Tag: Chris Noto

Goings on at the Dinosaur Discovery Museum, Kenosha, Wisconsin

March 17, 2013 • 9:52 pm

by Greg Mayer

The Dinosaur Discovery Museum in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is becoming a hotbed of evolutionary activity. I already posted about their Darwin Day celebrations, and now I want to announce an upcoming event in their Spring Lecture series: Life and Death in a Cretaceous Coastal Swamp by my colleague, Prof. Chris Noto. The lecture is this Wednesday, March 20, at 6 PM, and is free and open to the public. His topic will be his work at the Arlington Archosaur Site in Texas, and I’m sure he’ll include a discussion of his work on the feeding habits of giant Cretaceous crocodiles, which we’ve remarked upon here at WEIT before.

Cretaceous crocodile crunching critter (artist's conception)
Cretaceous crocodile crunching critter, by Jude Swales.

The previous event at the Museum was Women in Science Day, which I unfortunately neglected to announce until the day of the event. There was a good turnout nonetheless, as many people, including lots of kids, came to meet the women scientists and see the special exhibits they had set up. My colleagues Drs. Summer Ostrowski and Natalia Taft , joined by MaryRuth Kotelnicki (a trilobite enthusiast who is an adjunct professor at Edgewood College in Madison) entertained and educated the visitors.

Dr. Summer Ostrowski talks with a visitor on Women in Science Day. Her shirt reads "This is what a scientist looks like."
Dr. Summer Ostrowski talks with a visitor on Women in Science Day. Her shirt reads “This is what a scientist looks like.” Note field gear to left, fossils, and a fine selection of plastic extinct animals. How many can you identify?
Dr. Natalia Taft standing next to her exhibi,t which featured the "fishapod" Tiktaalik, which she studied during a postdoctoral fellowship.
Dr. Natalia Taft standing next to her exhibit, which featured the “fishapod” Tiktaalik, which she studied during her postdoctoral fellowship.
A young visitor momentarily glances up from the giant ornamented trilobite she had been examining.
A young visitor momentarily glances up from the giant ornamented trilobite she had been examining.

I was pleased to find that some WEIT readers were able to attend Darwin Day, so perhaps with a less tardy notice than for Women in Science Day, some might have a chance to make the upcoming Cretaceous coastal swamp lecture. Kenosha is close to both Milwaukee and Chicago. I’m also glad to report that the cartoon Charles Darwins from Darwin Day, as I thought they would, have become a permanent part of the signage for the main dinosaur exhibit.

Charles Darwin explains dinosaur evolution.
Charles Darwin explains dinosaur evolution. Note that the dinosaurs in the picture are the same colors as the Marx Toy Co. dinosaurs of the 1950s and 60s. I can’t imagine CD being wrong about something like that, so I guess the toy designers knew what they were doing back then.

Happy Darwin’s Birthday and Mardi Gras!

February 12, 2013 • 7:13 am

by Greg Mayer

Well, as previously noted, today is Darwin’s birthday and Mardi Gras. Laissez les bons temps rouler! At the Dinosaur Discovery Museum in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the festivities began on Sunday. I am happy to report that some WEIT readers made it to the Museum for the activities; unfortunately, they had left by the time I arrived fairly late in the day. The Museum exhibits consist of a hall containing a variety of dinosaurs, especially theropods, with most of the skeletons being high quality casts. The hall is big enough to contain a full size Tyrannosaurus, a full size Acrocanthosaurus, and many more.

The main hall of the Dinosaur Discovery Museum.
The main hall of the Dinosaur Discovery Museum.

For Darwin Day, little Charles Darwins, each giving some interesting facts about the dinosaurs, were scattered about the hall. They will remain as part of the permanent exhibit.

Charles Darwin explains feather evolution. The origin of birds is a theme of the Museum. Note CD's own incipient plumage.
Charles Darwin explains feather evolution. The origin of birds is a theme of the Museum. Note CD’s own incipient plumage.

In addition, for Darwin Day my University of Wisconsin-Parkside colleagues Summer Ostrowski and Chris Noto had a table of fossils, casts, models, and kids’ activities set up in the foyer hall.

Drs. Summer Ostrowski and Chris Noto at the DDM's DD celebration.
Drs. Summer Ostrowski and Chris Noto at the DDM’s DD celebration.
Chris Noto as Darwin.
Chris Noto as Darwin.

