Jersey Boys Hunt Dinosaurs

Christopher DiPiazza Hosts: New Look at Killer Claws

2012-02-27T17:19:00.001-05:00

I recently read a scientific paper that really made me think about a certain group of dinosaurs in a new way and hopefully after reading this (and the actual paper which I will link at the bottom) you will as well. The dinosaurs I am referring to are the ever popular dromaeosaurs, or as they are referred to more casually, "raptors". I personally hate using the term "raptor" when referring to this type of animal since the word, "raptor", really is supposed to be used to describe modern birds of prey like hawks and their relatives.

The paper had to do with a new theory on how dinosaurs like Velociraptor and Deinonychus (dromaeosaurs) used their trademark switchblade-like killing claw to deal with their prey. If you are not familiar with what I am referring to allow me to briefly explain. Dromaeosaurs (and to a lesser extent, Troodontids) have a special modified toe on each of their hind limbs. Digit two (counting from the inside out. Digit one is the reduced hallux/dewclaw) of each foot wields a HUGE curved claw that looks like a sickle or a hook. This toe is also retractable like a cat's claws so when not in use, it can be held up off of the ground as to not get dull while the animal walks or runs around. Still confused? Check out my sketch below.

The theory that has been generally accepted with regards to the use of these claws is that the dromaeosaur would use them to stab or slash prey to death. Many times dromaeosaurs are showcased in art and media hunting in packs to overwhelm much larger, slower animals. Shown below is a quick sketch I did of two Deinonychus doing exactly that to a poor Tenontosaurus.

This article, however, proposes a different theory and it all starts with something I touched on last month: looking at modern animals for reference. When dealing with dromaeosaurs, the first living animal that comes to mind is a bird. After all, birds are dinosaurs themselves and further more, are theropods just like dromaeosaurs. Dromaeosaurs in particular were very bird-like even amongst other extinct dinosaurs in that they have very similar skeletal structures to birds as well has having had feathers according to many fossil discoveries. So what kind of bird are we talking about here? Many times when studying extinct dinosaurs, large, flightless birds are used for reference but in this case, because we are dealing with the dromaeosaur's special claws, raptors (birds of prey) take the center stage. Ever get a close look at the foot of an eagle or a hawk? Check out this photo below.

Notice anything interesting about the sizes of the talons on this bald eagle? Okay now check out this other photo.

That one is from a South American bird called a Seriema that is more adapted to walking around on the ground than to flying unlike the eagle. What they both have in common, however, is that over-sized claw on the toe just like an extinct dromaeosaur has! Now whether this is from the same gene that was present in a common ancestor between some modern birds and dromaeosaurs or just an example of good old convergent evolution I do not know. (Remember convergent evolution from my post last month?) Whats important to figure out is how these living birds use their special claws and apply this behavior to animals like Velociraptor and Deinonychus back in the Mesazoic. As you may know, these modern birds don't really hunt in packs for the most part nor do they hunt prey too much larger than themselves (there are a few exceptions). This claw is mostly used to pin down struggling prey while the sharp beak, which is hooked in the front and blade-like on the sides, tears off chunks of meat. Think of it like using a fork and knife to eat a meal. The fork holds down the food while the knife cuts off a bite-size piece. Still can't visualize it? No worries! Once again my job at Outragehisss Pets comes to the rescue. Below is a short video of our Eurasian Hawk, Gwen, using this exact method to eat a dead mouse while listening to some sweet tunes. (She doesn't actually start to do the feeding behavior until about 1 min 50 sec in. Feel free to skip ahead if you like.)

So what if extinct dromaeosaurs specialized in hunting smaller prey as opposed to pack hunting large prey? Pretty cool idea I think. Even though dromaeosaurs didn't have the beak of a modern raptor, they did have serrated teeth which would have worked just as nicely for tearing off small chunks of flesh. The paper also talks about how they may have used their arm feathers to keep balance while immobilizing their victims much like modern raptors do today.

Interestingly enough I did a painting of a Troodontid using a technique similar to the one proposed in the paper on an unfortunate boa constrictor (pictured above) before I had actually known about the paper itself. Pictured below is a quick sketch I did special for this blog post of a Deinonychus using this technique on a smaller dinosaur.

Hope you found this post interesting because I sure had a lot of fun writing it. Also be sure to check out the actual article here. Farewell until next time!

Works Cited

Fowler, Denver W., Elizebeth A. Freedman, John B. Scanella, and RobertE. Kambic. "The Predatory Ecology of Deinonychus and the Origin ofFlapping in Birds." PLoS ONE:. Museum of the Rockies andDepartment of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman,Montana, United States of America, 14 Dec. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.<http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0028964>.

Interview With Paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Carpenter!

2012-02-20T10:18:00.002-05:00

Dr. Carpenter earned his doctorate in geology and vertebrate paleontology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Carpenter is world renowned for his research into Early Cretaceous dinosaurs, armored dinosaurs, and dinosaur reproduction. He has published eleven books including Tyrannosaurus rex: The Tyrant King, with paleontologist Peter Larson (Indiana University Press 2008), as well as more than 200 popular and scientific articles on topics ranging from fossil preparation techniques, mounting of fossil skeletons, dinosaur taxonomy, and dinosaur behavior. He has appeared on numerous television programs, such as PaleoWorld, A&E’s “Dinosaur”, BBC’s “The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs”, and “The Loch Ness Monster Revealed.” In addition, he was a scientific consultant for BBC’s “Walking With Dinosaurs”, National Geographic’s “Sea Monsters”, and the “Dinosaur Expo 2009” in Japan. Along with several colleagues, he re-described E.D. Cope's Dryptosaurus. One day, while talking about my project, he graciously took a moment to answer a few questions for my site.

Gary: I have always admired your work during my studies at college. Who did you admire when you were studying your field?

Dr. Carpenter: C.H. Sternberg, Barnum Brown, O.C. Marsh, E.D. Cope, J. Leidy. The last three had so little and did so much with what they had. The first two built on the last three.
Gary: You have had the chance to examine and study Dryptosaurus up close. Why do you feel he is such an important dinosaur?
Dr. Carpenter: Second partial skeleton found, after H. foulki. So it has historical importance.
Gary: What do you think a Dryptosaurus skeleton showcased in a museum would do for the fans and professionals of paleontology?
Dr. Carpenter: Gives them an inkling of what the dinosaur might have looked like had the skeleton been more complete.
Gary: What is it about Dryptosaurus that made you want to research him?
Dr. Carpenter: I was at the Academy, and he/she/it was there, therefore the opportunity was there to redescribe it in context of discoveries made since it was first described.
Gary: If you had to chose a dinosaur skeleton to best fill in the gaps for Dryptosaurus's skeleton, which one would it be?
Dr. Carpenter: Gorgosaurus
Gary: How do you think Dryptosaurus hunted and what did he hunt? Do you believe he was a pack hunter or hunted alone?
Dr. Carpenter: I have no idea.
Gary: Project Dryptosaurus is about educating people about this amazing dinosaur and having him presented in a museum for the first time as a full skeletal mount. Why do you believe this dinosaur should be talked about more and showcased?
Dr. Carpenter: Actually, it will be the second time it is done as a skeleton. First was by Waterhouse Hawkins. Because it is another dinosaur from the east coast, local pride, etc.
Gary: Ahh…yes, always forget that because the old pictures show it partially mounted. Thanks ;-)
Gary: Why do you feel most people have forgotten that Dryptosaurus was the world's second most nearly complete skeleton after Hadrosaurus foulkii?
Dr. Carpenter: Because T rex was found and that was more complete. Also because the AMNH was more media savvy.
Gary: How do you think Dryptosaurus looked liked? Did he have feathers and what colors do you think he might of had?
Dr. Carpenter: Probably looked like a skinny Gorgosaurus; I have no idea about colors, feathers, etc.
Gary: Project Dryptosaurus and I are very appreciative of your time in answering these questions. So for the last question, what else would you like to say about Project Dryptosaurus?
Dr. Carpenter: Good luck.
Gary: Thank you…

Cretaceous Chaos Radio Show!

