Happy #FossilFriday! Come check out the Science Museum of Minnesota’s exhibit Ultimate Dinosaurs at the Minnesota State Fair, it’s up the whole time at the North End Event Center! It features 16 Dino skeletons from the southern hemisphere and SO much more!

Happy #FossilFriday! Why’d the Giant Beaver lose its head? Because it’s going to the Minnesota State Fair! Our actual Giant Beaver skeleton is traveling to the North End Event Center, in the Ultimate Dinosaurs exhibit, celebrating it officially becoming our State Fossil. Come see it for yourself! 🦫

Happy #FossilFriday! The outreach continues! Today I presented for a summer youth program hosted at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota. We covered lots of dinos, Ice Age beasts, the state fossil and a titanic snake. Such a great crowd!

Happy #FossilFriday! This past week the paleo team from the Science Museum of Minnesota was at TWO breweries talking science! First up was Bad Weather Brewing for their Summer Block Party then Indeed Brewing last night to do a talk & table on #dinosaurs (and other ancient life). Great times! 🦖🍻

Happy #FossilFriday! This past weekend I drove up to the Cuyuna Rock & Mineral Club (Breezy Point, #Minnesota) to give a talk about Minnesota’s State Fossil, the Giant #Beaver. 🦫🦫🦫 They were a great crowd with lots of fun rocks! 🪨 🪨🪨

Happy #FossilFriday! Check out the holotype (first of its kind) for Kosmodraco dakotensis! It’s about 60 million yrs old from #NorthDakota, collected in the 1970s, from an extinct reptile line called choristoderes, amazingly bizarre with no living relatives, at the Science Museum of Minnesota

Happy #FossilFriday! Check out some recent finds from fieldwork in #NorthDakota! A claw, tooth, and osteoderms (armor plates) of Borealosuchus + some turtle shell. These are all about 60 million years old from life’s recovery phase after the big extinction that ended the Age of the Dinosaurs.

Happy #FossilFriday! Check out these cast lower and upper jaws of Procoptodon, the giant, short-faced kangaroo of #Australia, at the Science Museum of Minnesota! One species (P. goliah) could get over 8 feet tall! These herbivores went extinct about 45,000 yrs ago, possibly due to human hunting.

Happy #FossilFriday! Check out this holotype (first of its kind) of Borealosuchipus, an extinct #crocodile track from #NorthDakota, about 60 million years ago, in the vault at the Science Museum of Minnesota. It shows 2 hind and 2 fore feet prints plus a belly slide! Happy #WorldCrocDay on June 17!

Happy #FossilFriday! Check out this lovely extinct rhino skeleton, Menoceras, on exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota! It lived about 20 million years ago, and is likely female since it’s lacking the pair of nose horns found in males. We also have a preserved Menoceras bone bed on display!

Happy #FossilFriday! Today a team from the Science Museum of Minnesota went to Garden City Elementary school in Brooklyn Center, #Minnesota to talk about the fun & interesting science careers at the museum. I, of course, brought some fun #fossils to share. Great to talk to so many kids!

Happy #FossilFriday! This week, the paleo team from the Science Museum of Minnesota was at Beaver Fest, at lovely Carleton College in Northfield, #Minnesota. It was our 3rd year there but the first with the Giant Beaver as Minnesota’s official state fossil. Such a good time!

Happy #FossilFriday! Our Giant Beaver skeleton just moved to its new spot in the fossil gallery (now on level 3) at the Science Museum of Minnesota. This skeleton of a juvenile Castoroides was found right here in St Paul & lived at the end of the last Ice Age. New signage will be next!

Happy #FossilFriday! Mother’s Day is coming up so check out this gorgeous fossil mother croc we published from Geiseltal, Germany! It’s a 45 million year old Diplocynodon amazingly preserved with 5 of her eggs. Now also published in Dean Lomax’s book Secret Lives of Dinosaurs!

Happy #FossilFriday! Last night the Science Museum of Minnesota had its big Science Celebration night. We of course brought out lots of cool #fossils, including from our recent fieldwork and the new state fossil. Thanks to all who came and helped out to make the evening a success!

