Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

10/09/2026

It’s the FINAL episode of ! I think we’re gonna have to have a good cry… 😢

But before we cry, allow us to present you with the twentieth and final episode of the series in which we cover Marsh-Felch Quarry (yes, that Marsh) on the BLM’s Garden Park Paleontological resource area in Colorado.

Some of our favorite dinosaurs 🦕 were discovered for the first time in that quarry during the height of the infamous Bone Wars (so infamous that there’s even a musical about it! Bone Wars) and we felt it appropriate to use this final episode as a reminder that science works best when we collaborate with one another! Science is a team sport, and ego only poisons the pot! Right now we really need that teamwork to help save our public lands and museums that are falling victim to the effects of attacks on science and science funding!

Thanks for exploring fossils with us on your public lands Out on the Fossil Trails! Stay tuned for cool and diverse social media projects from SVP in the coming months! And as always, stay fossiliferous, and happy

10/08/2026

The Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) expresses deep concern about recent announcements affecting natural history collections and museum programs at institutions…

10/08/2026

Society member Brynn Wooten on her time learning the ins and outs of research and museum collections at the Sternberg Museum.

"I really came here for the museum... I immediately fell in love. I knew this is where I'm meant to be."

In 2021, Fort Hays State University alumn Brynn Wooten was named a Barry Goldwater Scholar. This nationally competitive scholarship fully funded her final two years of undergraduate study. Wooten was the first FHSU student to receive this prestigious award.

🔗 View the full spotlight on YouTube, filmed in the renovated Oceans of Kansas fossils prep lab at the Sternberg: https://youtu.be/JJP4Loc7vNY?si=nkQ1mnYuoz3M3rQb

🔗 Donate the the official FHSU Foundation fundraising campaign: https://foundation.fhsu.edu/save-sternberg/

10/08/2026

Salomon Aaron Identified as FHSU’s Outside Museum Adviser; Sternberg Fundraising Goal Raised to $1 Million

Salomon Aaron is a director at David Aaron, LTD, a London-based antique and fine art gallery, family-owned and operated through multiple generations. According to a Feb. 2026 Heni News profile, Salomon Aaron “is known for his expertise in provenance and has overseen the gallery’s expansion into the natural history market.”

“Is the goal to sell things? Absolutely not,” FHSU President Tisa Mason said. “Can I say that there’s never going to be anything sold? I think that would be not very wise at this point.”

Read the story here: https://www.hdnews.net/2026/10/07/breaking-news/salomon-aaron-identified-as-fhsus-outside-museum-adviser-sternberg-fundraising-goal-raised-to-1-million/

10/02/2026

Dinosaur National Monument is famous for its Carnegie Quarry wall, but there’s a lot else to discover in the 329 square mile monument!

With about a billion years of geologic time represented, the research and education potential at dinosaur is endless! Like all of Utah’s national monuments, this place is super important to paleontology, conservation, and indigenous cultures. No wonder it’s been Max’s favorite since he was 8!

And as always, happy

10/02/2026

Our next members Town Hall meeting is coming up on October 7! Members, please check your email for the link to join the zoom call!

09/25/2026

How fortunate for us that the newest state park in the western states is dinosaur themed… and for good reason! The dinosaurs found here are incredible!

Though it was first designated as a State Park in 2021, Paleontological research on the rocks in the park (like the Dalton Wells Quarry) goes back decades! I mean, when scouting out cool rocks to look for fossils at, who wouldn’t be drawn to those beautiful green layers of the Cedar Mountain Formation?

Also, we owe Ranger Andy (vermontensis) a huge thanks for offering us and our students and impromptu visitor center tour! It was so cool!

Additional footage of the Utahraptor holotype and one of the Utahraptor mounts features the Prehistoric Museum, Joshua Lively (who was also very gracious in giving our students a tour!), and our good friend and colleague Alexandra Bonham!

Did you spot the reference in the music this week? This one is “Jurassic Park” by “Weird Al” Yankovic!

Happy !

09/18/2026

At first I was afraid, I was petrified (wood)! 🪵

Escalante petrified forest state park is easy to miss given its proximity to greats like Grand Staircase National Monument, but it’s super worth a visit for a chance to hike through a Jurassic forest!

And we’re sure our former Sternberg Science Camps+ students will get quite excited at the mention of the Naturita formation…

Much of the information in this video, as well as stratigraphic figures come from:

Morgan, Susan & Gee, Carole & Lindsay, Bradford & Williams, Anthony & Sanders, P. & Richmond, Dean. (2024). Geology and paleontology of Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. Geology of Utah’s Parks and Monuments (pp.567) Utah Geological Association Publication 28 (fourth edition)

Additional Morrison range figure from:

Christine E. Turner, Fred Peterson. (2007) Reconstruction of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation extinct ecosystem—a synthesis. Sedimentary Geology, Volume 167, Issues 3–4

And happy !

09/11/2026

It’s not every day you get to see a non-avian dinosaur 🦖 fly, but that’s exactly what happened when we witnessed a military chinook helicopter 🚁 fly a complete skeleton of a brand new dinosaur species out of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument this summer on behalf of Lindsay Zanno and NC Museum of Natural Sciences, in partnership with paleontologists from the Bureau of Land Management!

This sort of event isn’t common in paleontology, but if you’re going to see it anywhere, GSENM is high on the list. There’s a reason it’s known as world’s greatest living laboratory, and that’s because it’s super important to just about every nature science you can think of! And, significantly, it is home to a deep and continuing cultural history belonging to this nation’s indigenous peoples who have inhabited these lands for thousands of years.

That’s why SVP has once again filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for new reductions to GSENM and the nearby and equally important Bears Ears National Monument, along with our partners and co-plaintiffs from Utah Diné Bikéyah, , Conservation Lands Foundation, Access Fund, Patagonia, A'nuche Organization, and The US National Trust!

You can help by contacting your senators and representatives to demand that they act NOW to protect the monuments that are not only important to us paleontologists, but also to indigenous cultures, to wildlife, and to sciences of every kind.

09/08/2026

DINOSAUR 🦖 TRACKS 🐾 are BACK!

This time at Zion National Park ! Zion’s rocks represent a crucial time in dinosaur evolution, and even include the third most devastating mass extinction in earth’s history; the End-Triassic mass extinction!

You may be thinking, “hey, didn’t they already do this video?” Why yes. We did. This is a new version of that video!

We’d like to own up to an error we made in the previous version. When we learned that our friend Conner Bennett was the only paleontologist whose research was funded by Zion, we misunderstood and thought we had been told he was the only one doing research on Zion National Park’s fossils. This is not the case! As it turns out, there’s a really cool upcoming paper (or papers) by Celina Suarez and Andrew R C Milner expanding on the end-Triassic extinction at Zion! It’s also going to feature all new art by Brian Engh Art (whose art is prominently featured in this video)!

We also want to shout out two accidental cameos in this video on the parts of our former student Regalius and our close friend and colleague Alexandra Bonham!

This may no longer count for Fossil Friday, but has a nice ring doesn’t it?

paleontology