2012-02-17T12:50:00.004-05:00

On February 5, 2011 my project, Project Dryptosaurus, was featured on WAUG's radio show Cretaceous Chaos, located at Augustana College in Illinois. I had an awesome time talking with Joshua Malone and Samantha Stanton. I appreciate them inviting me on and highly recommend tuning in every week to catch their show. If you missed the live show, you can listen to it below. It is broken into three segments, so It could fit on here. I also recommend visiting the college's museum if you are in the area. The Fryxell Geology Museum boasts an impressive collection! They have a 22-foot long skeleton of Cryolophosaurus, a large crested carnivorous dinosaur discovered in Antarctica in 1991 by paleontologist Dr. William Hammer.

WAUG's Cretaceous Chaos Show

"We cover anything AND everything to do with dinosaurs. This includes reporting on new finds, new research, as well as interviews with paleontologists. But that's not all! We cover the latest dinosaur news in the media as well, such as movies, art, comics, books, and anything else we can think of!" Shows are 4:00 P.M to 6:00 P.M CT on Saturdays. Visit their facebook page for more info.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T17:07:00.002-05:00

OK, so the following couple of videos I stumbled upon had me laughing so hard! They are from a sketch show on the BBC called The Wrong Door. I thought they would give you all a laugh as well. Because let's face it, not every Valentine's Day is a happy one.

A New Jersey Dinosaur In An IMAX Movie?

2012-01-27T00:03:00.001-05:00

The answer is yes! In 1998, IMAX released a movie called T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous. The movie was simply about a young girl who's father was a paleontologist. She tries to be apart of her father's studies and he is basically too busy to notice her. While visiting her father's museum, she gets lost and begins to take this trippy tour via her imagination. At one point, she stumbles upon a Charles R. Knight exhibit. A painting of "Leaping Laelaps" comes to life and she is soon having a conversation with the famous painter.

It's pretty awesome seeing the Dryptosaurus come to life as a computer animated dinosaur on the big screen. Even if it was for only a brief moment. The painting in the movie was obviously based on the famous "Leaping Laelaps" piece, although having looked nothing like it. The Dryptosaurus roar is the same sound the T-Rex makes in Jurassic Park!

Christopher DiPiazza Guest Hosts Jersey Boy Hunts Dinosaurs!

2012-01-23T00:03:00.002-05:00

When Gary first told me he wanted me to be a monthly guest author for his blog I was very excited to help him take on the project. Gary and I have been friends now for about two years and initially met through a mutual acquaintance, George Blasing, self taught paleontologist and writer for the television show, Jurassic Fight Club on the History Channel. Because Gary and I are both native to New Jersey and have a deep passion for anything paleo, it didn’t take long for us to start communicating on a regular basis via email and facebook and eventually were out digging for dinosaur tracks in Clifton or promoting Project Dryptosaurus at museum events together. We even almost got arrested in the name of paleontology one time! (That’s a story Gary can tell for a different time, however). Unlike Gary, who’s background is mostly in geology, I come from the field of biology. As I am writing this I am only one semester away from finally getting my hard earned Animal Science degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. I have also been working with exotic animals for the past ten years at a facility in New York State called Outragehisss Pets and the Bergen County Zoo in Paramus, NJ.

In addition to Science, I also have a background in art. I have been drawing (dinosaurs) ever since I was old enough to pick up a crayon and have been doing so ever since. I was lucky enough to have supporting parents and have taken art classes in many mediums. Here and there I get hired to do illustrations for books and museums but ultimately it’s something that I do for my own enjoyment. The biggest reason why I love painting prehistoric life so much is the fact that there is room for a lot of creative freedom. However, there are still guidelines that should be followed in order to produce a piece that can be considered scientifically accurate.

For my first post on the blog I have decided to do a little tutorial on how to use both science and art when producing paleoart (a fancy professional sounding term for drawing dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures). The subject that I have chosen to show you today is actually not a dinosaur at all, but a giant marine lizard called a mosasaur. Mosasaurs lived in the shallow warm oceans of the late Cretaceous and are known from fossils all over the world including many found right here in New Jersey.

The reasons why I chose a mosasaur today are:

1) They are a well studied kind of animal known from many fossil specimens. The more complete the fossil data is for an organism, the easier it is to create a reconstruction that’s as scientifically accurate as possible.

2) They have modern day close relatives. Mosasaurs are very closely related to monitor lizards and snakes, both of which are very much alive today and both of which I can observe to gather any ideas about soft tissue, colors, movement etc.

3) They are from New Jersey! Duh! Believe it or not, the Jersey shore had even scarier characters living on it during the Cretaceous than it does today (I’m looking at you, Guidos).

When I reconstruct dinosaurs (or in this case, mosasaurs) I like to start from the skeleton and work my way out. This is simple enough since the science community has plenty of mosasaur bones to look at for reference. Remember reason #1- well documented animals are much better to illustrate than ones that are known from only a few fragmentary bits. The less you have to make up, the more accurate your reconstruction can be. Luckily for me I have the Rutgers Geology Museum in New Brunswick, NJ to go to for observing mosasaur remains. It’s always best to use references from real life rather than a picture (easier said than done, I know.) If going to an actual museum is out of the question then I would opt for photographs of actual fossils rather than another person’s illustrations. If and when you do get the chance to visit a museum where there are fossil bones on display, I highly recommend taking many photographs of them to store and use as reference for future art projects.

If I plan on drawing the whole animal and not just the skeleton, I don’t draw every bone. I prefer to lightly sketch a rough plan of the animal’s body just so I can get the proportions right. For my drawing tool I just use a simple mechanical pencil. I like this because it’s easy to do fine lines for details and I never have to sharpen it.

Next I add the flesh to the frame. This can get a little confusing since nobody has actually seen a living breathing version of this animal before. This is where reason #2 starts to come in. We DO know what monitor lizards and snakes look like so looking at their body plan is a decent starting point. However, it is important to keep in mind that despite being related, mosasaurs were still quite different from their modern relatives in that they were marine animals. Consider this; fish and whales are not closely related at all (whales are air-breathing, milk-drinking mammals and fish are…fish). However, they both possess very similar body plans because they both live in the same environment. So despite the fact that a whale is actually more closely related to something like a bat or a porcupine, it still superficially more resembles a fish because of its lifestyle. This concept is called convergent evolution where two unrelated animals have similar body plans because they live similar lifestyles.

