@denverfowler
Dinosaur behavior, stratigraphy, fieldwork, raptor feet & claws, tyrannosaur toothmarks, ceratopsids, public interaction, open-science. Opinions my own Curator at Badlands Dinosaur Museum, Dickinson, North Dakota
If you like what we do please consider donating, or buying something from our online shop. We have some unique items that you can only get from us, with new things being added all the time:
shop.dickinsonmuseumcenter.com
SITE: "Jack's Bonebed", Dinosaur Park Formation, ~76 Million Years old, Montana. Site found by Jack Wilson on US Public Lands administered by the US Bureau of Land Management MT/Dakotas. Permanently reposited at Badlands Dinosaur Museum, Dickinson, North Dakota.
BABY DUCKBILL: Steve just finished cleaning this super cute jaw, with rows of tiny teeth! This matches another jaw, femur, and vertebrae that we collected from the same site. A baby dino skeleton is coming out!
#fossilfriday #dinosaurs #dinosaur #scicomm #fossils #publiclands
Stupid tyrannosaurs in a million bits. This is the left side of the snout of Holger, a Daspletosaurus c.f. wilsoni. The skull of Holger, our 2nd completed Dasp site, is currently being restored.
From US Public Lands administered by the BLM; Judith River Fm, Montana. #dinosaurs
right, i was saying i don't believe heron is an appropriate analogue, and I don't believe the swimming model either.
aquatic but "heron" is not a good comparison. I don't see how they could swim underwater with the sail the way it is. Totally implausible.
neither
NOTE: The lab experience is not available for 2026 because we're building the new lab, but I am hoping I can pull together the funds for 2027. I am very hopeful we might be able to get university dorm rooms for accommodation too. TRYING to make paleo accessible for all.
ALSO: Would you be interested in a lab-based volunteer experience? I'm thinking of applying for money to fund a person to run our (new, BIG) lab in the summer so we could have ~5 volunteers prepping dinosaur bones. Not everyone can do fieldwork, so this would make paleo available to more people.
Incidentally, the main photo I chose was taken during lunch, that's why we're all sat around eating. Here's a photo (taken by Dani Barrera) of some work being done at the ankylosaur quarry.
Here's the link for more information / application details, etc.
www.dickinsongov.com/museum-cente...
VOLUNTEER ON A DINOSAUR DIG: We run one of the only free dinosaur digs in the USA. We work public land and the fossils go in our public museum, forever. It's hard work, but we find some cool things. If this sounds like you, we're taking applications. Link in comms. #dinosaurs
Yes, it could be a Gorgo eating a Dasp, but it's basically impossible to tell from just the tooth spacing. Likelihood is that it's Dasp on Dasp based on abundance. There are going to be limits on how precise the information you get is, but its a cool fossil. Am trying to get the 3D file uploaded.
Read the paper here, FREE:
Nielsen J; Fowler DW; Wyenberg-Henzler, T; Jacobsen AR, & Pearce, C. (2026) Investigating size-asymmetric feeding among tyrannosaurids using tooth marks on a metatarsal from the Judith River Formation, Montana, USA. Evolving Earth
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The specimen (BDM 124) was discovered in 2012 by fossil collectors Brent and Rod Olson on private land in Montana which contains exposures of the Judith River Formation. In 2023, it was donated to the public repository at Badlands Dinosaur Museum, Dickinson ND. /6
Although rare, cannibalism is documented in modern carnivores, and evidence for cannibalism within tyrannosaurs has been noted before. The new specimen is the first example with a reversed body size discrepancy between the large-bodied carcass and small-bodied scavenger. /5
There's no healing around the marks, so the adult tyrannosaur was already dead when it was fed upon. There also would not have been much meat on the feet, suggesting that the small tyrannosaur fed on the large carcass after it had been lying on the land surface for some time.
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The toothmarks form sets of subparallel marks made during the same bite. Tooth spacing allows us to calculate the size of the carnivore feeding on the carcass. Intriguingly, it appears that the large adult tyrannosaur was being nibbled on by a much smaller tyrannosaur, probably a juvenile.
We're used to seeing images of tyrannosaurs standing triumphantly above their vanquished prey, gorging on a bloody meal. However, Nielsen et al. (2026) describe an adult tyrannosaur foot bone with multiple tooth marks cut into the end. This time, the giant was a meal for someone else!
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CANNIBALISM OF AN ADULT TYRANNOSAUR BY A JUVENILE:
Our new study on a Badlands Dinosaur Museum fossil reveals dinosaur cannibalism where a juvenile tyrannosaur feasted on the carcass of a dead adult!
3D reconstructions supervision Yu Xin, designer Shen Li, sculptor Liang Junwei
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Thanks. I had them as wasp/bee traces. I'll let you know when a project starts. Usually I put a student on these. It's into the bonebed which we dig every year, so there's a possibility we will come across more. There are also other small infilled burrows in the judith nesting horizons we excavate
We have one from the Dinosaur Park Fm equivalent near Havre - ours has multiple brood chambers. Or at least, that's how I am interpreting it. Just another specimen we should describe...
Here's the link for job description, application, etc. You can ask me questions in the comments here too.
www.governmentjobs.com/careers/dick...
JOB: SEASONAL PALEONTOLOGIST
BADLANDS DINOSAUR MUSEUM (DICKINSON, ND)
2026 summer tourist season. May/June start, 15wks, end Aug/Sept. Full-Time, 40 hrs/wk, $19.84hr. 50% working with public, 50% lab/collections. See link in comms for info. Come work with us!
*skull replica
A nice addition to our exhibit. This Ornithomimus skull was painted by one of our volunteers, Ty Patterson. #dinosaurs #fossils #fossilfriday #museums
The sparrows did do a serious job of removing mortar - noticeable after maybe 1-2 years of them picking at it. But it's ok we moved out! I'm always impressed how adaptable european sparrows are in the USA - in the UK they are much less innovative.
Presumably gastroliths. Mortar is mostly sand with relatively little cement. Cement has lime & clay, but you'd think the clay at least is more easily available from soil. Silica however, is something birds instinctively consume daily, from gravel roads in ND, but not as easy to find in urban setting
I suspect they were after the coarse sand in the mortar rather than minerals. Probably the same for the parrots.
