Fossil Crates

09/09/2026

Meet

It gives a run for its money as largest, and scrappiest, big pterosaur taxon :-).

This gigantic azhdarchid sculpt is on display at the National Oertijdmuseum in Boxtel, Netherlands. It is the first time I have observed a full rendition of this Late Cretaceous Romanian beast.

The holotype, FGGUB R1083, consists of the back of the skull and the proximal end of the left humerus. Wingspan estimates are 30’+ based on the robustness of the humeral head.

If the massive cervical vert, EME 315, belongs to this taxon it suggests an ultra-thick (for a pterosaur) neck suggesting perhaps it was a terrestrial predator, grip and flick-style feeding.

Some azhdarchids were apparently well suited for quadrupedal walking, a terrestrial stalker if you will, that was a mix of Voldo and a giraffe. The thick neck allowing it to toss back reasonably heavy beasts its massive chopstick jaws could spear.

It seems to have lived in an archipelago and might have performed the role of theropod, picking off the small and diverse vertebrate fauna, snacking on dinosaurs.

My conundrum is folks presume the cervical belongs to the same taxon as the holotype. What if it belongs to a completely different pterosaur? That is the wonder, and the frustration, of the paleontology of fragments. So many possibilities that can truly only be resolved with more specimens.

08/09/2026

I see something new-to-me every day!

macrocephalus, aka the cachalot, is the largest living toothed predator with males hitting 60’ and 50 tons.

The head, ~1/3rd the body, contains the spermaceti organ (where it gets its more common nickname), filled with waxy oil. The asymmetrical skull’s echolocation system produces massively powerful clicks that travel through the spermaceti organ before being shot into the water. Returning echoes allow it to locate prey in the deep ocean (I think the asymmetry helps build a 3D model to know where prey is). They famously hunt squid but also eat fish, octopus, and even crab. Circular squid scars show off “epic battles,” which are truly one-sided affairs. Spaghetti can’t win :-).

They can dive 6,600’, and do this in an hour on one breath.

They communicate using patterned sequences of clicks called codas. Different social groups possess distinctive codas, behaviors, and traditions, providing intriguing evidence of culture. Females and young live in cooperative social groups, and protect calves (the famous circle!) and help injured ones to the surface to breathe. They have “succorant epimeletic behavior,” for some new words :-).

Alas, whaling killed hundreds of thousands seeking spermaceti oil (for candles and lubricant) and ambergris (an intestinal substance kind of like a pearl around squid beaks that are irritating their lining) for perfume.

This original skeleton is on display at the National Oertijdmuseum. It beached in 1995 and during processing the upper teeth were found. Eating soft squid means they don’t have to chew. :-)



The vestigial maxillary teeth are concealed beneath the gums and rarely erupt. I found one documented female with three upper teeth that had erupted 1.5 mm above the gum, each emerging from the bottom of a reception pit beside the much larger opposing lower tooth. Contrast that with Livyatan :-).

07/09/2026

Carnotaurus the Flesh-eating bull!

This spectacular specimen is at the Oertidjmuseum in Boxtel, Netherlands.

Who doesn’t love a theropod with horns? The short, tall skull reminds me of a hatchetfish. :-)

The “flesh bull” lived in the Late Cretaceous of Argentina, usuaalky cited as 70 Ma, though 100 and 80Ma have been suggested. Twas published in 1984.

70 Ma puts it contemporaneous with Majungasaurus, another extremely well-known abelisaur dinosaur. Historically the two were thought to be closely related, yet in the mid 2000s a new hypothesis emerged suggesting Majungasaurus was closest to abelisaurs from India and only distantly related to Carnotaurus. Much work is ongoing teasing apart these relationships. New finds would help :-).

As a grad student I had the pleasure of seeing the Carnotaurus holotype in person in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was one of those pinch-me moments as here I was touching a skull I grew up thinking was so cool. Thinking about it now put a big grin on my face :-).

It is the only theropod with true horns. The frontal bones give rise to them and they are embedded in the skull. In life they had a covering, the shape and size of which are open to interpretation. I suspect we will find more horned theropods, we can’t have found the only one!

Lots of skin impressions (no feathers) were preserved with it and The Dinosaur Museum in Blanding, Utah made one of the coolest Carno recreations by taking the skin into account.

Were the horns used as display? They are more robust than other theropod display features (think Cryolophosaurus), leading to thought that they were used to batter one another, either via a charge or pushing back and forth rhino-style. What a sight this beast would have been.

06/09/2026

I reworked my long, detailed blog on the Academy of Natural Sciences' financials into a more visually digestible format. https://www.fossilcrates.com/blogs/news/academy-of-natural-sciences-financial-charts
The takeaways remain the same: a large pre-COVID deficit, flat attendance, declining pledges, and minimal cash.

Tis a cautionary tale, and in my opinion, worth doing a deep dive on your own/favorite museum(s). The Academy was far from "out of the blue"; the financials predicted this would happen.