So let’s apply this to to our mosasaur drawing. Despite the fact that it’s more closely related to modern squamates (fancy scientific term for lizards and snakes), mosasaurs probably behaved and may have at least from a distance resembled large fish as far as their body shape is concerned. We know for a fact that unlike monitor lizards, mosasaurs had very short necks with respect to their bodies according to fossil skeletons that have been discovered. This is consistent with the bodies of other large marine animals like sharks and whales. It can also be inferred that mosasaurs had modified hands and feet in the form of flippers. Again, something observable in whales and to some degree seals, sea lions and certain turtles. Finally, it is known from one very well preserved fossil discovered recently that mosasaurs carried the ends of their tails at a steep decline. Looking at other marine fossil reptiles that have been discovered holding their tails the same way like ichthiosaurs it can be inferred that mosasaurs probably had some sort of fin-like projection or fluke on their tails as well. Once again this is also a feature seen in animals like whales and sharks. All this being said I decided to make my mosasaur have a body shape similar to large marine animals rather than land reptiles.

Next details such as eyes, teeth, scales and such should be added to the drawing. Generally there is a fair amount of creative freedom for the artist when doing this but there are certainly options that are more logical than others. I first like to start with the head and move my way down the animal. Let me draw your attention to the mouth. We know for a fact that mosasaur teeth were huge and sharp because of the skulls that have been discovered. As an artist my first instinct would be to emphasize this in my drawing. However let’s go back to the modern relatives, the squamates for reference. Monitor lizards and snakes both have large teeth as well and like mosasaurs probably did, use them for holding prey in the mouth when feeding. However, when looking at a living monitor or snake, the teeth aren’t visible at all when the mouth is closed. Even when the mouth is opened the teeth are barely visible. Let’s look at our convergent evolution animals too while we are at it. Toothed whales and sharks are also predators much like mosasaurs were and likewise also possess large pointed teeth. Yet looking at the living animal, it can be observed that the teeth are safely hidden inside the mouth.

Despite the fact that it was an ocean animal mosasaurs were still reptiles and therefore had scaly skin like their living relatives. Plus thanks to that same fossil I mentioned earlier, there are mosasaur skin impressions known to science and it should be no surprise that indeed they are scaly. Drawing scales on an animal’s body can seem intimidating at first for a lot of artists. There are so many little individual scales how is one expected to draw them all without going insane! Well in some cases there is really no way around this especially when the subject is viewed up close and the scales are relatively large (this is the case with animals like ceratopsids but I’ll save that for another post). In the case of the mosasaur, thanks to the fossilized impressions, we know that mosasaur scales, at least those on the parts that left impressions for scientists to observe, were quite small. Chances are looking at this animal from a distance not every scale would even be visible. To help me prove my point let me show you a photograph of my buddy, Rocky, whom I work with at Outragehisss Pets.

Rocky is a Cuban Rock Iguana and is therefore a lizard, and thus a reptile complete with scales all over. Looking at this photograph you can see that rocky has some very large scales on his face and neck but on other parts of his body, especially as it gets farther away from the camera the scales aren’t really individually visible at all. It’s not until I get my camera a few inches away from his side that I can get a shot where you can see individual scales.

Like the iguana, the known mosasaur skin impressions show scales that aren’t very big and really can only be spotted clearly when viewed up close. That being said I don’t need to draw every single individual scale on my mosasaur. It should be noted, however that not all scaly animals are the same. If we were looking at something like a crocodile, the scales would me much more prominent and therefore need to be drawn as such. On the other end of the spectrum most snakes, despite being scaly as well, appear totally smooth at most distances.

There are other things that can be applied too but I would be writing forever if I were to include them all. Like I said earlier there is freedom with this just make sure you think about what you are adding and why.

Next I apply color. I’m going to color this drawing with simple colored pencils you can get at any craft store or anywhere that sells art supplies really. Color is probably where the paleoartist has the most freedom with creativity (with a few exceptions but again lets save that for a future post). I still like to stay logical with my color choices though. For instance I would never make an animal like this hot pink. It simply doesn’t make sense. Do I know for a fact that living mosasaurs weren’t hot pink? No I have never seen one alive but I’m pretty sure there are a lot of other more likely color schemes out there that they could have been instead. Once again I decide to look at animals that live the same lifestyle instead of family ties when looking at colors. Monitors and most snakes live on the land and therefore have colors and patterns that help them live there. Mosasaurs lived in the ocean and should probably be colored as such. Even so, there is plenty of freedom here. Could it be black and white like an orca? Perhaps brown with light spots like a whale shark? The possibilities go on and on. One thing seems to be consistent with pretty much all ocean dwellers is having a light colored ventral side (belly) and darker colored dorsal side (back). This is so when being viewed from either above or below the animal can camouflage with either the darker water below or the light from the surface of the water. This camouflage adaptation is called countershading and is utilized by many animals that swim often.

Lastly I add shading. Shading can be done many different ways to produce a myriad of effects. When using colored pencils some artists prefer to press harder with the colors already used or perhaps mixing colors with darker shades of blue or black. I prefer to go back to the graphite pencil. There is no right or wrong way though. At this point I also like to go back with the graphite and make any details that may have been lost in the colored pencil bold again.

So that ends my little tutorial on drawing a mosasaur! I hope you learned some things about both science and art and strongly encourage you to try producing some paleoart of your own! The only way to get better is to practice of course. Every month I will be writing something for Gary but it may not always be about art. Working at facilities with so many wonderful exotic animals I plan on doing some posts on dinosaur’s modern day relatives as well! We’ll see how things pan out and I will write accordingly. Farewell until next time!

Works Cited

Klappenbach, Laura. "Counter Shading - What Is Counter Shading." Animals Wildlife - Animal Facts, Animal Pictures, Habitat Facts, Evolution and Zoology. Web. 12 Jan. 2012. <http://animals.about.com/od/zoology12/f/countershading.htm>.

Lindgren, Johan, Caldwell W. Michael, Takuya Konoshi, and Luis M. Chiappe. "Convergent Evolution in Aquatic Tetrapods: Insights from an Exceptional Fossil Mosasaur." Plosone. 9 Aug. 2010. Web. 12 Jan. 2012. <http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0011998>.

Stearns, S. & Hoekstra, R. 2005. Evolution: An introduction.

A New Jersey Dinosaur In A Video Game?

2012-01-20T10:00:00.004-05:00

The answer is yes! Disney once released a video game back in 2000 titled Dinosaur. It was based loosely on the epic computer animated Disney film Dinosaur. According to the enemy list for the game, a Dryptosaurus was featured in a level titled "Mission two. The Mist."

Derek Yoost Of NJFossils.net!

2012-01-16T20:00:00.001-05:00

On May 7, 2011, I had the chance to talk with the infamous Derek Yoost at the New Jersey State Museum's Super Science Day. Derek Yoost is an amazing fossil collector in New Jersey and runs one of my favorite websites, www.njfossils.net. Included in this clip below is a toe bone and tooth believed to be from the New Jersey dinosaur Dryptosaurus! Pictures and video courtesy of Christopher DiPiazza. Special thanks Derek for your presentation.

Pat Bradley Animates New Jersey's Dinosaurs!

2012-01-15T00:03:00.001-05:00

The following bio, pictures and videos were graciously submitted by Pat Bradley: Pat Bradley was practically born with a pencil in his hand. His fascination with drawing was evident as early as two years of age when he would sneak a crayon into his crib and spend late nights drawing on his bedroom wall. His passion eventually landed him at the Maryland Institute of Art, but it was his talent for animation and story telling that laid foundation for his career in Chicago. As the media producer at the Field Museum of Chicago, Pat produced a series of original 2D animations for the Evolving Planet exhibition. His task was to take inherently complicated topics such as fossilization and natural selection and create short videos that were both entertaining and scientifically accurate. The animations were highly successful. They won a national museum industry award for their creativity, humor and ability to make complex material understandable.