Also in the foyer, UWP grad student Sean Murphy had turtle shells and turtles on hand to help explain the evolution of turtles. Turtles, the quintessential charismatic mesofauna, have the most radically transformed body plan of any tetrapod: their shoulder and pelvic girdles are inside their rib cage. (Feel where your ribs are, and then your shoulders and hips, and then imagine how you would get both of the latter inside of the former!) The turtles were the hit of the day, and were featured in local news coverage (which I would link to except the Kenosha News website won’t show you anything at all without paying).

Sean Murphy demonstrates turtle shell morphology.
Sean Murphy demonstrates turtle shell morphology.

The turtles held a conference, no doubt favorably comparing their own mature self-knowledge to the frantic insecurities of their human companions.

Rhinoclemmys, Emydoidea, and Terrapene, in conference.
Rhinoclemmys, Emydoidea, and Terrapene, in conference.

Dr. Thomas Carr, director of the Carthage College Institute of Paleontology, which is housed at the Museum, was also on hand.

Thomas Carr and his friend, an Allosaurus.
Thomas Carr and his friend, an Allosaurus.

At the end, after the Museum closed, the dinosaurs had to return to their homes through the snow.

A dinosaur dashes to its car after participating in the Dinosaur Discovery Museum's Darwin Day festivities. Since it turns out that dinosaurs are warm-blooded, the snow was not actually a major problem for the dinosaurs.
A dinosaur dashes to its car after participating in the Dinosaur Discovery Museum’s Darwin Day festivities. Since it turns out that dinosaurs are warm-blooded, the snow was not actually a major problem for the dinosaurs.

Cretaceous crocs crunch critters

August 17, 2012 • 11:03 am

by Greg Mayer

Earlier this year my friend Chris Noto and his colleagues Derek Main and Stephanie Drumheller published a paper describing injuries to turtle and dinosaur bones from the Cretaceous that show evidence that they were preyed upon by crocodiles.  Besides the irresistible alliteration, their paper serves to show that we can sometimes learn much more about extinct animals than merely their skeletal morphology, and, with the right sorts of evidence, can learn about their behavior, ecology, and physiology as well.

Cretaceous crocodile crunching critter (by Jude Swales)

The fossils were recovered at a site in Texas known as the Arlington Archosaur Site. Modern crocodilians feed on turtles, and also on dinosaurs, if you think of birds as dinosaurs (which, in a sense, they are).  They will seize turtles side to side (as shown in the reconstruction) or top to bottom. American alligators are particularly fond of turtles, and, compared to some other crocodilians, their rear teeth are especially blunt and peg-like (sort of like molar teeth). This helps to crush the shells of turtles they are eating (which, I have been told, break with a popping sound). E.A. McIlhenny, the great naturalist of hot sauce fame, wrote:

I have seen alligators catch large terrapins and turtles of considerable size and crush their hard shells as if they were made of paper, swallowing them whole.

Tooth scars on a turtle shell (above) and a dinosaur leg bone (below).

Noto et al’s study is a nice example that shows we can learn about more than just the morphology of extinct creatures, but can also learn about thier biology and the paleocommunities they lived in, including (in other studies) ecology, behavior, and even color (see, for example, Matthew’s recent post here, and earlier posts by Jerry here and here).

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McIlhenny, E.A. 1935. The Alligator’s Life History. Christopher Publishing House, Boston. (Reissued in a facsimile edition in 1976 by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, with a foreword by the great herpetologist and conservationist, Archie Carr.)

Noto, Christopher R., Derek J. Main, and Stephanie K. Drumheller. 2012. Feeding traces and paleobiology of a Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Crocodyliform: Example from the Woodbine Formation of Texas. Palaios 27:105-115. (abstract)

Why study fossils?

May 3, 2012 • 6:27 am

by Greg Mayer

Jerry gave a talk yesterday at the MCZ which most WEIT readers couldn’t attend (although you can get a general idea of it by watching this video of an earlier talk by Jerry), so I thought I’d give folks the opportunity see another evolution talk, “Why Study Fossils?” by Chris Noto. (The audio is a bit faint, so turn up the volume.)

Chris is a paleontologist specializing in Mesozoic reptiles who has recently joined my department. His talk was given last month as part of our Science Night series, which Jerry has also spoken in.

Chris Noto and friend