The Academy's Finances In Pictures By now you have heard that the Academy of Natural Sciences' (ANS) public-facing museum is closing at the end of September 2026. This has caused a public outcry, with “Save the Museum” campaigns, “turn-ins” where everyone pledges to visit, an outpouring of m...

06/09/2026

“Raptors”!

These two sculpts are at the Oertidjmuseum in Boxtel, Netherlands, a super cool museum!

“swift running lizard” was named in 1922 by Matthew and Brown from a partial skull and foot. Over 100 years later, it is still a rare Late Cretaceous western North American taxon.
Thanks to Jurassic Park, the world refers to all speedy, bipedal meat-processing machines as “raptors” due to the amazing Hollywood Velociraptor stars (note the sign here).

Paleontologists call such dromaeosaurids, not raptors, as the first named genus gets the honor of being the name-bearer for the Family. Think tyrannosaurids, stegosaurids, allosaurids, etc.; each family (and we know we are talking family because they end in *id) takes the name from the first of its type described. Thus all “raptors” are dromaeosaurids. Oh yeah, not all dinosaurs with the word raptor in it are dromaeosaurids (Sinraptor, for example).
Scientifically, “raptor” refers to birds of prey like eagles and hawks. “Raptor” as part of a dinosaur name first appeared in the literature twice in the same paper. Osborn (of T. rex fame) named Velociraptor and Oviraptor in 1924 for two animals from Mongolia. He must have liked the name :-).
Later, folks realized these tiny, fast-moving, killing-claw-endowed creatures were all related (excluding Oviraptor :-)), and the group Dromaeosauridae was created. Funny enough, Dromaeosaurus was not found with a killing claw; however, its skull and leg bones are diagnostic for the Family.
That long tail helped with steering while running. Long legs meant fast running. Sharp, recurved hand claws and 11 sharp teeth in each lower jaw provided a devastatingly effective one-two-three punch/punch/bite. And we haven’t even delved into those killing toe claws!
A super-sharp, purpose-built claw for a stomp-stab, rend with hands and tooth maw. Relax.

05/09/2026

Amazing skull

This skull is at the supercool National Oertidjmuseum in Boxtel, Netherlands. It is quite 3D! The horns has eroded off by the time it was found, but the rest was spectacularly preserved and they left it “as-is” instead of “fix” it (minus adding horns). There are some interesting pathologies in the skull. Thanks, Tom, for finding it!

The lines on the frill are where blood vessels flowed and why some propose the giant frills were used as heat radiators akin to elephant ears. Likely species identification as well.

The frill lacked huge fenestrae (holes), but still would have been covered in a keratinous sheath, possibly patterned and colored. Perhaps it could have flushed the frill with blood, generating a few different shades of red.

The bony horn cores would have been covered with keratin as well. How much is anyone’s guess, just enough to prevent the bone from feeling air? 25% longer? Hard to say for sure. I keep waiting for someone to again find a horncore with the original horn material in place. There are references to black organic material being found in the late 1800s but discarded…

Ceratopsian horns have lots of grooves, where arteries and veins pressed into the bone. They aren’t antlers, those are grown and shed every year, but true horns.

Those horns worked great offensively and defensively. Let’s talk offense first. Yes, they would have been intimidating to even the largest Tyrannosaurus, which wants to eat in peace, not take a bellyful of agony for a bite. A full-sized Triceratops was 30’+ long and 10+ tons, think elephant with cooler tail but not as cool front-end weaponry ;-). Points for the massive shield!

The horns likely were used as much, if not more, for intraspecific sparring. Grooves at the correct height for antagonstic horns can be seen on many an adult ceratopsian skull, suggesting horns not only let you know what species to be hanging out with, but also which ones you needed to spar with to be Tricera-Hank, the King of the Hill.

04/09/2026

Arkhane!

I had no idea I’d be seeing Arkhane at the Brussels Institute of Natural Sciences in Belgium. Not being a theropod lad, I forgot it existed, that is until I rounded a corner and was greeted by this . I was delighted to zoom in and take a long look at the specimen. This is a short version of the ultra-long, 500 mm zoomed-in version. :-)

It is said to be a new species, but none of the signage indicated why. I defer to the Allo specialists on this; you may know I struggle with jugal character variation, and I’m now wondering about a few others. But I study mostly diplodocid sauropod tails, so keep that in mind. I do, however, end up touching/seeing a TON of Allo material in collections (and on display), and there are some interesting differences in the p***s that I’d love to see CT scanned.

The dentary and its teeth are cited as being quite small, and the p***s is noted as different. I’ll have to compare them when I get home.

I’d LOVE to see this specimen undergo a complete CT scan. Every bone would fit in a human scanner, which at the very least should identify what is reconstructed versus what is original bone. If you are the owner, DM me, I’d love to help!

For Allo fans, the usual lacrimal/jugal/nasal characters, to me, looked like A. fragilis. I don’t know from where in the Morrison Formation this beast comes, other than “Wyoming.” I don’t know if it is down low or up high.

Regardless of what name it goes by, the specimen cuts an impressive figure mounted up high on that base. The hand and foot look quite nice, as do many vertebral centra ;-).