Pat Bradley worked closely with the Lake County Museum content specialist to create the above animation that is both scientifically accurate and fun for children. The film includes fourteen different characters and three environments. The exhibition opened in 2009.

Information here can be found at www.patbradley.net. Thank you Pat Bradley for allowing me to showcase your amazing work!

Christopher DiPiazza's Dryptosaurus!

2012-01-14T16:00:00.000-05:00

Christopher DiPiazza has been a New Jersey resident and dinosaur fanatic since birth and started drawing ever since he was old enough to hold a crayon. He has since been formally trained in such mediums as pencil sketching, pen and ink, oil paint, colored pencils and watercolors. Chris studied Animal Science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, focusing on birds and reptiles. He has also worked at the University’s Geology Museum producing artwork for the exhibits. His artwork has appeared in coloring books and on power point lecture slides used for teaching classes at Rutgers. Chris currently works with live exotic animals as an exhibitor, traveling to schools and educating large groups of children about them. The drawings below of Dryptosaurus were created by Christopher DiPiazza.

New Jersey Paleontological Society's President Gary Manageri

2012-01-13T00:03:00.001-05:00

Special thanks to Gary for letting me record his collection at the Morris Museum's Dinosaur Day on April 30, 2011. He has always been a good friend and I always appreciate his time. Gary Manageri is the current President of the New Jersey Paleontological Society. His interests are in the Carboniferous system, particularly the coal bearing stratum of Pennsylvania, the plant life that produced them and mining operations. Gary has 38 years of collecting experience in Pennsylvanian quarries.

Nobumichi (Nobu) Tamura's Dryptosaurus!

2012-01-12T00:03:00.005-05:00

Nobumichi (Nobu) Tamura is an amateur paleoartist from California who started to draw dinosaurs in 2007 to illustrate articles on the English Wikipedia. This rapidly turned into a major hobby and he has since then produced about a thousand illustrations of sundry prehistoric animals. They can be seen throughout the Internet, in several books, TV series and museum displays. Nobu is also the creator and webmaster of the website palaeocritti.com, an on-line encyclopedia of extinct animals.

About the Dryptosaurus drawing: “The Dryptosaurus drawing is one of a series of illustrations I made for the basal tyrannosauroids section on palaeocritti. There are very few representations of this animal even since the famous 1897 painting by Charles R. Knight made Drypto known to the general public (It was known as Laelaps at that time). Although Knight’s illustration remains to this day quite modern and accurate, with its surprising dynamism worthy of the ‘Dinosaur Renaissance’ period of the 60s, current views are calling for a small update on its external appearance. Because it was reclassified as a tyrannosauroid in 2005, I’ve added a few feathers, an evidence brought by the preserved fossil of the related genus Dilong.”

Dryptosaurus Gets Italian Love

2012-01-11T00:03:00.001-05:00

Santino Mazzei Is a self-taught digital artist from Italy, specializing in Paleontological illustrations. He has loved dinosaurs ever since he had his first memories. Paleoart for Santino is like a "time machine". With paper, pencil and a digital pen tablet, he can bring back to life his favourite animals. Santino always tries to make accurate reconstructions, in step with modern scientific theories.

His Dryptosaurus for example is almost entirely covered with protofeathers. In the picture above, two fully grown Dryptos are eating from two different carcasses. Santino's artwork was inspired by some modern birds for the colors. To reconstruct the head, he used Appalachiosaurus and Xiongguanlong as references. He started the illustration with paper and pencil, but colored them digitally with software like Photoshop. You can find his website at www.santinomazzei.com. Thank so much Santino!

Interview with Dr. Phillip Manning!

2012-01-10T21:00:00.008-05:00

Howdy! I have an interview for you all from one of the best paleontologists ever! For those of you who may not know, Dr. Phillip Manning is an internationally renowned paleontologist, fossil hunter and writer. He has taught vertebrate paleontology and evolution at the Universities of Liverpool and Manchester and currently heads the Paleontology Research Group in the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences (SEAES) at the University of Manchester. Dr. Manning has published papers on many diverse subjects, including dinosaur tracks, theropod biomechanics, arthropod paleontology, vertebrate locomotion, and the evolution of flight in birds. Along with his long list of many accomplishments that continues to grow, Dr. Manning has also worked with National Geographic on an amazing series called Jurassic CSI.

Dr. Manning has always been a hero of mine. On May 17, 2011, I finally got a chance to meet the good doctor in person at a lecture being given by Dr. Jack R. Horner at The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, PA. It was an absolute honor to meet such an educated gentleman in the field of paleontology. I only wish that I had my copy of Grave Secrets of Dinosaurs by Dr. Manning for him to autograph. I have fond memories of picking up this book when it first came out and never putting it down. I highly recommend picking it up.

Upon meeting Dr. Manning, I was a nervous wreck, but his humbleness will quickly calm you down. He is a brilliant man, but also very down to earth. Passionate about his work and someone I admire greatly. I appreciate him taking the time to hangout and talk with me that night. I learned a lot. Not long after that awesome night of meeting Dr. Manning, we exchanged e-mails. I asked if he would be interested in doing an interview for my website and he graciously said yes! So, without further ado ladies and gentlemen, I give you our interview. Special thanks Dr. Phillip Manning.

Question 1:
You are one of my heroes in the field of paleontology. Who did you admire growing up?
I watched Sir David Attenborough on TV whenever I could. The series 'Life on Earth' was quite life-changing for me...I realised we lived in a big world. I have to point out, I was about 7 years old, living in a village in rural Somerset...quite the middle of no-where, but beautiful! I have been lucky enough to meet and work with Sir David on a BBC series a few years ago and he was 'the real deal', a splendid gentlemen and a scholar.
Question 2:
At what age did you get inspired to pursue a career in paleontology?
When I first moved to Somerset aged about 6 or 7, I discovered I had Lower Jurassic (Lias) fossil in my own garden. That's when it started proper. However when I was aged 5, i visited the British Museum of Natural History in London, now called the Natural History Museum. Stood before me was the mount of Andrew Carnegie's Diplodocus...wow...that also had a major 96 feet impact on a very small child.
Question 3:
What was your favorite dinosaur growing up? What dinosaur is your favorite now?
I had two favourites as a child, and yes...you can probably guess them both...Triceratops and T. rex. I am sooooooo grateful to have been able to find both these dinosaurs in the Hell Creek Formation now. In recent years I have grown very fond of Archaeopteryx....and hope to publish another paper on this beastie soon!
Question 4:
Paleontology is such a diverse field these days involving many disciplines. What advice would you give to an aspiring paleontologist today?
My advice is simple, choose the subjects which you most enjoy, as it will be these in which you have most chance to excel. There is no single route into palaeontology, which I know is some folks chosen career path. Many of my palaeo colleagues come from both arts and science background...like myself, others are pure science and some are pure art. The key here, is I took a path that was dictated by no one. If there is a 1+1=2 path to palaeo, I'm afraid i do not know it, as thankfully we are all very different. Darwin made a point of celebrating variation within a single species :-) and we are no exception to this rule. To put it another way, there is no 'one size fits all' route for me to advise any budding bone-hunters out there. This is probably a good thing.

