Comparative Anatomist, Vertebrate Paleontologist, and Surface Metrologist - Long Island NY, Florida, China, everywhere!
Brian Beatty
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Fascinating…
Tahlia Pollock @bristolpalaeo.bsky.social has an amazing new study integrating 3D shape, biomechanics, and optimality modelling, helps explain why so many mammals evolve sabre teeth: functional optimality was a key driver behind the repeated evolution of extreme sabre-tooth morphologies.
Where are all the field studies?
This ⬇️ important but rather depressing paper describes how conducting, & crucially initiating, field studies is becoming harder & rarer.
A short 🧵 (and a call for more fieldwork)
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
Spent the afternoon helping my students prepare for a big day tomorrow. The first day of sampling for our AHA-funded project starts at 7:30am tomorrow!!!
#artadventcalendar x #fossilfriday Valenictus sheperdi, an extinct tusked (but otherwise toothless) walrus from the Pliocene Purisima Formation of northern California - here shown cruising along an early rocky shore habitat. We named this earlier this year. 🐡🐬🦑🦖