The Royal Belgian institute of Natural Sciences is such an impressive museum! We opened and closed it just studying Iguanodon (9 mounted, bring a big zoom lens!).

03/09/2026

Adorable Mogwai!

Meet syrichta, the Philippine tarsier, a super cute nocturnal tarsiid. Carlito is the genus name, though I think it’s a great individual name.

The eye is nearly as large as its brain, providing dark-(k)night vision and tree-mendous depth perception. Tarsiers lack the reflective tapetum lucidum used by many nocturnal mammals (who knew?). Because the eyes move little within their sockets, they have to Batman-style rotate their head/body. “I’m Tarsier.”

Those big, mobile ears join in prey location, and they hear at frequencies approaching 91 kHz. They produce a prominent call nearing 70 kHz, a functional ultrasonic system that happens to be among the highest-frequencies of terrestrial mammals. (Cetaceans be laughing’)

This tarsier is an “obligate faunivore” and not a fruit eater. It munches on insects, arthropods, and even small vertebrates, hunting at night with those big eyes and ears. Make a move or a sound in its general direction and whammo, a tarsier-leap leads to life over.

They are expert vertical clingers and leapers thanks to a bunch of morphological characters: elongate tarsals, powerful legs, a long, balancing tail, and those sweet expanded “digital pads.” The combo means precise propulsion, great grasping, and lunar landings on narrow branches.

The second and third toes have grooming claws! Always gotta have good-looking fur :-). The rest of the fingers have normal nails.

They rest by day and forage at night within defined (to them) home ranges, using vocalizations and scent markings to lay claim.

6 months of pregnancy results in an adorable precocial infant, born furred and open eyed.

Alas, habitat loss, illegal hunting, and even “disruptive tourism” (seeing nocturnal animals by day) is putting the squeeze on these Gremlin stand-ins :-).

02/09/2026

Meet !

“Difficult to capture lizard,” so named because of its long, speedy legs and tail I suspect, was a Late Jurassic Tendaguru Formation dryosaurid ornithopod. At one point it was dubbed Dryosaurus, but later studies decreed tis a separate genus closely tied to a skeleton I found, Iyuku (fwiw, tis a capital ‘i’ FWIW :-)).

This cutie lived in Tanzania, where it seems to have flitted about in large herds. This thought comes from the fact thousands of bones of them have been found in two separate stratigraphic layers, each suggesting a mass mortality event represented by over 90% bones present are of this taxon.

Each bed has different age groups commingled, suggesting each event had a different mix of “social groups” herding together.

They lived near the coast. One hypothesis is they tried crossing a tidal channel during a seasonal migration, and scores of them drowned and the currents washed all the remains into a concentrated area.

Almost every bone is known (though articulated material remains rare) and ontogenetic studies can readily be performed on the skulls (robust buggers) and limb elements. I wish we had a dedicated database of range of variation within elements. Today such a range typically only exists within the heads and photos of individual researchers. Such “basic” research isn’t deemed “sexy” and thus is typically not done, passed over for more “exciting work like naming new taxa, but such foundational work would likely impinge, and exhort, the validity of new taxa. The conundrum is it takes scanning and examining every bone, noting every difference, sorting those from taphonomy out, conjecturing which are ontogenetic, and all this takes lots and lots of time. Perhaps here is an area AI can flourish? Pattern matching across hundreds of STL files? If it can be used to read ancient texts still wrapped in scrolls, this should be easy, no? Along with assembling the hundreds of pieces of the Stygivenator skull that might help resolve that beast :-). Way off topic but I like to write some of what flutes through my brain whilst penning these factoids :-).

This one is on display at the amazing Museum fur Naturk

01/09/2026

Meet !

This fun-sized Late Jurassic Tanzanian stegosaur is one of my all-time faves thanks to a Thagomizer running up the back. Alas, the reality of this is far less secure than the casts and books conveyed to my younger self.

I spent some time at the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin poking around the material, of which there is a lot. Alas, it comes from a bone salad that Hennig estimated was from 50-100 individuals found in “total disorder.”

Hennig used Stegosaurus as a guide and chose for his skeleton 10 cervicals, 17 dorsals, and 3 “lumbars” (with nuance…), and ~46 caudals, as had tails with 26 articulated(ish).

What drew my attention is the Rundstachel, or “round spike.” It has a twisted shaft and a broad, nearly flat base, making it different from the normal spikes. The Germans placed it on the side of the ilium, however with Gigantspinosaurus having them on the scapulae twas moved forward (I suspect). However, the latter has a spot on the scap to “receive” the spike. I saw no such spot on Kentro, the ilia seem a more logical spot to put them to me. Next time I’ll spend more time looking carefully at the ilia (I say that but are you aware of just how much sauropod material is present ;-)).

I love the look of the beast but I’d feel far more comfortable with an articulated skeleton as a roadmap. :-) I am reminded of the original Iguanodon, Madgeburg unicorn, T. rex hand, Anomalocaris, and dozens more that were built one way but re-search transpired and, voila, new way discovered.

The fact so many were found dead in one place fascinates me. Coastal environs seem to be dangerous!