However, If a person has a specific university course in mind, then I urge them to look at the entry requirements now...as this will be an affective gatekeeper after High School. If you have your heart set on being a palaeontologist, you have already taken the most important step. There are few places you can learn passion for a subject, as that is something only a few are gifted with at an early age. It seems that many such folks are also 'one' of the lucky ones.
Question 5:
Going to college these days and then on to grad school has become a daunting task. Many people are unaware of how long it takes to make it to the finish line. The rewards are great, but what would you say to someone pursuing professional studies after college?
This is a very tough question, as here I should put-on my 'professor hat' and spout the virtues University and grad school...however, like I said before...we are all very different. Some folks are terrible scientists and do not enjoy the rigours of academia, this is fine...it would be a strange world if we all ended up as 'Dr'. Some of the best field palaeontologists and great thinkers of the field did not have a formal college education. This is fine, many 'trained' academics have a tough time keeping up with 'amateur' enthusiasts. The 9 or 10 years it takes to scratch your way through 1st degree, masters and PhD can and usually is, very tough. I did it, but many do not complete their studies. I have to admit, that doing my MSc and PhD was certainly the hardest things I have done in my life.
Question 6:
What was or is your favorite research project? What are some of your current projects?
Some of my favourite projects have involved digging-up dinosaurs on the Isle of Wight. I was lucky enough to help excavate the then un-named, Neovenator from the Lower Cretaceous back in 1989. It was more of a mud-bath than an excavation, as the Wessex Formation from whence it came is a tad sticky. This reminds me of my favourite joke! 'What's brown and sticky?.................a stick :-).....sorry!! My most recent projects have been involved with working on the Stanford Synchrotron, a particle accelerator than can generate super-intense x-rays that allows us to analyse the chemistry of fossils. We have mapped 120 million year old pigment patterns in Chinese fossil birds and even gotten a whiff of pigment in the famous Archaeopteryx....this work continues.
Question 7:
Jurassic Park was the movie I remember as a kid that fueled my passion for dinosaurs. What was your most memorable movie?
I have to admit, Jurassic Park was quite a fun romp. I watched the UK premiere, as was studying for my Masters at the University of Manchester at the time. However, my favourite film...is not a palaeo-one, but Lord of the Rings....which I am sure will be overtaken by The Hobbit when that is released.
Question 8:
I remember meeting my first professional paleontologist. Do you remember the first paleontologist you ever met? Were you a nervous wreck?
That's another tough question, as I was lucky enough to be taught Geology at school, so had an early intro to the field. However, when I was about about 11 years old I visited the local Museum in the ancient city of Wells (Somerset). I had some fossils that I needed identifying, as I was sure I had found a Lower Jurassic vertebra from a marine reptile....which it turned-out I had! Well's Museum is a strange little place (seemed huge to me then) and the Curator had an apartment in the Museum (strange, funny, odd, but what a great job!). I remember knocking on his door and then sitting down at a small table with my fossils finds. I honestly can't remember if I was worried or not...I think that happens when your much older. Most kids are fearless...I could do with some of that 'fearless' every now and then in my field of work.
Question 9:
Dinosaurs and the animals that lived at the same time as them were amazing creatures. Why do you feel dinosaurs continue to fascinate us?
Dinosaurs are the ultimate 'safe' monsters. They are well and truly extinct, but 'monsters they be'...The sheer size and weirdness of these beasties never ceases to gob-smack me every time I see a new specimen.
Question 10:
What is your favorite time period?
The years from 1800 to 1860. This was an age of discovery. Here the world changed forever, from an Earth that was perceived to be 6000 years old and created by the hand of God, to an Earth of immense age inhabited by species that have evolved through the natural selective processes of 'decent with modification; into the 'endless forms most beautiful' to paraphrase good old Darwin. The foundations of 'modern geology' and the underpinning of palaeontology was also achieved in this period of time...it must have been a very exciting intellectual landscape in which to romp.
Question 11:
The time span in which the dinosaurs lived in was huge. How do paleontologists remember all that information from such a vast era? Do paleontologist focus on one particular subject?
We do not remember, those who say they do....are being economic. We use books, like anyone else, to brush-up on our knowledge as and when required. With the advent of the internet, we can now fact-check things and publish papers ever faster than before...which can be a pain in the rear sometimes, as many papers that should not be published...are!
Question 12: Project Dryptosaurus has been my passion for as long as I could remember. Why do you feel Dryptosaurus is such an important dinosaur?
Dryptosaurus is a curious beastie in many ways. I have to be honest, I prefer Cope's name Laelaps, but this is sadly no longer valid :-( We have the lovely Tom Holtz to blame for that...thanks Tom ;-) However, we can thank Tom for bringing your beastie into the hallowed realm of the tyrannosaurs...woof! Any late Cretaceous large theropod excites folks...especially if they are the kin of T. rex. Here we have one of the worlds oldest discovered big predators from the Late Cretaceous, slap bang near some of the biggest human population centres in North America...we should know more about Dryptosaurus than T. rex!

Works Cited:

Dr.Phil Manning (School of Earth, Atmospheric and Enviormental Science - The University of Manchester). Web.10 Jan. 2012

New Jersey's Dinosaurs On A Jurassic Park Website?

2012-01-09T19:00:00.000-05:00

Wow...remember the Jurassic Park Institute website? For those of you who don't, the following article appeared in a 12/01/2001 issue of THE Journal:

Universal Studios has launched the Jurassic Park Institute (JPI), a science-based and educationally focused program that will include a Web site, a dinosaur-themed in-school program, traveling dinosaur-themed museum exhibits, and an online kids club in partnership with education.com. Working with some of the world's leading paleontologists, JPI will be factual and scientifically accurate.

The first phase of the institute's development is the launch of http://www.jpinstitute.com/, a Web site that features a variety of news, information, games, activities and guides for dinosaur enthusiasts. Visitors will find the latest dinosaur news, ranging from recent discoveries, to editorials from leading paleontologists, to entertainment news. Students will also be able to play a variety of dinosaur-themed games, and search through the Dinopedia to learn about their favorite dinosaurs and the world in which they lived. They can also locate dinosaur exhibits in their local areas. Beginning in early 2002, the site will be expanded to include a dynamic, in-school program. A series of traveling dinosaur exhibits is also set to begin in spring 2002.

The institute continues with the launch of JPI Rangers Club, a membership-based site located in education.com's KidSpace channel. The club will provide members with exclusive educational online games and activities, an online journal and more. Universal Studios, Hollywood, CA, http://www.universalstudios.com/.

I remember logging onto this awesome site on a daily basis and couldn't wait to see what was new! Hopefully, when the new Jurassic Park series hits the theaters again one day, we will see this amazing site resurrected. It really was a great idea and the possibilities could have been endless. One part I remember most from The Jurassic Park Institute was a section called "DINOPEDIA". On this page, you could access information on pretty much any dinosaur known at the time. You could even look up three dinosaurs from New Jersey! Well...one of which is probably not valid. Below are the cards from the site that are no longer accessible. Enjoy!

Jurassic Park Theme Song

2012-01-08T00:03:00.000-05:00

Howdy! I nearly fell off my seat with laughter when I saw this. Andrew Goldenberg is a guy I've been following on Youtube for a long time. He takes theme songs from movies that don't have lyrics and creates lyrics for them.

Hunting New Mexico's Dinosaurs

2012-01-07T00:03:00.002-05:00

Howdy! I have been a busy bee lately, but I'm going to try harder to pump more information into this new site. That's pump, not fist pump, ha ha ha ha. Anyway, I returned to the field during the month of July for an adventure back into the Triassic. My destination this round was New Mexico. For as many times as I have been out west, I love visiting New Mexico. It is such a beautiful state and home to my early college years. The video slide show below is from one of my past geology field classes. In 2006, I was invited on a road scholar tour of the Southwest. Unfortunately, all my college pictures, videos, papers and etc. prior and up until 2006 are not in digital format. That being said, these are the only old school pictures I ever got around to converting.

