the casual paleontologist

pa·le·on·tol·o·gy: noun. a science dealing with the life of past geological periods as known from fossil remains.

Despite being paleontology centric this blog should also serve as a resource for, and window into, other areas of study to help us gain an understanding of how our earth and the life on it has been shaped over the past 4.5 billion years.

Please contribute by asking us a question or submitting something you find interesting! This blog is run by and intended for people who love the sciences surrounding prehistoric earth and want to share what they find interesting and learn something new.

scientificillustration:

Engineering a dinosaur predator - Allosaurus feeding mechanics

“ http://bit.ly/10oJqL4 Animation of the feeding movements of the head and neck of the Jurassic predatory theropod dinosaur Allosaurus based on multibody dynamics and soft-tissue reconstruction. Based on the article published in 2013 in Palaeontologia Electronica (see link above) by Eric Snively, John Cotton, Ryan Ridgely, and Lawrence Witmer. Animation executed by Ridgely with the assistance of Snively and Witmer. Research supported by the NSF-funded Visible Interactive Dinosaur project, WitmerLab at Ohio University.”

(via paleoillustration)

prehistoric-birds:

paleoillustration:

Dino Hunt is a dinosaur inspired short film, in which a herd of Styracosaurs are hunted by a pack of raptors.

“We’re looking for other dinosaur and visual effects fans to consider contributing to our Dino Hunt IndieGoGo campaign, and help us spread the word! You can follow along with our progress via Twitter and Instagram!”

UPDATE: don’t worry about featherless raptors or pronated hands, take a look at this

I love the shape and sexual dimorphism of the tail fans. 

paleoillustration:

Dino Hunt is a dinosaur inspired short film, in which a herd of Styracosaurs are hunted by a pack of raptors.

“We’re looking for other dinosaur and visual effects fans to consider contributing to our Dino Hunt IndieGoGo campaign, and help us spread the word! You can follow along with our progress via Twitter and Instagram!”

UPDATE: don’t worry about featherless raptors or pronated hands, take a look at this

Dromaeosaurus nest, from the Dino Hunt team! http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dino-hunt/ Check out this beautiful artwork by the people at Dino Hunt Films and have a peek at their Indiegogo for a behind the scenes trailer of their upcoming short film about a herd of Styracosaurs being hunted by a pack of Dromaeosaurs. A 5 dollar donation for their film gets your name in the credits and there are some REALLY sweet T-Shirts available for donations as well. http://dinohuntfilms.com/

Dromaeosaurus nest, from the Dino Hunt team!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dino-hunt/

Check out this beautiful artwork by the people at Dino Hunt Films and have a peek at their Indiegogo for a behind the scenes trailer of their upcoming short film about a herd of Styracosaurs being hunted by a pack of Dromaeosaurs.

A 5 dollar donation for their film gets your name in the credits and there are some REALLY sweet T-Shirts available for donations as well.

http://dinohuntfilms.com/