossils, fun, and a night at the museum!

All details are still provisional, so stay tuned & check for updates:
https://albertapaleo.org/events/fieldtrips

#dinovember #albertapaleo #FamilyFun #palaeontology #paleontology #drumheller #ab #alberta

#AlbertaPaleo

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