I did however fully document my field class in July via modern technology and I plan to showcase what I can ASAP! The team excavating fossils from the dawn of the age of dinosaurs. It was an exciting time and we even made the papers (Click here for story). On previous digs in the area, my professor’s classes uncovered numerous armor plates of an aetosaur and a two phytosaur skulls. Amazingly enough, If you skip to 8:17 in the video below, you will see examples of these two amazing animals. Desmatosuchus (aetosaur) and Rutiodon (phytosaur). This clip is from the 2001 show When Dinosaurs Roamed North America, hosted by John Goodman.

Play Dennis Nedry In A Jurassic Park Game!

2012-01-06T00:03:00.001-05:00

Image from Wikipedia

Howdy project fans! You won't find this game in your local GameStop, but if you happen to get your dino claws on a copy, you could be playing as Newman. Umm...I mean Dennis. For those of you who may not know, Dreamworks Interactive once released a game in 1998 for the personal computer (PC) called Jurassic Park: Trespasser. Although way ahead of its time, Trespasser was plagued with glitches and a frustrating first person experience. The game in itself is a history lesson in video gaming.

Image from www.trescom.org

Trespasser was truly an amazing game back in the day. I remember playing this game vividly and it really was fun, despite its drawbacks. Anne, the main character's voice, was played by Minnie Driver. How crazy is that! Minnie's voice was heard throughout the game telling flashback stories and calling out ammo checks. Yup, no ammo counter telling you how many rounds you had left. Minnie keeps track for you via the voice in her head. Anne is a cast away on Site B. Site B was one of the islands that the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park were on before being showcased at the main park.

Image from www.elleuk.com

Trespasser still lives on today as a cult phenomenon, so much so that its program is always being tapped into for a better experience. One such example would be an added level that allows you to play the infamous scene in which Dennis Nedry meets his demise...or does he? In this added level, you reprise the role of Mr. Nedry trying to make it to the dock with his stolen dino embryos. Will he make it? That's up to you! I actually tried to run this mod once on my copy of Trespasser, but it crashed. Maybe one day I'll give it another shot, but in the meantime, YouTube will have to be my eyes and ears. I especially love the part in the mod where you pick up the Seinfeld video in the back of the jeep lol...you will see below. If you want to learn more about this mod and the Trespasser game, there is a site dedicated to it called TresCom. Click here for that site. Have a great weekend folks!

Works Cited:

"Jurassic Park: Trespasser." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 05 Jan. 2012.

TresCom - the Place for Trespasser Fans. Web. 05 Jan. 2012.

Jersey Boy Hunts Dinosaurs Makes The Local News!

2012-01-05T00:03:00.003-05:00

Howdy! Upon arriving home, my summer adventures out west hit the local paper here in Jersey via the associated press. Front page no less! You can read the article online by clicking here on NorthJersey.com. Along with a picture of myself, there was a beautiful picture of Tucumcari Mountain printed in the hard copy. It doesn't appear to be in the online article, so I posted it here for you all below. Also, as an added bonus, I posted a video of this impressive landmark! Both the picture and video were taken by yours truly.

The Only Surviving Cretaceous Dinosaur Track from New Jersey

2012-01-04T00:03:00.005-05:00

Rutgers Geology Museum

Around 1929-1930, discoveries were made of Cretaceous dinosaur tracks in New Jersey! In January 1929, the first set of tracks were found by men working in a pit at Hampton Cutter Clay Works in Woodbridge. The New Jersey State Museum made a valiant effort to save them at the time, but they were destroyed. However, not before they were photographed and sketched in the field by Meredith Johnson of the New Jersey Geological Survey. The notes he took recorded evidence of a large, three-toed, bipedal dinosaur! In 1930, in the same area, a second trackway was uncovered. This time, paleontologists from Rutgers University were sent in to the site. A single footprint was removed. This one track is now the one sole survivor on display at the Rutgers Geological Museum in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

In March of 1930, a third set of tracks were unearthered yet again! On this occasion, a team of geologists and paleontologist headed down to the area. Katherine Graywacz, of The New Jersey State Museum, renewed efforts in acquiring the trackways. While every effort was made to save the tracks using the tools of the trade, four were apparently removed and a fifth one was destroyed in the process. Dr. Barnum Brown of the American Museum of Natural History identified the tracks as that of a large carnivorous dinosaur. The famed paleontologist also noted at the time that these prints were the only surviving Cretaceous dinosaur tracks known east of the Mississippi.

Dr. Barnum Brown showing Dinosaur Tracks to students in 1938.

Property of the American Museum of Natural History.

The last set of tracks removed from the clay pit were going to become an exhibit at The New jersey State Museum. Copies of the tracks were to be sent to The American Museum of Natural History, The Smithsonian Institute, and The Yale Peabody Museum. Apparently this never came to be and the fate of the four removed prints to this day are a mystery. The only available find today is the one track I mentioned earlier now on display at The Rutgers Geological Museum in New Brunswick, New Jersey. That track was from the January 1930 discoveries and was one of nine total found from 1929-1930.

WHERE A DINOSAUR ONCE ROAMED c. 1930 Hampton Cutter clay pit.

It is interesting to mention, that Dr. Donald Baird, a former professor of Princeton University, described further evidence of these amazing tracks from Woodbridge, New jersey. He described that the footprints were around four feet apart, with the midline of the trackway passing through the base of the inner toe prints. This would indicate a dinosaur walking upright with its legs tucked in directly beneath its body. It was noted that no tail marks were noticed, so the animal must have walked with the tail lifted off the ground. The tracks measured some 20 inches from the tip of the middle toe to the base of the heal! The toe marks end with a claw mark. There is even evidence on the Rutgers print of a backward-pointing 'spur' or hallux, the impression of the vestigial first [or "big"] toe. He recorded that the tracks were around 90 million years old. The prints were made in damp clay and were almost immediately filled by an overwash of alluvial sand. He also noted that the 90 million year old footprints preserved under these exceptional circumstances is as unexpected as it is fortunate.

Works Cited:

Gallagher, William B. When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1997. 67-69. Print.

Troeger, Virginia B., and Robert J. McEwen. Woodbridge: New Jersey's Oldest Township. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2002. 9-11. Print.

Diplotomodon, another predatory dinosaur from New Jersey?

2012-01-03T00:13:00.007-05:00

Image from JPInstitute.com

Well....probably not, but prior to the discovery of Dryptosaurus, a single tooth of a prehistoric monster was found here in New Jersey. In 1865, Joseph Leidy described an isolated tooth found in Gloucester County. It is believed to be the first known carnivorous dinosaur tooth from The Great Garden State. The dinosaur was actually named and was called Tomodon horrificus. As fate would have it, the name was later changed to Diplotomodon horrificus in 1868. It is pretty amusing that Dryptosaurus went through this same ordeal.

The name Diplotomodon means "double cutting tooth." It lived during the same time as Dryptosaurus and is most likely one in the same dinosaur. Its remains at first were thought to be plesiosaur and then described as a fish! For nearly a hundred years, the tooth was viewed as such. It was not until 1952 that it was re-described as a meglosaur. Having seen an old picture of this tooth, it does look hard to distinguish. Never the less, from this one piece of tooth, we now know that it was a medium sized dinosaur.