Happy #FossilFriday! We have a new publication out this week on extinct #crocodiles! We revise a bunch of higher level group names and propose an all new one to help streamline discussion of evolution in this awesome group of crocs! 🐊🐊🐊 Message if you want a copy! academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

The systematics and nomenclature of Tethysuchia (Archosauria: Crocodylomorpha) under the International Code of Phylogenetic Nomenclature

Abstract. Over the past two decades, numerous species of tethysuchian crocodyliforms have been described, and their phylogenetic relationships have increas

academic.oup.com

Happy #FossilFriday! The paleo crew from the Science Museum of Minnesota has been attending the annual meeting of the Association for Materials & Methods in Paleontology here in Bismarck, #NorthDakota! Great time presenting and learning about fossil methods & winning trivia!

Happy #FossilFriday! Meet Ptilodus, an extinct mammal from ~60 million yrs ago. They’ve been found across western North America, including the Science Museum of Minnesota’s Wannagan Creek site in #NorthDakota. They had blade teeth in their lower jaw and were roughly the size of a squirrel. 🐿️

Happy #FossilFriday! International Beaver Day is April 7, so check out this lovely incisor of the giant #beaver from Freeborn County, #Minnesota! It’s the southernmost record from the state, found on a farm when digging a sump pit in 1958. From the vault at the Science Museum of Minnesota!

Happy #FossilFriday! Today I had the priveledge of talking #dinosaurs on the @jasonshowtv.bsky.social with great #fossils from the Science Museum of Minnesota. We talked tiny heads on sauropods, dome-headed pachycephalosaurs and, of course, T. rex, fun times!

Happy #FossilFriday! Very happy to have a grant-funded summer position open at the Science Museum of Minnesota! Apply here for a great chance to work in our Paleontology Dept + good volunteer opportunities to join us in the field in North Dakota & Montana! recruiting.ultipro.com/SCI1003/JobB...

Happy #FossilFriday! It’s almost #StPatricksDay, so check out this impressive skull of Megaloceros, the extinct #Irish Elk! They lived during the Ice Ages and males had antlers up to 11 feet across! Their antlers alone could weigh over 70 pounds! On display at the @lapworthmuseum.bsky.social

Happy #FossilFriday! This lovely horse tooth from the Wright County Historical Society is the final part of our dozen horse teeth being analyzed for potential Ice Age horses in #Minnesota! Part of research at the Science Museum of Minnesota funded by the MN Legacy Amendment.

Happy #FossilFriday! We picked up another #fossil #horse tooth from the Goodhue County Historical Society, part of research at the Science Museum of Minnesota to see if horses lived in #Minnesota during the Ice Age. Thanks in part to funds from the MN Legacy Amendment.

Happy #FossilFriday! Yesterday we went from the Science Museum of Minnesota to the Crow Wing Historical Society to pick up this beautiful #fossil #horse tooth. This is part of a project to determine if horses lived with the first people in #Minnesota! Funded in part by the MN Legacy Amendment.

Happy #FossilFriday! The Science Museum of Minnesota’s T. rex is in the #Olympic spirit and testing its skills at curling! #Minnesota’s own are representing team USA in Italy right now, but you can see this majesty for yourself at the museum!

Happy #FossilFriday! Many thanks to @iknowdino.bsky.social for the spotlight on the Science Museum of Minnesota with everything that's been happening in #Minnesota. We appreciate the support and acknowledgement that everything here is affected by this, even #dinosaur #paleontology. iknowdino.com

Happy #FossilFriday! Last night the Science Museum of Minnesota held a fashion-themed science night. Paleo connected w/ the shark tooth necklace, worn by many across the world, for many years people have expressed themselves w/ sharks. Pics 2 & 3 show off my part at the herps & fishes table!

Happy #FossilFriday! Check out this lovely megalodon tooth from South Carolina! 🦈 It shows off the shark’s size & has great serration preservation (an adaptation for whale-eating! 🐋). This is just one of many #fossils recently donated to the Science Museum of Minnesota. Stay tuned for more!

Happy #FossilFriday! Fossil fans may know about #stromatolites, remains of bacteria that go back billions of years. But they are still alive, even in #Minnesota! This specimen is less than 10,000 yrs old (at the Science Museum of Minnesota) and will be the subject of an upcoming study. Stay tuned!