In recent times, this isolated tooth has been suggested to be Dryptosaurus in nature and that the Diplotomodon name is not valid. I would concur with this idea personally, but even if this point of fact was wrong, the thought of a carnivorous dinosaur tooth being discovered in New Jersey is amazing enough! I sometimes wonder if it was another species and what it would look like if it was not a Dryptosaurus. The sad part of this story is that although the tooth was described and photographed, it was lost. Maybe one day in the future more will be discovered, but only time will tell.

Works Cited:

Gallagher, William B. When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1997. 104, 110. Print.

The Academy of Natural Sciences with Dr. Ted Daeschler

2012-01-02T00:46:00.001-05:00

On August 6th 2010, I had an interesting day with Dr. Ted Daescheler. Ted Daeschler is a paleontologist and Associate Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. His research program in vertebrate paleontology focuses on the vertebrate fauna of the Late Devonian Period (385-363 million-years-ago) in Eastern North America. He has also made an appearance on the Colbert Report which I highly suggest watching. Upon arriving at the Academy, I was very excited to meet with such an educated man in the field of paleontology.

Ted first started off by graciously talking to me about his current work and showing me some of the finest fossils I have ever scene! Afterwards, we were off to visit Dryptosaurus. I have to say, for as much as I have studied Drypto, I always feel like a kid on Christmas Eve seeing anything about him. The window to Dryptosaurus's holding case alone is an amazing. Through a window, you can see his menacing claw siting there in all its glory. To see and hold the claw of Dryptosaurus is simply awesome. It is one thing to see a dinosaur in a museum hall, but to hold its actual bones leaves you speechless.

The Dryptosaurus bones, for as few as they are, represent the beauty of American paleontology and its humble beginnings. It was also these humble beginnings that Dryptosaurus paid for. Ted and I discussed how the poor preparation knowledge at the time contributed to the rough look of Drypto. If you were to look at the casts of the Dryptosaurus bones today, they appear perfect and smooth. To the general public, most would think the casts are real, but they are not and do hide a lot of the imperfections.

When you hold the actually claw of Drypto, you first notice the heaviness compared to the cast. Dinosaur bones are heavy given the species. I got so giddy holding that claw though (laugh). Holding or touching a dinosaur bone that is over a hundred years old is a crazy feeling. I mean, you are holding something that Edward Drinker Cope himself held. All I thought of when holding it was "Don't drop it." I'm sure Ted thought the same ha ha. Dryptosaurus meant a lot to Edward Drinker Cope. It feels good knowing that the dinosaur he held so dear to his heart also holds a special place by mine as well. Although I could of sworn I heard him over my shoulder whispering in my ear... "Project Laelaps Gary."

Special Thanks to Dr. Ted Daeschler and The Academy of Natural Sciences

Welcome to Jersey Boy Hunts Dinosaurs

2012-01-01T00:03:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Jersey Boy Hunts Dinosaurs! I believe the best way to cut the ribbon on my new site would be with this great post below. I asked one of my paleo heroes way back when that I wanted to re-post his amazing piece of work flying all over the interweb for my Project Dryptosaurus site. The hero I asked was the infamous Dr. Thomas R. Holtz! He told me “feel free!”, so here it is Jersey Boy Hunts Dinosaur fans. I have always admired Dr. Holtz and I thank him from the bottom of my mammalian heart. The title question was asked by Roberto Takata on the Dinosaur Mailing List.

“What Should Everyone Know About Paleontology?”

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.

I think that is a good question. What really are the most important elements of paleontology that the general public should understand? I took a shot at coming up with a list of key concepts, based on experiences with teaching paleontology and historical geology and with less-formally structured outreach to the public. I have offered this list (cross posted at the Sauropod Vertebrae Picture of the Week, Dave Hone’s Archosaur Musings, and Superoceras blogs) as a way for it to reach a wider audience. That this is Darwin Week makes it even more appropriate, as we should use this occasion to encourage a better understanding of the changes of Earth and Life through Time for the public at large.

Much as I might like to think otherwise, the specific details of the hindlimb function of Tyrannosaurus rex or the pneumatic features of brachiosaurid vertebrae really are not the most important elements of the field. Understanding and appreciating the nitty gritty details of the phylogeny and anatomy of any particular branch of the Tree of Life are not really necessary for everyone to know, any more than we would regard detailed knowledge of bacterial biochemistry or the partitioning of minerals in a magma chamber to be significant general knowledge. (Indeed, these latter two items are actually far more critical for human society than any specific aspect of paleontology, and so from a certain point of view really more important for people to know than the History of Life.)

That said, all human societies and many individuals have wondered about where we have come from and how the world came to be the way it is. This is, in my opinion, the greatest contribution of paleontology: it gives us the Story of Earth and Life, and especially our own story.

I have divided this list into two sections. The first is a list of general topics of paleontology, touching on the main elements of geology that someone would need to know for fossils to make any sense. The second is the more specific list of key points in the history of life.

(NOTE: as the idea of this list is that it should be aimed at the general public, I have tried to avoid technical terminology where possible.)

GENERAL:

That rocks are produced by various factors (erosion àsedimentation; metamorphism; volcanic activity; etc.)
That rocks did not form at a single moment in time, but instead have been and continue to be generated throughout the history of the planet.
That fossils are remains of organisms or traces of their behavior recorded in those rocks.
That rocks (and the organisms that made the fossils) can be thousands, millions, or even billions of years old.
That the species discovered as fossils, and the communities of organisms at each place and time, are different from the same in the modern world and from each other.
That despite these differences that there is continuity between life in the past and life in the present: this continuity is a record of the evolution of life.
That we can use fossils, in conjunction with anatomical, molecular, and developmental data of living forms, to reconstruct the evolutionary pattern of life through time.
That fossils are incomplete remains of once-living things, and that in order to reconstruct how the organisms that produced them actually lived, we can:
Document their anatomy (both gross external and with the use of CT scanning internal), and compare them to the anatomy of living creatures in order to estimate their function;
Examine their chemical composition, which can reveal aspects of their biochemistry;
Examine their microstructure to estimate patterns of growth;
Model their biomechanical functions using computers and other engineering techniques;
Investigate their footprints, burrows, and other traces to reveal the motion and other actions of the species while they were alive;
And collect information of the various species that lived together in order to reconstruct past communities.
However, with all that, fossils are necessarily incomplete, and there will always be information about past life which we might very much want to know, but which has been forever lost. Accepting this is very important when working with paleontology.
That environments of the past were different from the present.
That there have been episodes of time when major fractions of the living world were extinguished in a very short period of time: such data could not be known without the fossil record.
That entire branches of the tree of life have perished (sometimes in these mass extinction events, sometimes more gradually).
That certain modes of life (reef formers, fast-swimming marine predators, large-bodied terrestrial browsers, etc.) have been occupied by very different groups of organisms at different periods of Earth History.
That every living species, and every living individual, has a common ancestor with all other species and individuals at some point in the History of Life.

SPECIFIC:

Honestly, despite the fact the specific issues about specific parts of the Tree of Life are the ones that paleontologists, the news media, the average citizen, etc., are more concerned with, they really are much less significant for the general public to know than the points above. Sadly, documentary companies and the like keep on forgetting that, and keep on forgetting that a lot of the public does not know the above points.
Really, in the big picture, the distinction between dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and crurotarsans are trivialities compared to a basic understanding that the fossil record is our document of Life’s history and Earth’s changes.
Summarizing the key points of the history of life over nearly 4 billion years of evolutionary history is a big task. After all, there is a tendency to focus on the spectacular and sensationalized rather than the ordinary and humdrum. As Stephen Jay Gould and others often remarked, from a purely objective external standpoint we have always lived in the Age of Bacteria, and the changing panoply of animals and plants during the last half-billion years have only been superficial changes.

But the question wasn’t “what should a dispassionate outsider regard as the modal aspect of the History of Life?”; it was “What should everyone know about paleontology?” Since we are terrestrial mammals of the latest Cenozoic, we have a natural interest in events on the land and during the most recent parts of Earth History. That is a fair bias: it does focus on who WE are and where WE come from.
That said, here is a list of key concepts in the history of life. Other researchers might pick other moments, and not include some that I have here. Still, I believe most such lists would have many of the same key points within them.

Life first developed in the seas, and for nearly all of its history was confined there.
For most of Life’s history, organisms were single-celled only. (And today, most of the diversity remains single-celled).
The evolution of photosynthesis was a critical event in the history of Earth and Life; living things were able to affect the planet and its chemistry on a global scale.
Multicellular life evolved independently several times.
Early animals were all marine forms.
The major groups of animals diverged from each other before they had the ability to make complex hard parts.
About 540 million years ago, the ability to make hard parts became possible across a wide swath of the animal tree of life, and a much better fossil record happened.
Plants colonized land in a series of stages and adaptations. This transformed the surface of the land, and allowed for animals of various groups to follow afterwards.
For the first 100 million years or so of skeletonized animals, our own group (the vertebrates) were relatively rare and primarily suspension feeders. The evolution of jaws allowed our group to greatly diversify, and from that point onward vertebrates of some form or other have remained apex predators in most marine environments.
Complex forests of plants (mostly related to small swampland plants of today’s world) covered wide regions of the lowlands of the Carboniferous.
Burial of this vegetation before it could decay led to the formation of much of the coal that powered the Industrial Revolution and continues to power the modern world.
While most of the coal swamp plants required a moist ground surface on which to propagate, one branch evolved a method of reproduction using a seed. This adaptation allowed them to colonize the interiors, and seed plants have long since become the dominant form of land plant.
In the coal swamps, one group of arthropods (the insects) evolved the ability to fly. From this point onward insects were to be among the most common and diverse land animals.
Early terrestrial vertebrates were often competent at moving around on land as adults, but typically had to go back to the water in order to reproduce. In the coal swamps one branch of these animals evolved a specialized egg that allowed them to reproduce on land, and thus avoid this “tadpole” stage.
These new terrestrial vertebrates—the amniotes—diversified into many forms. Some included the ancestors of modern mammals; others the ancestors of today’s reptiles (including birds).
A tremendous extinction event, the largest in the age of animals, devastated the world about 252 million years ago. Caused by the effects and side-effects of tremendous volcanoes, it radically altered the composition of both marine and terrestrial communities.
In the time after this Permo-Triassic extinction, reptiles (and especially a branch that includes the ancestors of crocodilians and dinosaurs) diversified and became ecologically dominant in most medium- to large-sized niches.
During the Triassic many of the distinctive lineages of the modern terrestrial world (including turtles, mammals, crocodile-like forms, lizard-like forms, etc.) appeared. Other groups that would be very important in the Mesozoic but would later disappear (such as pterosaurs and (in the seas) ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs) evolved at this time.
Dinosaurs were initially a minor component of these Triassic communities. Only the tall, long-necked sauropodomorphs were ecologically diverse during this time among the various dinosaur branches. However, a mass extinction event at the end of the Triassic (essentially the Permo-Triassic extinction in miniature) allowed for the dinosaurs to diversify as their competitors had vanished.
During the Jurassic, dinosaurs diversified. Some grew to tremendous size; some evolved spectacular armor; some become the largest carnivorous land animals the world had seen by this point. Among smaller carnivorous dinosaurs, an insulating covering of feathers had evolved to cover the body (possibly from a more ancient form shared by all dinosaurs). Among the feathered dinosaurs were the ancestors of the birds.
Other terrestrial groups such as pterosaurs, crocodile-ancestors, mammals, and insects continued to diversify into new habits.
During the Jurassic and (especially) the Cretaceous, a major transformation of marine life occurred. Green-algae phytoplankton were displaced by red-algae phytoplankton (which continue to dominate modern marine ecosystems). A wide variety of new predators—advanced sharks and rays, teleost fish, predatory snails, crustaceans with powerful claws, specialized echinoids, etc.—appeared, and the sessile surface-dwelling suspension feeders that dominated the shallow marine communities since the Ordovician became far rarer. Instead, more mobile, swimming, or burrowing forms became more common.
During the Cretaceous one group of land-plants evolved flowers and fruit and thus tied their reproduction very closely with animals. Although not immediately ecologically dominant, this type of plants would eventually come to be the major land plant group.
The impact of a giant asteroid—coupled with other major on-going environmental changes—brought an end to the Mesozoic. Most large-bodied groups on land and sea, and many smaller bodied forms, disappeared. The only surviving dinosaurs were toothless birds.
The beginning of the Cenozoic saw the establishment of mammals as the dominant group of large-bodied terrestrial vertebrates. Early on mammals colonized both the sea and the air as well.
During its beginning the Cenozoic world was warm and wet, much like the Cretaceous. However, a number of changes of the position of the continents and the rise of mountain ranges caused the climates to cool and dry.
As the world cooled and dried, great grasslands developed (first in South America, and later nearly all other continents).
Various groups of animals adapted to the new grassland conditions. Herbivorous mammals became swift runners with deep-crowned teeth, often living in herds for protection. Mammalian predators became swifter as well, some becoming pack hunters.
Other new plant communities evolved, and new animal communities which inhabited them. The rise of modern meadows (dominated by daisy-related plants and grasses) saw the diversification of mouse-and-rat type rodents, many frogs and toads, advanced snakes, songbirds, etc.
A group of arboreal mammals with very big brains, complex social communities, and gripping hands—the primates—produced many forms. In Africa one branch of these evolved to live at mixed forest-grassland margins, and from this branch evolved some who became fully upright and moved out into the grasslands.
This group of primates retained and advanced the ability to use stone tools that its forest-dwelling ancestors already had. Many branches evolved, and some developed even larger brains and more complex tools. It is from among these that the ancestors of modern humans and other close relatives evolved, and eventually spread out from Africa to other regions of the planet.
About 2.6 million years ago a number of factors led to ice age conditions, where glaciers advanced and retreated. Various groups of animals evolved adaptations for these new cold climates.
The early humans managed to colonize much of the planet; shortly after their arrival into new worlds, nearly all the large-bodied native species disappeared.
At some point before the common ancestor of all modern humans spread across the planet, the ability to have very complex symbolic language evolved. This led to many, many technological and cultural diversifications which changed much faster than the biology of the humans themselves.
In western Asia and northern Africa (and eventually in other regions), modern humans developed techniques to grow food under controlled circumstances, leading to true agriculture. (Other cultures are known to have independently evolved proto-agricultural techniques).
This Neolithic revolution allowed for the development of more settled communities, specialization of individual skills within a community (including soldiers, metallurgists, potters, priests, rulers, and with the rise of writing, scribes).
From this point we begin to get a written record, and so the historians can take up the story…

This list is obviously not comprehensive, and there are many elements that I had to ignore to keep it relatively short. Still, I hope this overview helps put where we as a species fit into the larger perspective of Life’s long voyage, a voyage that could only have been traced by the study of fossils.